Belens: then and now

Monday, December 19, 2011

THE Nativity Scene, or what we call the “Belen,” is as much a symbol of Christianity as the Crucified Christ. And for Filipinos, steeped in Christianity for over four centuries, Christmas is not just about lighted lanterns, twinkling lights and Christmas carols and trees, it is about the Babe in the Manger, enthroned in homes during the festive season.

In a talk at the Cathedral Museum of Cebu, Dr. Louie Nacorda traced the origin of the setting up of the “Belen” or the Christmas tableaux to the 4th Century when Pope Liberius introduced it. It was unlike what we have today, though: just a manger and the consecrated host placed upon it.

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“It was not until the 11th Century that images representing the birth of Jesus were first put up inside a church in Italy, a forerunner of what we now call the Belen.”

From Italy, the setting up of the Christmas creche or Belen spread to France, Spain and other parts of Christian Europe, “but these were limited to churches. It was not until the 16th Century that the Belen was put up in Christian homes in Europe.”

What started as a simple Nativity Scene with a Child in the manger has, through the centuries become peopled with more characters according to the imagination and financial capacity of Christian households. So the Belen now usually has Mama Mary and St. Joseph, an angel believed to be St. Gabriel, shepherds and their sheep, a donkey, an ox and a star. It can also have the Three Kings Melchor, Gaspar and Balthazar, with their camels (to be accurate, Dr. Nacorda says, only Melchor from Arabia came with a camel; Gaspar from Spain came on a horse, while Balthazar from Africa came riding on an elephant).

Other Creches not only have the Nativity Scene but also the journey of the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph to Bethlehem, and the flight to Egypt. Others even more elaborate have all of the rosary’s joyful mysteries incorporated into the Belen.

Others have many other characters introduced into the Nativity Scene.

Dr. Nacorda recounts that during the French Revolution, “an artisan named Jean Louis Laguel created miniature Belen images made of clay, but added townsfolk of Provence, France, in different occupations and different costumes. Hence, the Belen became indigenized beginning in France.” These other characters in the Belen are called “santons.”

When Spain conquered and Christianized the Philippines, the practice of setting up a Belen during Christmas became part of the Christmas tradition brought to the Philippines. Dr. Nacorda says: “One can only guess intelligently that it came with Christianity in 1565, and the living collateral proof is the extant parishes in Lingayen, Pangasinan, erected in 1587, and of Gapan, Nueva Ecija, established in 1595.

Both churches have the Three Kings as their titular patron.”

The Belen should not just be a decoration for Christmas, though. One should ponder and wonder at God’s immeasurable love for man that He humbled himself and became flesh.

It’s a love that should permeate our beings this season and all of life’s seasons so there will be “peace and good will among men.”