Christmas is coming, the joy of this feast is felt everywhere. The Church is already chanting every day in her hymns that the Virgin Mary is preparing to bring to life her only son and the only Son of God. Everything in the Church calls loudly, ‘Christ is coming, welcome Him’. Everywhere you look you see and hear songs connected with the arrival of Christmas.Among the people that celebrate the most are the youth and children. You see children running around everywhere, moving as if they would buy everything they see, and all the while their little hearts are eager to feel joy, and especially the joy of the birth of Jesus Christ.
The Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania has as a priority the development of programs for every age group, but especially for young people and children. Before and after Christmas there will take place a range of activities related to this great feast.
The Protagonist School will hold its festive concert on 20 December at 17:00; the Orthodox Youth “Sons of Light” has its festive concert on 26 December 2013 at 17:30; the Catechism Office will hold a series of activities with children and young people in different cities and villages around Albania. The catechism groups will participate in a special program for Christmas, also the Christmas caroling activity will return this year, as well as for the first time in some places, and several children and youth groups are preparing to participate in the festive concert of Christmas.
The Central Children’s Office is organizing in a number places activities for the feast of Christmas. The central activities for this feast which this office is arranging are composed of skits, lessons, songs, prayers, arts and crafts, and the Christmas caroling activity which will visit the families of the believers on 22 December and sing songs related to the birth of Christ. Another activity that has entertained a good number of the children is the travelling puppet theatre which this Christmas was attended by 1,000 children.
The Puppet show this Christmas is titled, “From I-Ville to You-Ville”. The travelling theatre performed this show in Tirana, Vlora, Fier, Berati, Gramshi, Librazhd, Kavaja, Durrësi, Toshkëz, Agim, Shtërrmen, Shijon, Gjinar, St. Vlash, and Rrushkull.
The story is very attractive and tells about a little boy who lived in a place called I-Ville. The inhabitants of this country were people who were at odds with each other and the children didn’t play together because everyone wanted to be the winner. I-Ville was ruled by its Queen, who was named Conceit and she convinced the people of this country that there is no place more beautiful than I-Ville.
But the little boy from I-Ville, whose name is Stubborn, heard one day about another place named You-Ville, and he wanted to visit this land, even with all the sacrifices that it might cost. He visited this place and he learned that the rule in order to enter there was not like in the I-Ville where you had to say, ”Me first”, but here you must say, “You first”. Humility and love prevailed everywhere there. This changed completely the life of little Stubborn, and he tried to teach these things to the other residents of I-Ville.
Children had the opportunity through the puppet theater to learn more about humility, about forgiveness and to love one another. They realized that the reason for the arrival of baby Jesus in this world is just the great love of God towards humanity. In the half hour program the children had fun and spent a fruitful time. Besides the puppet show, children took part in the competition related to the puppet show story and then they learned some Christmas songs, and played some games. At the end of the program they received a simple cocktail.
The great Feast of Christmas Eve is coming and the spirit of this holiday becomes even more touching. Every activity that takes place in connection with this celebration proclaims to everyone that the coming of Christ is the most beautiful gift that humanity has ever received. Let us open our hearts and let us await the arrival of the baby Jesus.
Ana Meni
