First Living Nativity Scenes

Did you know that the Living Nativity Scenes in Postojna Cave are the closest re-enactment of the original nativity scene first created by Francis of Assisi in 1223 in a cave near Assisi, Italy?

Exactly 766 years later, during a tour of Slovenia’s biggest attraction, director Gregor Tozon came up with the idea to stage a Living Nativity inside Postojna Cave. This bold idea came to life at a time when in Slovenia, Christmas was not officially celebrated as a religious holiday and most people set up their nativity scenes secretly behind the four walls of their homes.

Revolution in Postojna Cave

The living nativity scene in Postojna Cave was the first live nativity scene in Slovenia to be staged outside a sacral building in 1989. It was set up in a hall, off the cave tour trail, next to a speleothem (cave formation) called the Canopy, which reminded the creator of the first nativity scene of a nativity stable. The play, which was conceived as a tribute to ethnological heritage with scenes based on the concept of tableau vivant, featured twelve local performers. The visitors watched the entire performance, which lasted fourteen minutes, standing up, in one place, and the actors performed five shows a day.

People Knelt and Prayed

From the first well-received rudiments of living nativity scenes, the nativity has become more and more ‘living’ over the years. The event grew in size, with more and more biblical scenes and musical effects, and soon the public interest was so great that the performance’s location moved to the side of the tour trail. By 1995, individual scenes such as the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Census, etc., were staged among the picturesque subterranean landscape full of cave formations, the performers played their parts, and the audience viewed the nativity scenes while moving around the cave. All along, however, the directors and scriptwriters remained faithful to tradition and to the authentic nativity story. According to testimonies, certain scenes touched people so much that they went down on their knees, crossed themselves and prayed. 

Living Nativity Scenes Have United Slovenia

The creators were always excited by the idea of an even bigger, even grander, even more spectacular event that would highlight the miracle of birth and the beauty of this natural wonder, Postojna Cave. You could thus say that at the turn of the millennium, there was the so-called sphere of choirs. Choral singing is part of Slovenian tradition and many singers still remember their performance in Postojna Cave, when over 1300 amateur singers performed as part of the Living Nativity Scenes over five days. The choirs, who came to Postojna from all over the country, united Slovenia as part of the most beautiful Christmas event.

However, this awe-inspiring event, with its many performers, also brought new insights. Postojna Cave is a picture-perfect, imposing, yet also logistically extremely challenging setting with its own specific characteristics. In the search for the most appropriate form for the Living Nativity Scenes, which were on the way of becoming a veritable spectacle, in the subsequent years, the directors and scriptwriters enhanced the biblical scenes with the concept of solo singing parts by top Slovenian vocalists performing the roles of biblical characters. The local population, however, has always been involved in the organisation of the Living Nativity Scenes, experiencing the festive season as a local holiday and the opportunity to participate in the Nativity as a privilege and an immense honour. 

Living Nativity Scenes Today: A Global Event

Over more than three decades, the event, which would not be what it is today without the hard work of its first creators, has grown far beyond the borders of Slovenia. Tourists from all over the world come to Slovenia just to see the Living Nativity Scenes, and they book tickets for the event up to a year in advance. The event is recognised as the biggest festive season event, staged along a five-kilometre-long cave tour trail. Due to the size of the show, visitors see most of it during a ride on the cave train and some of it on foot. With its 18 biblical scenes, Postojna Cave’s Living Nativity Scenes make for the world’s largest underground stage. In 2018, the six-day event, which takes place annually between 25 and 30 December, was named the world’s most beautiful nativity re-enactment by the media outlets across the globe. 

Despite the magnitude of the modern-day Living Nativity Scenes in Postojna Cave, which feature more than 100 performers, including dancers, instrumentalists and world-renowned singers, the Postojna Cave management with Marjan Batagelj at its helm, remains faithful to tradition and makes sure that the event remains a celebration and not a ‘generic Christmas show’: “It’s wonderful to watch the performers’ development: at first, children are shepherds and as they grow up, the girls become angels and the boys become guides. The local population lives and breathes this event and so does our company.”

Come October and the number of bearded guys in Postojna increases significantly. This is no coincidence. Auditions for the Living Nativity Scenes in Postojna Cave are about to start. An interesting story is about the commitment of a long-time local Zachariah, who starts to grow a beard every October for this very purpose, despite his wife’s objections.

The fact that Postojna is known as a ‘heavy metal town’ also plays into the hands of the event’s creators, so finding long-haired guys among the local youth to portray Joseph is not a particularly difficult feat. They also look for girls with delicate facial features, future angels, girls to act the part of Mary and Elizabeth, energetic young men portraying Roman soldiers, shepherds lost in reverie and the Three Wise Men. 

The Living Nativity Scenes is a highly anticipated event and there is never a shortage of interested young people auditioning, many of whom discover their talent here and work for the first time with professional directors, lighting technicians, hairdressers, make-up artists and costume designers. Following weeks of preparation, on the day of the event, the performers enter the cave an hour before the show. And that’s when the magic happens. A magic that is bound to inspire awe. It’s not uncommon to see tears in the eyes of visitors, or a child wistfully exclaiming, “Angels really do exist!”