The end of the nativity play
Only one in five schools plan nativity play
Only one in five schools are planning to perform a traditional nativity play this year. They are now outnumbered by schools that say they will be either putting on a non-religious play, such as Scrooge or Snow White, or giving no performance at all.
This annoys me every year, we get to read the same story in the newspapers, but year by year as surveys are completed the numbers fall, the traditional story of Christmas is further threatened and education suffers as a result. The standard message is that we don’t want to upset the sensibilities of other faiths. Yet we can quite happily allow our children to learn about Jewish, Islamic, or Hindu religious festivals without causing any upset at all to anyone!
This is a problem which affects schools in South Tyneside too, not only do some of our schools dispense with the traditional Christian message and theme of Christmas, they then go and spend sums of money buying up licensing fees to produce secular plays (and a small profit for the authors.) Do they really need reminding that the nativity as related in the gospels comes free of charge!
There should be no fear of proclaiming Christmas, there should be no fear of relating the message of the birth of Christ, if we are to provide any religious education in our schools then we ought to be tolerant of all faiths, without giving the impression that Christianity is to be hidden away.
Dear Curly,
Perhaps the culprit is the lack of Christian faith and commitment in the home. Deriders of Christmas plays and pageants usually harbor religious ignorance and see any display of religious intent or symbolism as a threat to their freedom not to believe in anything beyond self and hedonism.
As an American expatriot of 40 years I still love to go back to New England and see the small towns and villages with nativity displays on the town common.
It is time for Christians to take pride in their religion as no threat to any other cultural or ethnic beliefs.
Comment by louparis — December 3, 2007 @ 12:05 pm
Dear Curly
I’ve just looked at tonight’s Gazette. Good heavens what’s this? Two whole pages full of pictures of school Nativity Plays with the promise of more to come - and what’s more they look pretty traditional to me. Is this a Gazette conspiracy to make you look foolish? Or could it just be that you’ve got it wrong and the traditional School Nativity Play is alive and well and thriving in South Tyneside if not (according to you, the Telegraph and the Mail) in the rest of the country?
Comment by Westy — December 13, 2007 @ 5:18 pm
@Westy:
I was at my daughter’s school this morning and her pictures look exactly the same!
However the “presentation” that they gave bore no resemblance to nativity writings in the four gospels, on asking, I ascertained that the school had paid a licence fee to the author to allow them to stage this children’s “play”. I understand that this practice is now becoming common in our schools, although they can still use the Bible for absolutely nothing if they wish.
Things are not always as they seem.
Comment by curly — December 13, 2007 @ 6:44 pm
Curly
Let’s get this thing about the Gospels straight. Matthew talks about the Kings, no mention of shepherds. Mark and John don’t mention The Nativity at all. Only Luke goes into it in any depth. Children’s plays such as “The Woodcutter and The Dove” give a background to the story but they are all based on the same message. You are taking the fact that your daughter’s school are using a script- something which has been happening for 20 years - and extrapolating this to mean the end of the traditional Nativity Play. Big mistake!!!! Just because the story may be about a little boy fashioning a wooden crib to take to the manger does not fit your idea of the Gospel story does not mean that the message is not a Christain one. As the representative of Mortimer Primary said “it was a traditional nativity with a slightly different slant and of course the best gift of these is love”. Or as John Pattinson of Harton Infants said ” All the shows the children have performed this year have had the underlying message that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus”
If it looks like a Nativity Play and sounds like a Nativity Play and it’s got a baby, a manger, Kings and Angels then things are indeed just as they seem - a Nativity story with a Christian message.
Comment by Westy — December 14, 2007 @ 12:05 am
The “presentation” that I watched yesterday did not even have the names Mary, Joseph, or Jesus mentioned at all, and the cost was £200 for the author’s permission to use his/her work!
Just who are they trying “not to offend”?
£200 would have equipped half a class with a new text book and a schools own “home brewed” adaptation of the biblical story would have cost nowt!
Makes you ask where the priorities are for educational spending!
I am offended now over this abject waste of good money!
Comment by curly — December 14, 2007 @ 10:21 am