Los Nacimientos o Belenes

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Los nacimientos o belenes
Una/Otra de las tradiciones navideñas más hermosas es la escenificación del nacimiento del Niño Jesús. No importa qué tan fiel sea la réplica del humilde establo donde María dio a luz. Lo que si importa es la alegría de niños y grandes al contemplar lo que con tanto amor y anticipación diseñaron. Ningún nacimiento es igual. En algunos hogares los nacimientos son muy sencillos y las figuras se limitan a las de José, María y el Niño Jesús, mientras que en otros hogares, se les agregan características puramente mexicanas. Lo que muchos no saben es cómo empezó la tradición.
Historia
Iglesias y Cabrera (2009) cuenta que fue San Francisco de Asís, fundador de la orden monástica de los franciscanos, quien creó el primer nacimiento para representar la llegada del Niño Jesús. Después de haber conseguido permiso del Papa Honorio III, este santo montó el primer nacimiento viviente en una ermita situada en Greccio, Italia en el año 1223 (p. 221). San Francisco construyó un pesebre y concibió “una representación teatral conformada por un grupo de personas tanto como de animales que reproducían en vivo la escena del nacimiento de Jesús” (Montero, 2011, p. 34).
Martínez y Mozzi (n.d.) escriben que “cuando por fin se arraigó esta tradición en Europa, durante mucho tiempo se mantuvo con nacimientos -o belenes- vivientes, principalmente en los recintos religiosos” (para. 4). Sin embargo, con el tiempo, el frío resultó muy incómodo para muchas personas y por lo tanto, las personas y animales se sustituyeron por figuras de barro. Se dice que fue en Nápoles, Italia a finales del siglo XIV que se montó el primer nacimiento con figuras de barro (Iglesias y Cabrera, 2009, p. 223).
Los nacimientos llegaron a México a raíz de la conquista española alrededor del siglo XVI. Los frailes se valieron de esta costumbre navideña como un instrumento más para la evangelización de los indígenas. La profesora Ofelia Pasquel de la Universidad Panamericana señala:
[los misioneros franciscanos] empezaron a enseñar a los indígenas el nacimiento de Jesús a través de representaciones gráficas, buscaron un lenguaje y forma de comunicación que fuese clara para los nativos y encontraron que montar un nacimiento era útil para enseñar el alumbramiento de Jesús a través de símbolos e imágenes de animales. (as cited in Montero, 2011, p. 34)
Así como en Italia, esta tradición se difundió por todo México y con el paso del tiempo también se empezaron a elaborar figuras de barro para representar a la Sagrada Familia.

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