ONLOOKERS watch the life-sized Christmas display animated to dramatize Jesus Christ’s nativity in Batangas City. COURTESY OF BATANGAS CITY PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
From their house in Barangay San Antonio in San Pascual town in Batangas, 63-year-old Hermelita Calingasan and her 12-year-old grandson, Jeus, had to travel 12 kilometers and endure traffic just to witness what Batangas City was offering this Christmas season—an animated show of the birth of Christ.
At exactly 6 p.m. on Friday, spectators flocked to the heart of the deeply religious capital to see life-sized characters in front of the city hall’s administration building and listen to a heart-felt narration of events and enchanting musical scoring.
The animation starts with the appearance of Archangel Gabriel to Mary and leads to Joseph and Mary’s journey to Bethlehem and the birth of the Child Jesus in the stable.
“The heavy traffic from our place is not a hindrance for us not to see this,” Calingasan said in Filipino.
Jeus, a sixth-grader at San Antonio Elementary School, was impressed, too. It was like watching a presentation in an expensive theater in Metro Manila and was enjoyable as reading the Nativity story in a book, he said.
“I would share this experience to my classmates and friends in our barangay so that they would come here also,” Jeus said.
Mayor Vilma Dimacuha said the city government came up with the animated display “so the Batangueños would no longer need to travel to Metro Manila to see the same thing.”
Apart from reminding them and the tourists that Christmas is all about the birth of Christ, Dimacuha said “our strategic action is to boost the economy of Batangas City.”
It took almost four months to finish the display that was opened on Nov. 25, the mayor said.
Calingasan said animating the Nativity was a timely effort to educate and entertain people from all walks of life on what the Holy Family had endured.
“During this time when the youth have seemingly forgotten the message of why Jesus was born, this is a good venue to make them remember the essence of this season,” she said. “They should relearn the story of the Nativity.”
The animation may be viewed daily from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and will culminate on Jan. 15, 2012, the city’s fiesta.