St Albans Cathedral’s Nativity Trail Aims to Engage Children

An interactive nativity trail, featuring actors portraying the Christmas narrative across a cathedral’s premises, seeks to encourage children to engage with and feel at ease within the abbey. St Albans Cathedral in Hertfordshire anticipates hundreds of attendees, who will have the opportunity to encounter characters such as shepherds, wise people, angels, innkeepers, and a tyrannical King Herod. This marks the inaugural occasion that the trail is exclusively focused on the cathedral grounds, commencing at the summit of the abbey’s orchard and culminating with the nativity scene’s unveiling in a barn situated at the west end. Stephen de Silva, a cathedral guide, emphasized that it was “hugely important” for children to perceive the building as accessible to all, irrespective of their personal beliefs. During the event on 14 December, children will be able to collect a passport and have it stamped at each designated location along the trail. Participants will encounter angels and shepherds competing for attention, a Roman centurion stationed outside Herod’s palace, and King Herod himself. Attendees can interrogate the innkeeper and assess the wisdom of the three wise people, prior to entering the stable to see baby Jesus. A comparable trail was organized at various sites throughout the city last year. Mr. de Silva stated that it was “really important” to “provide ways of telling a story in all kinds of interesting ways, so that all people can appreciate it.” He further explained, “[The cathedral’s] core purpose is to talk about the importance of the Christian faith, what that means to people and how it’s guided them through the ages, so introducing children to the story of the nativity is great.” He described the event as, “This is such a cool way of doing it – stopping off and meeting the characters.” He also noted that even if children do not eventually join the congregation, it remains “hugely important” that they perceive the building as welcoming to all. “I think that if they feel that the cathedral is somewhere that they can just walk into without thinking twice, we’ve achieved something,” he remarked. Calum Zuckert, the youth chaplain, stated: “We are currently seeing growth in all areas of our ministry to children and young people in the cathedral.” He continued: “Through school services and engagement, the work of our education team, our choirs and our outreach and pastoral care, we see many hundreds of children each week.” He further commented that it was “a thrill to bring the story of Christmas alive for all ages, through Christingle and crib services, in our outreach to the community, and especially in our Living Nativity.” For updates on news from Beds, Herts, and Bucks, information is available on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram, and X. This content is copyrighted by BBC 2024. All rights are reserved. The BBC disclaims responsibility for content found on external websites and provides information regarding its policy on external linking.