Why do we have Nativity plays

It has just randomly crossed my mind just now that I don't really know why we do Nativity plays, I could understand why we have done them ages ago as the majority of schools are religious but we now live in a society where religion isn't that big yet we still tell the story of the birth of Jesus via a Nativity. But why? How does it benefit children as well??

Reply 1

Bio 7

Schools should do away with it and if they want to put on a play then do a better story. I hated doing it every year. Given it’s all fiction anyway they might as well do something that’s more fun.

Reply 2

watershower

I think it’s less about the religion and more about the simplicity of the story. It’s great for little children because it’s easy to retell, there are songs and lots of different roles from Gabriel the angel to the donkey that Jesus rode on. In my school, they added a narrator in year 2 because we could read then lol. I know that it was really fun as a kid, and you move on to other plays after year 2 anyways so it’s not for long.
Also, did you know, children who played Mary or Joseph in the Nativity are more likely to be successful? (I was Mary, by the way 😉)

Reply 3

Sorcerer's Storm

I only had to do it in my primary school, which was religious so there's no surprise there. In my secondary school we never had to do them. Thankfully I never had a major part anyway, I was always just an angel or something :lol:

Reply 4

karelina

Original post by Bio 7

It's part of the Christmas tradition, maybe we should do away with Christmas as well? It's important for children and students to learn about the Bible because it has inpsired so many great writers, poets and artists and without understanding Christianity we won't understand their works.

Reply 5

Neverland_girl17

Oh I agree! I take Philosophy/theology/ethics at secondary school and one of my favourite conversations is if we should get rid of religion. Most schools are religious so it's quite important for them to do a Nativity and I think we should teach young children the importance of it and let them choose later.

Reply 6

Bio 7

Original post by karelina

I think we should do away with it all, christmas is not a celebration of any religion anymore and we should accept that. People eat, drink and buy pointless gifts, we should change the name to something else.

And as for teaching people about it I’ll be happy when we do away with religion so I don’t care if people don’t understand old works. If understanding the bible is vital to know what they meant then it’s outdated and can go.

I have many memories of doing nativity plays and hated them alongside the church visits. Children would be happier performing something more fun. Maybe have them act out a scientific discovery or a story with a good moral, I can’t think of anything you actually learn from the nativity.

Reply 7

Neverland_girl17

Original post by Bio 7

I could understand maybe getting rid of christmas but not simply changing the name of it. Christmas is meant to be a celebration of christ, a celebration of the birth of Jesus, same with celebrations such as Easter (except we're celebrating the Jesus' ressurection). Yet everyone is more than happy to take advantage of those holiday without giving a second thought on why.

As for children being happier performing something more fun, we might just have to disagree to agree. I feel it depends on the age of the child, I recently put on a nativity for my EPQ at a preschool and the children loved it, so did the parents. I don't think the children had any idea on why they were doing it but the more you do it the more they understand and most schools are religious and even if they not it helps them learn about Christianity in a more fun way instead of just sitting in a classroom listening to a teach speak.

Reply 8

Bio 7

Original post by Neverland_girl17

There’s no point in removing it altogether we all need something to relax with. What we don’t need is it being a religious time, change the name and meaning to something else and just enjoy the time.

As for teaching them about religion I’d prefer we didn’t bother continuing with it, I find the very notion of the deitites humanity has created to be quite abhorrent. Certainly not something I would want to teach children.
Church visits as well should go, nobody enjoys those and it’s pointless for those that don’t believe in any of it. Schools should not be forcing a religion down anyone’s throats. And I feel that’s what most schools seem to do.

I think I’ve turned this into a religious debate though so I’m going to stop commenting. I always get carried away.