In Bethlehem, Pa. Moravian Christians keep up their traditional Christmas celebrations. In 1741, Moravian settlers from what is now the Czech Republic, named their city after the biblical birthplace of Jesus. The Moravian Church is one oldest forms of Protestant Christianity. Its name derives from the historical provinces of Bohemia and Moravia.
Traditional celebrations include a “lovefeast,” which is a worship service where churchgoers share a meal of coffee and sweet buns. The “putz” is a traditional nativity scene marked by wooden figures and thousands of handmade beeswax candles which are meant to represent the light Jesus brought into the world. Rev. Janel Rice leads the oldest Moravian church in North America.
She says that “Like all Moravian traditions, the importance of it is that it brings people together.” She continued to explain that “Building community, emphasizing that, over doctrine or dogma, is really the Moravian practice and tradition at our core.” She also explained the reasoning behind her church’s traditional Christmas holiday celebrations.
The first citizens of Bethlehem carried with them hand-carved figures to symbolize the story of Christ’s birth. The nativity scene is called the putz, from the German word “putzen,” meaning to clean or decorate. “It relates back to the creches of the Middle Ages,” the Rev. explains. “But it’s not just a creche, which would be just the one Nativity scene.”
During the Great Depression, the local chamber of commerce began promoting Bethlehem as “Christmas City USA.” As part of that rebrand, they took the tradition of the putz to the historic Hotel Bethlehem. Thousands turned up to join the celebrations. “The story goes that the hotel got so crowded that they couldn’t really accommodate the number of people that were coming to see it, and they asked Central Moravian Church to host it,” Rice says.
Since then, the community putz has been organized by the Moravian Church and displayed at the nearby Christian education building. One woman, who attended the putz on a first date with her now husband of 33 years, explained the significance. “It’s more than Christmas for four weeks a year… The nature of the faith heritage of the city is something that is never forgotten.”
At this year’s celebration, a crowd listened to a recorded narration of Jesus’ birth. They also gathered to view a display of dozens of wooden figures. “We might wonder why setting up a putz and telling the story of Jesus’ birth is so important to the Moravians, and now to the city of Bethlehem,” Rice says in the recording. “One reason has to do with the naming of the city itself,” said Rice
Kelly Ann Ryan, a visitor, said “We feel really lucky to live so close to Bethlehem with all of the history here and specifically the history pertaining to Christmas,” said visitor “It’s just something that we can’t miss every holiday season as it rolls around.” She concluded that “Telling the Christmas story this way is a great way for kids to connect with it…To me, this is just magical. I remember my parents doing this, my grandparents,” she said. “It’s just a wonderful warm feeling of being connected with this church.”