Austria: “Il cenacolo” community, a live nativity scene to push drugs out of Burgerland

On 21^st and 28^th December and on 4^th January, three live nativity scenes will take place at Kleinfrauenhaid, in the municipality of Zemendorf-Stöttera, Austria. In the twenty years of its life, this crib has become a go-to place for Christmas celebrations in Burgerland. The nativity scene is played by boys and girls from “Il cenacolo”, an addiction rehabilitation community. A total of two thousand visitors are expected to come, and entrance will be on a ‘pay as you wish’ basis. The shows have been prepared in almost two months’ work, with the community’s guests building a “little Bethlehem” with great care for details, with houses, roads, small workshops and a big stable for the Holy Family. The sheep and other animals are real ones. The “guys” – as the 38 male residents call themselves – are also in charge of costumes, direction and light/sound effects. Families with children play the shepherds and other characters. Inspired by the motto “work and pray”, “Il cenacolo” was set up by sister Elvira Petrozzi in Saluzzo, near Turin, in 1983. Now, there are 60 houses in Europe, North and South America and Africa, with the Kleinfrauenhaid being the only branch in the German-speaking area.