A live crèche will be set up in Aljmaš, a well known Marian Shrine, for the second year in a row. The program is scheduled for Christmas Eve, 24 December, 26 December, and for Epiphany, 6 January 2009. The crèche, symbolizing the actual crib in which Baby Jesus was laid after being born in the Bethlehem Cave, is one of the most common Christmas decorations. Although the custom of staging a live crèche is around two millennia old, and several centuries in some European countries, it is relatively new in Croatia due to the historical circumstances. The first live crèche was set up in front of the Zagreb Cathedral a few years ago, followed by Osijek, and then the Aljmaš Shrine of Virgin Mary of the Sanctuary as of last year. The Aljmaš region is distinctive for the Marian Shrine, so the live crèche project aims to emphasize the spiritual side of
Christmas holidays.

The first live crèche was arranged last year with the help of some 50 volunteers and donors under the slogan Follow the Shooting Star to Aljmaš. In addition to the live crèche scene on Bra?e Radi? Square, the area in front of the shrine will offer other events, including an exhibition area for handicrafts, holiday sweets, a workshop for straw Christmas decorations, old customs, etc. The atmosphere is completed by concerts in the church. In addition to emphasizing the spiritual side of this holiday, the goal is to create an offer of events that will attract tourists to the region, not just seasonally but any time of the year. The Local Democracy Agency, Erdut Municipality Tourist Board, Municipality of Erdut and Aljmaš Parish Office work together on the preparation of this event. Three churches in the Aljmaš region have been known through history – the first one dating back to 1697, the second one dating back to 1708, and the third one dating back to 1846. Aljmaš became a parish fair site in 1704. The Jesuits established the Shrine of Virgin Mary that year, bringing a statue of Virgin Mary from Lug (Luško), Baranja. Aljmaš was pronounced a parish in 1807. In 1857, Bishop Strossmayer donated a new statue of Virgin Mary (the present one) to the Aljmaš Shrine, made in Vienna. During the Homeland War, the statue of Virgin Mary was moved to Osijek. In 1998, the statue was returned to Aljmaš, and the preparations for construction of a new church, the fourth one in the three centuries of the Aljmaš Shrine, began the following year. It was completed and consecrated in 2004, in the year of the 300th anniversary of the Shrine. The Way of the Cross, 480 meters long and paved with concrete plates, was built and blessed in 2006 on a hill above Aljmaš within the Calvary that was erected by the Jesuits in 1726, but has been demolished and devastated throughout the history. They set up 14 large oak crosses and marble plates with the appropriate texts at each station. The construction of the Aljmaš Shrine was completed in 2007 when they built the pilgrims’ plateau, numerous confessionals, a pilgrims’ area, a chapel, a hall, a souvenir shop and bathroom facilities. They also improved and paved the entire area around the shrine and planted decorative bushes and flowers. This shrine is a common destination among pilgrims and one of the most important Croatian shrines, visited by around 100,000 believers a year, most of them coming for the holiday of the Assumption of Virgin Mary on 15 August. The village of Aljmaš was first mentioned in the first half of the 14th century and its name is derived from the Hungarian word alma, which means
apple. It is popular for its rural, hunting and fishing tourism.

Source: press.croatia.hr

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