Visitors to St. James Parish in Okotoks had the chance to step back in time Saturday.

The parish hosted a Living Nativity, complete with live animals and volunteer actors portraying Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, along with Roman soldiers, shepherds and merchants.

Youth Ministry Coordinator Amy Heggenstaller-Boon says the event was designed to provide visitors with an authentic experience of life in Bethlehem at that time.

"When you came in, you met Roman soldiers and an innkeeper that explained to you that because of all the people coming back to pay their taxes, there was no room in the inn," she says. "And they explained the difference between a modern-day hotel and what an inn was like in Bethlehem. And from there, there was eight different shops that you could wander around, they were heated, and they had live actors."

She says the approximately 40 volunteer actors were made up primarily of parishioners from the church. They were educated on their roles beforehand so that they could interract with visitors and bring that time period to life.

"It was almost like a time-travel," Heggenstaller-Boon explains. "And all the actors were either talking about this baby or asking about the baby and there was constantly people coming up and interracting with you. So you really stepped out of all the pressures of what can be Advent or Christmas season and you just enjoyed the beauty of this miraculous birth."

More than 1,500 people are estimated to have attended the event on Saturday, December 16, and plans are to host the Living Nativity again next year.

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