Sacred Play

Here are Jesus and His Apostles for a Passion Play set that I am constructing.  The pattens for these came from a book called Children and Worship.  A few years back, making a home atrium was the talk of blogs and home school loops, inspired by Catechisis of the Good Shepherd.  At the time, my children at that time were on the edge of being a little older and so I didn't really pursue this idea.  Now that Daniel has entered our lives, I hoping to create some "sacred" play space.  A space that will allow him to re-enact stories from the Bible, pray, and learn.  I am sure we can all learn from Daniel, even as we teach him the stories and how to "play."

Cenacle

This is the Cenacle.  I still have to put hinges.  The sides will fold over for when it gets put away.  I saw a picture of one similar on a website for Catechisis of the Good Shepherd and thought that it was clever and would not take up a lot of space, since I do not have an entire room to devote to our atrium.  I also thought to do the town of Jerusalem in a similar manner.  I have it all cut out and have begun to paint it.  After this, I want to make a table for the Last Supper.  Then I hoping to get started on making the townspeople and a set for the Way of the Cross.  I will continue to post pictures here of the different pieces. 

 I finished the city of Jerusalem.  Well, maybe not totally, I still have to spray it with an acryllic sealer and put the hinges on, but I was so excited about how it turned out that I had to share it.  The picture to the left is the outside walls of the city.  We know that Jesus entered the city on a donkey to shouts of "Hosanna!" and  I have that figure completed.  I was trying to think of what to make the other side look, and I thought that perhaps to paint the city -- houses, market, etc. to give it a background kind of look. 

Now I am pretty certain that Jerusalem didn't look like this, especially since I pretty much just painted it from my imagination more than anything else.  I think it gives enough of an impression perhaps of being old and a village somewhere other than where we live and hopefully from another time.  I am going to work on making some townspeople, those who would have been waving those branches and shouting to Jesus as he entered Jerusalem. 

While I am making these as "playsets," I also realized that we could use these to help us during Holy Week to concentrate on the events - - Jesus entering the city, celebrating Passover, his Passion and Death, and Easter morning.  I have some plans that I have come up with for Mount Calvary that include a "tomb" underneath.  I hope to get started working on it this weekend.  For this particular playset, I want to make the people whom Jesus meets along the way, a well.  

April 13th - -

Jesus meets His Mother

Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

Jesus is crucified.

Mary at the foot of the Cross.

Jesus is taken down from the cross

The women visit the tomb.

 

I worked on the "Way of the Cross" playset this morning.  I cut it all out and started painting it.  I also started on a table for the cenacle.  I made the play set in the same manner as the other "sets" with the scenery made out of wood and a "trifold."  I have to still fasten the two sides together, seems to be a common thing - but I cannot wait to show them!  The circle covers the opening for the "tomb."  On top of the hills, there is a peg for the cross.  There is also a peg in the back of the corpus, so that Jesus can be placed on the cross.  There is a different Jesus to use for carrying the cross.  I have Mary and Veronica completed for the "Way," and hope to make some Roman soldiers, Pontius Pilate, Simon of Cyrene, and weeping women.  One bite at a time will get it all completed.  I want to set it all on the coffee table for Holy Week. 

I still have the townspeople to paint, which will double as observers for along the way of the passion.  I have them cut out.  I also have an angel to paint that will replace the cross on Easter morning so that the angel can alert the women that Jesus has risen.

To store these sets, I am thinking about the larger scrapbooking boxes (not the photo ones, but the album size ones).  I think the sets should store nicely with all of the accompanying people and items.  I am still working on a space in the house to place all of these materials so that they are available for my children at special times and for when we are learning.