The Christmas period in Matera is very suggestive for what it represents from a religious point of view and for the evocative power of the Stones that for their same conformation recall to the mind a manger and the context of the Christian Nativity.

The city in that days animates not only for the presence of those inhabitants that live, work or study away that come back to Matera just for Christmas holidays, but also for the presence of visitors that visit Matera and enjoy its atmosphere that becomes more and more intimate and felt as soon as the most important days of the festivity arrive.

During the month of December and up to the Epiphany some events are organized like the flea markets and many folk and musical events with Christmas songs repertoires, but the most representative and unique event of Matera’s Christmas is the representation of the “Live Nativity in the Stones”: which is a representation that animates the two areas of Matera’s ancient neighborhoods: Barisano and Caveoso. This unique event involves many participants dressed in typical costumes, that recreates a suggestive context and that makes the visitors to enjoy Matera’s ancient neighborhoods in an unique and different way in comparison to an ordinary simple day.

This year it recurs the sixth edition of the Live Nativity in the Stones, its main theme will be “the family”, and it will be structured in different way from the past years in order to get a more efficient organization,
to improve the management of the event and to allow a vast number o tourists to visit Matera and its Stones, and also to give to the single ones a precise role in the whole organization and finally to allow all the hotels and tourist services to offer a better service.

This edition of the Live Nativity in the Stones will be organized in several sessions: the first one, the main one, will take place during the week end of the Madonna Immaculate day, from December 4 – 8, 2015 and there will be the presence of historical groups that have been animating this event for years; the other sessions of the Live Nativity are from December 12 – 13 and December, 19-20, 2015 and from January 1 – 3, 2016, during these sessions also individuals will be allowed to show up in their typical traditional costumes. For more info you can check the web-site (http://www.presepematera.it /).
The Christmas festivities are an unique occasion to visit the city of Matera, to discover all its aspects that are hidden during the rest of the year and to live in a suggestive place that during the Christmas period enriches itself with special meanings and atmospheres.