The nativity play was invented to teach people about the birth of Jesus in an entertaining and easy to understand way and really helped with the Christianisation of the 25th December. Displacing the winter songs that were traditionally sung in public with carols telling stories with Christian Christmas themes was also effective in spreading the message of Jesus, especially after Francis of Assissi had some translated out of Latin into languages spoken by the average person!

richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK.