It's going to be a "Dickens of a Christmas" in Eureka Springs, Arkansas this Christmas Season with holiday lights, activities for all, and The Great Passion Play's exciting interactive Christmas experience, "Beyond Dickens - God Bless Us Everyone"!
At The Great Passion Play, a Victorian Town Crier can be heard inviting visitors to step back in time. Stationed at the Great Wall on The Great Passion Play grounds, the Town Crier, in the midst of a Dickens era Victorian street scene with Victorian Carolers and Christmas decorations, greets visitors and is your first look at this Christmas Experience being offered in the midst of the Ozarks hills.
The "town crier" encourages you to travel back "beyond the ghost of Christmas Past, Beyond Dickens, to the very first Christmas, to the town of Bethlehem." Here you join the travelers from throughout Judea to register for the census decreed by Caesar Augustus. You'll find yourself intermingling with the Roman soldiers, camels, donkeys, horses, the Three Kings, the shepherds, the citizens of Bethlehem and Mary & Joseph to create a live interactive Nativity experience in the Ozarks.
You'll pay the Roman "tax collector" to gain access to life in First Century Bethlehem. On the streets of the ancient city, you'll encounter donkeys laden with packs, Romans riding on horseback, camels, shepherds and Bethlehem citizens of ancient times creating pottery, baskets and other crafts of the era.
The Roman soldiers, Messala, Quintus, Arrius, Cato, Brutus, Flavius, Antony and others help keep order for the census takers, Ezra and Obadiah. Moneychangers such as Elihu and Bildad help visitors exchange their money for special Great Passion Play "denary" as the Shepherds try to share the joy of seeing angels with the skeptical townspeople of Bethlehem. As the Three Kings, along with their weary entourage, lead the way to the manger, the Innkeepers, Samuel and Leah, try to explain their lack of rooms. Meet the innkeepers at their house, haggle with the merchants, follow the Star and the 3 Kings, and visit with "Mary and Joseph" in the stable as you become a part of the wondrous First Christmas.
Complete your Great Passion Play holiday experience by discovering how the birth of Christ is celebrated in countries all over the world in our special "God Bless Us Everyone" Christmas exhibit of nativities from around the world in the Great Passion Play buffet restaurant.
Also included in the entire experience are choirs and soloists with special Christmas music, special exhibits in the Sacred Arts Center, the Smith Memorial Chapel, the Bible Museum, and spectacular lighting of the entire Great Passion Play grounds.