On one tree hangs a picture of Joseph and Maria sitting on the donkey, on another there is a picture of the two knocking at an innkeeper and looking for a hostel, there is a text and a QR code for each, see above which you can listen to an audio file. If you go for a walk in the Schopenhauer Forest in Neubiberg on these days, you should plan a little more time. There you can explore the Christmas story at stations designed with great attention to detail until Saturday, January 7th. A short trip there during the holidays is always worthwhile.
Who came up with this audio trail to biblical events? For ten years, Cordula Dieckmann has been organizing and directing the Christmas nativity play in the parish of the Rosary Queen in Neubiberg. When this could not be shown in 2020 due to the corona pandemic, the journalist, who lives with her family in Neubiberg, came up with the idea of making a nativity film. She made sound recordings with children from the parish and asked her then 17-year-old daughter Mia to draw pictures of scenes from the Christmas story. “The pictures should look naive and childish, the target group are children,” says Dieckmann. For the audio recordings, children who participated in the nativity play spoke dialogues. The children’s choir of the parish, the Chorspatzen, conducted by Olivia Rehm, sang songs like “Silent Night, Holy Night” and “Your little children are coming”, which they also recorded. They deliberately did not use songs that could cause problems with the rights. If necessary, they also rewrote them. Rehm’s daughter, then 19-year-old Elena, who is now studying acting, acted as narrator.
First of all, the whole thing should only be shown on the Internet. But then Dieckmann came up with the idea that it would be nice if you could also watch the scenes outside. “Like a film you can walk through,” says the journalist. In many night shifts, she tinkered with the sound recordings and later edited them again. The result can currently be seen again in the Schopenhauer Forest.
You can explore the nativity scene trail at eight stations. The starting point is at the Elisabeth chapel, which you can easily reach if you follow the Kaiserstrasse into the forest and turn left at the first path. There you will find information and a map, which can also be accessed on Google Maps. This is very practical, because you don’t miss any of the stations, which are located in a wide arc in the grove and end at the exit at the playground. At each point there is a laminated watercolor image attached to part of an old slatted frame on a tree, text to read or read aloud, and a QR code that you can scan with your phone and then listen to an audio recording.
At station two, for example, the scene “The Order of Emperor Augustus” awaits you. The narrator reports in a clear and understandable way how the emperor wants to find out how many people live in his empire. Sounds of hoofbeats and an excited crowd illustrate the story. Dieckmann himself likes station three best, “The Journey to Bethlehem”, with Joseph and Mary sitting on the donkey. “Because I like the donkey so much,” she says. Her daughter modeled him on an animal from one of her mother’s children’s books. She also likes the symbol for the many people fleeing war and hardship.
At station seven, entitled “The shepherds go to the stable”, a dialogue can be heard in which the shepherds speak of God’s Son lying in their stable. The children’s choir sings “Your children are coming”. It’s very entertaining, as you can be inspired to sing along with your own offspring, perhaps on the way through the forest to the next scene in the story. In any case, Dieckmann made sure that the visit to each station does not take longer than 30 seconds. The whole walk takes about half an hour at the end. If you like, you can round off the audio trail with a visit to the Church of the Queen of the Rosary. There you can see a nativity scene with Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus behind a pane of glass.