Our collaborator and historian Carla Xavier presented to the audience present at the Sequeira Parish Hall, this Thursday evening, the History of the Sequeira Nativity Scene, the result of research carried out over several months and which included the collection of newspaper clippings from various local newspapers and oral testimonies.
This presentation took place in the context of the inauguration of the Sequeira Animated Nativity Scene, within the program of the 2025 Christmas ceremonies in this parish, with the aim of discovering the origins and traditions linked to the Sequeira Nativity Scene.
Present were the Mayor of Braga, João Rodrigues, as well as other members of the Municipality, the President of the Sequeira Parish Council, Sandra Costa, and more than a hundred residents of the parish.

 

João Rodrigues, mayor of Braga, was present at the inauguration and highlighted the importance of this project, which is funded by the Participatory Budget. “I’ve had the opportunity to come here in other years, and today is my first time as mayor. It’s a very important event for several reasons: It’s a project funded by the Participatory Budget. The nativity scene itself has also benefited from improvements thanks to the Participatory Budget, which means that the idea of ​​putting some investments in the hands of the people is a sound idea that should be maintained. Then, referring to the nativity scene, I think it’s very interesting to see the work that was presented here, which is quite revealing of that. There are many stories behind the nativity scene, and above all, there’s a tradition in a sense of belonging and identity of a community, because it’s no coincidence that, on a weekday evening, we have more than a hundred people for this inauguration,” said the mayor.

According to the mayor, “it’s a very good sign when a community like Sequeira, like Braga, which has grown a lot in recent years, manages to maintain its sense of identity and belonging, and maintains traditions while looking to the future, but where we can still be there, preserving the record of what it means to be from Braga, and in this case, what it means to be from Sequeira.”

For Alexandre Prata, a resident of Sequeira, this nativity scene “is a very old tradition of the parish,” and he appealed to people to see this Christmas work of art. “The parish of Sequeira has this tradition of making a nativity scene, and although we haven’t been able to determine exactly how many years it’s been going on, as we saw in today’s presentation, it’s certainly a very old tradition that usually brings many people to our parish at Christmas time. I appeal to those who have never come to see it to come, and to those who have already come to continue to come because it is truly a work of art. This nativity scene is powered only by a motor; before it was manually operated, then it was also water-powered, and now it’s only powered by a motor. It’s a tradition of the parish that enriches our culture,” he highlighted.

 

+ info: HERE

 

Image and text excerpts taken from the BragaTV newspaper.