An unassuming Cupar house holds an amazing Christmas secret a nativity scene unlike any seen before.
The diorama takes in everything from the arrival of the three wise men in the Holy Land to King Herod’s Castle, the bustling town of Bethlehem featuring everything from blacksmiths to prostitutes and finally to the manger where Jesus was born.
The amazing display is carefully put together each year by Carmen Leng, who spends a week carefully arranging all the valuable figurines and models necessary to tell the story of Jesus’ birth.
The 62-year-old moved to Scotland 38 years ago and brought the Spanish tradition of creating nativity scenes, known as Beln from the Spanish for Bethlehem, with her.
Whereas nativity scenes in the United Kingdom tend to focus on the manger where Jesus was born, in Spain the displays are far grander, normally taking in the town of Bethlehem and its surroundings.Click here for a full photo galleryCarmen began putting together her collection more than 30 years ago and has been adding to it ever since, making her own buildings out of cardboard, adding water features and even a few touches which, if not exactly Biblically accurate, represent her adopted home Scotland, including a Scottish flag and a Shetland pony.
And although Carmen originally comes from Galicia, it also features on figure more commonly associated with Beln found in Catalonia a squatting figure evacuating his bowels thanks to her Catalonian son-in-law.
The display, around six metres long, is mounted on old door frames, one of which has been carved to create enough room to allow people up and down the stairs.
Carmen said: “I’m not particularly religious but I wanted to keep some part of Spanish tradition.
“Christmas trees have only started being used in Spain quite recently. Most houses had displays like this although normally a lot smaller.
“I asked my friend to get me some figures about 30 years ago and that was how it started.”
For more on this story see Tuesday’s Courier or try our digital edition.