by Members of the brotherhood responsible for the monumental nativity scene planted in the Plaza de Benimaclet (Valencia) They have traveled the 92 kilometers between this neighborhood and the municipality of Castelló de Rugat to ‘rescue’ the Baby Jesus that was stolen from them, after the figure appeared at a music festival.
“It’s a surreal story,” Adrià Jaén, one of the three brothers who made that trip on January 1, explains to EFE after on social networks they saw photos of the Baby Jesus at the ‘Festivern’ of Tavernes de la Valldigna -with a bottle of alcohol in his hands, among other poses- and contacted those who found him.
They then set up a “rescue party” and went to Castelló de Rugat for the protagonist of the nativity scene that same day – “lest they regret it,” explains Jaén -, with the hope of recovering him, but also with the doubt of what They were really going to meet.
The delivery was made at the door of the church of this municipality in the interior of Valencia, in the presence of the priest and many neighbors -““It was very Berlanga,” explains this brother, where they verified that the Baby Jesus was in one piece, although It had suffered burns and paint damage, so they poured some holy water on it.
The ‘Jesuset’, which turned out to be the first of the two that was stolen this year, is currently in the workshop of the fallero artist who made it to be restored, and will return to its location in the historic center of Benimaclet ” with security measures, just in case”, before the Christmas holidays end.
This brother considers it “lucky” to have recovered the Child Jesus, since he considers that whoever stole him “did not have good faith”, and admits that they are a little hurt by the images of the figure that they have seen on social networks, but he prefers to keep the image. positive part of the Christmas “miracle” of rescuing him when they no longer had hope of being able to do so.
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“We are happy to recover the ‘Jesuset’, but we also hope that the theft is not repeated, which in the end is a hate crime,” explains Jaén, who remembers that the protagonist of this nativity scene was already stolen in 2022, the first time they set it up, and this year it has been stolen twice, making three thefts in two years.
The nativity scene set up by the Brotherhood of the Saints of the Stone and Christ of Providence of Benimaclet remains in its place in the neighborhood square, although in the absence of its protagonist returning the central position is occupied by a photograph of the Child Jesus and the phrase ‘They will not steal our faith.’
