The slogan is brief and simple, but the invitation is powerful: “Christmas with Jesus”, is the proposal of the Archdiocese of Montevideo (Uruguay), to recover the meaning of Christmas, in a country that eliminated it from its official calendar ago. more than 100 years.
With different initiatives, since 2016 the Catholic Church in Uruguay has sought to bring society closer to Jesus. This year, in addition to the Rosary of Dawn and the traditional balconies, a podcast series about Advent was added.
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Additionally, in 2024 an Advent calendar and signs were added to the buses that travel around Montevideo.
Balconies are already a symbol of the Christmas season in Uruguay: the idea is that families and businesses can hang on their balconies a fabric banner with a motif alluding to Jesus or the Holy Family, which is renewed year after year.
Each year, this initiative is accompanied by praying the Rosary of Dawn at 7:00 am in Marian sanctuaries during the novena to the Immaculate Conception, making a gesture of solidarity with the family or community, blessing the Child Jesus at the Masses on Saturday the 21st and Sunday, December 22, and pray as a family on Christmas Eve.
Within the framework of the solidarity gesture called by the Church, the faithful can join numerous Catholic institutions in Montevideo that carry out initiatives such as visiting prisons, putting together Christmas baskets for the poorest, and community dinners.
This year, led by two members of the Archdiocese’s Social Communication department, an Advent-themed podcast series is added to the Christmas initiatives. Father Daniel Kerber and the theologian María Beer participate.
On this occasion, an Advent calendar was also introduced, with a challenge to complete each day, which could be a day without screens, preparing gifts, sharing messages of hope, etc.
In 2024, the streets of Montevideo will also display their “Christmas with Jesus” messages, starting with the incorporation of signs on buses with the slogan and image alluding to the birth of the Savior.
Juliet Villar
I am a journalist, with a degree in communication from the National University of La Matanza in Argentina. I have work experience in non-governmental organizations. Since 2016 I have been dedicated to Catholic journalism, first at the Argentine Catholic Information Agency (AICA) and, since 2022, as ACI Prensa correspondent for Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Bolivia.