Church Offers Annual Moravian Christmas Putz and Christmas displays with a virtual option and group reservation options

For over 40 years, East Hills Moravian Church has opened its doors to show its annual Christmas putz and displays. This year, the putz is open for the public to view December 1-30, 2023 on Fridays 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm and Saturdays and Sundays 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm; closed Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Walk-ins are welcome during regular viewing times. Group showings are made through reservations and can be arranged either during showing times or at any time outside of the showings times listed by contacting Nancy Costa at 610-442-6056 or nancyecosta@gmail.com to reserve a viewing date and time. The putz, church, and parking lot are ADA accessible. There is no charge or entrance fee but free will offerings are accepted. If you are unable to attend the putz in person for any reason, a virtual option is available on the church’s YouTube channel at Christmas Putz 2020 East Hills Moravian Church, which is also embedded into the church’s putz link on its website: https://easthillsmc.org/seasonal/the-east-hills-putz/

The adult narratives for the putz are available in English and Spanish. A children’s narrative is available for preschool and elementary school students, which has shortened explanations of each scene. Local elementary schools, preschools, and youth organizations are also encouraged to reserve a time and date to view the putz by contacting Nancy Costa at 610-442-6056 or nancyecosta@gmail.com, especially if the class or group is studying the history of Bethlehem for an assignment or research project.

An annual tradition that began at East Hills in 1981, the putz tells the story of the birth of Jesus Christ with various Nativity figures and buildings for each scene in the story, complete with lighted scenes, a description of events in the birth and life of Jesus from each of the gospel accounts accented by music and locally sourced and collected moss. The putz also features an account of the founding of Bethlehem, PA, and the tradition of building the putz in Moravian churches and homes. The East Hills putz has been a church-wide outreach to the community because of Rev. Carol Dague, a retired Moravian pastor who had organized it as a project for her classes while attending seminary. Rev. Dague wrote recorded the original scripts and chose the appropriate background music for each scene of the putz, and her original recordings of the scripts are still in use today.

The word putz comes from the German word putzen, meaning to decorate. While several other Moravian churches in the Lehigh Valley will also build a putz, what makes East Hills’ putz special is that it was the first one in the area to use background music to accompany the narrative explaining each scene. It also has been the second church putz in the area to use a completely automated system to control and coordinate the lighting, dialog, and music used to explain each scene in the putz.

One unique feature of the putz at East Hills is that viewers can take a closer look at the putz when the presentation is over to see if they can find some unusual items hidden in the putz that wouldn’t traditionally be in a Nativity display. The Starship Enterprise from Star Trek is always hidden in the putz to honor long time East Hills members who are Star Trek fans. Also, look for cartoon characters or other unusual items such as cars or animals not often associated with the Nativity story that may be hidden in the putz each year. This is an especially fun thing for school groups to do or for parents who may bring their children each year.

In addition, explanations of the Moravian Church’s customs at Christmas, such as lovefeasts and beeswax candles; and decorated Christmas trees are on display are.

For more information about the putz or the church, please call the Nancy Costa or the church office at the numbers listed in the press release. We look forward to seeing you!