Nativity play casts kids as slaves - not happy

[Flowersintheg5rden]

Some of the kids in my children’s school have been cast as slaves in the forthcoming nativity play.

Bearing in mind all the awful reports of modern slavery in the media, am I being unreasonable to feel appalled by this bad choice of play for young minds?

At least they have got a part in the play - if they could all be called Mary1, Mary2, Mary3, Joseph1, Joseph2, Joseph3 then all those Mums will be happy. Surely that is all that matters?
Is no-one being that well-known character that my DS was in his nativity? Robot 2?
It's less about sanitised accuracy to a highly embellished story, more about getting all the DCs on stage to have a jolly singsong and appease all the demanding parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbours and milkmen who will insist on attending and reserving the front row where they will stand up holding their 2 week old infants in one hand and recording with their ipad in the other.

My DC was in a nativity play where half the children were cast as aliens.
At least slaves/servants is historically accurate.

At least slaves/servants are historically accurate as opposed to alien. Unfortunately there aren't 30 key characters in a nativity so sometimes teachers have to get inventive.

X post!!

Also the wise men/kings rought 3 gifts.It says nowhere in the bible there were only 3 of them. I have cast 6 or 7 kins before now

Is no-one being that well-known character that my DS was in his nativity? Robot 2?

How many robots were there?

ove to see the hours of labour with no pain relief then

I always thought that maybe god gave mary a break with that one

I mean its taking the piss to impregnate her and then throw morning sickness in

@53rdWay
only 2!

indoctrinate their children
Bingo! "indoctrinate", only on MN.

In my day, all spare kids were trees! Day trees/night trees in Hansel and Gretel, palm trees in the Nativity.

How do I remember?

Step forward DS who volunteered me

My DD was a donkey in her Nativity - she'd have given her right hoof to be a slave !

I’m less annoyed but I still don’t think kids should be servants either

Maybe suggest they change the name to personal assistants.

It’s especially useful in introducing Christianity to children who may have missed out on it at home.
Francis?

glasgowworrier too funny.
OP servants or not modern slaves, or anything like.

a servant is a paid member of staff oP. Do you think downton abbey is encouraging modern slavery?

Holy moly.. let's just re write the whole
Story. Mary and Joseph can be civil partners and Jesus can be gender neutral. We should also delete mention of the animals as it promotes cruelty to animals..

People had servants in the past and still do now. See the Royal Family.🙄

Slaves indeed...

DD was one of the pigs in the stables in her nativity one year. Theologically questionable I thought but I decided not to be one of “those” parents (we’re not Muslim of Jewish ourselves).

Yes, slaves existed at the time in wealthy Roman households. Jesus was not born into such a household or in such a setting! I doubt there would have been one slave at the Nativity, let alone slaves plural.

Servants, maybe - working at the inn, or accompanying the three kings. Not much difference between being a servant and a shepherd in those days. The sheep wouldn't have belonged to them and at least servants generally got to sleep in the warm (and probably got more money and better food).

Pigs... probably not :D

"Yes, slaves existed at the time in wealthy Roman households."

You wouldn't have to be very wealthy to have one slave, any more than you needed to be upper class to have a single maid in the Victorian period.

It's an inn; they will have had a servant. Probably cheaper to buy one than to pay one.

I was a Victorian chimney sweep once, at school, it was fun, lots of soot and sacking

I was chosen because I was very skinny, pale and did a good line in pathetic woefulness

I’d have made a brilliant slave too... sigh, now I’m more, voluptuous fat rich lady of leisure! So booooring. My younger self would be utterly disappointed in the lack of acting possibilities.

The Magi would have had slaves, not servants.

As a side point I could be said to employ ‘staff’. I just employed someone for £26K pa, for a part-time job (4days a week, for hrs that work out as 2/3 of a full day). They aren’t exactly the epitome of modern slavery!

Although there’s no doubt there are some instances of slaves imported and hidden in houses in the uk to do domestic service, you need to look into other sectors more, for the grim reality of modern day slavery...