With the arrival of December, Christmas floods the streets and every corner of all the towns in Lanzarote. However, if there is one town that stands out above the rest during these holidays, it is Yaiza, thanks to its traditional Nativity scene, which each year innovates to offer locals and tourists an unforgettable experience.
For more than thirty years, this Christmas nativity scene has become a must-see during the holidays, and each year, a group of nativity scene builders construct it with passion and dedication next to Plaza de Los Remedios.
Pancho Ortiz is one of these nativity scene creators who has been one of the pillars keeping this nativity scene alive for over 15 years, not only in Yaiza but also in other places like wineries or hotels.
To be a nativity scene builder, Ortiz emphasizes that what is needed is "to have interest, look for ideas, and be passionate about working on this." Building a nativity scene as large and with as much anticipation as the one in Yaiza is not studied, but rather learned directly on the job.
In Pancho's case, he learned from a young age. "I used to go to the town square and watch Tito Viera make the nativity scene, I would stand and watch how he did it, and one day I decided to start helping, and I've been making nativity scenes ever since," he says.
Construction and this year's innovations
This 2025, the portal has several new features, but the main one is its design, as the representation of the different villages of Lanzarote is located inside a volcanic caldera and where people can enter. This allows for much better appreciation of the details by seeing them up close.
Its large size gives an idea of its great extent: 400 square meters of surface area, almost 300 figures and approximately fifty houses and churches.
To build this nativity scene, Ortiz explains that they had the idea of creating a large cauldron since last year. **Its construction began on October 13** and the first thing done was to lay out the lakes with concrete "so they wouldn't open up." In total, **four workers** from the Yaiza City Council made its construction possible"The next step was to build the boiler with the machinery, and we did the interior by hand," he continues. The nativity scene builder emphasizes that the portal **is built without plans and almost on the fly**, although starting from a basic idea. "We brainstorm, one gives an idea and another gives another, so we keep adding and removing stones and houses, looking for the right shape," he points out.
Every detail of the nativity scene is important, from the sand and figures to the houses and typical Lanzarote sand art. In fact, the care with which it is worked is such that the legumes from the land, such as corn, peas, chickpeas, or lentils, are planted from seed in the manger itself. The veroles and other native plants are brought already grown to decorate the representation.
In addition, he has revealed to *La Voz* that, despite the fact that the same houses and churches are reused every year, **the intention for next year is to renovate them** to "add new houses from the municipality and the island that are old." It will be the same Pancho Ortiz who makes them, as in addition to being a nativity scene maker, he is a wood craftsman
Innovation, the key to its success
The Bethlehem Nativity Scene in Yaiza becomes a guaranteed success in terms of visitors every year. This is thanks to the innovation that exists each year in its construction, as the workers aim to outdo themselves each year to offer something new compared to the previous year.
"Innovation is important because in previous years, visitors would walk around the nativity scene to enjoy it, but you couldn't see inside well, so this year we decided to make the nativity scene with a path inside so that all the details, both on the left and on the right, can be seen clearly," he declares.
In addition, the nativity scene volcano has **visual and sound effects**, imitating volcanic tremors with smoke explosions and lava emanating from within through red lighting. Another new feature this year is a **waterfall**. To better appreciate all these details, the nativity scene artist **encourages people to visit it day and night**, because "in sunlight everything is appreciated better, but at night you can see the lit houses, the smoke, and the lava in a vivid red".
However, due to the freedom and proximity with which this nativity scene can be enjoyed, Ortiz says that some years people have stolen pieces. "They sometimes steal the stones because they are well-chosen stones that are not easily found, but also figures... two years ago they stole the camels from Montañas del Fuego," he says.
Ortiz highlights that the nativity scene this year "has been a success because people have spoken to me and congratulated us all, saying that **it's been many years since such a nativity scene was seen**". In this regard, he points out that some people encourage him to make an even better nativity scene next year, but "surpassing this year's is a bit difficult".
Since last November 28, anyone who wishes can visit this traditional element of Lanzarote's Christmas, which will be open to the public until January 12.