Guinness World Record for largest Live Nativity Scene Set in Provo

Around 1,039 people gathered at the Rock Canyon Park in Provo to set a new world record for the world's largest nativity scene on Monday.

The previous record was 898. "It was set in Lancashire in the United Kingdom in December, 2013," said Michael Empric, an adjudicator for Guinness World Records. He also attended the Rock Canyon Park event to verify the figure and declare it the winner officially, Herald Extra reports.

"What I've loved is everyone has been in such a great mood today. I always like it when record attempts are successful and hopefully it stays the record for a while," Empric said.

Hundreds of people were dressed in white to play angels. The lead roles in the endeavour were played by musicians, local TV stars, YouTube stars and many individuals who are popular for their membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A camel, a donkey and a few sheep also took part in the play, Deseret News reports.

A producer of the event, Derral Eves, said that just three and a half weeks ago some people suggested that they should try to break the previous record for the largest nativity scene in the world.

"We wanted to do it simply to show the world what Christmas is all about. It is not all the presents, but it is about the true gift of Christmas -- Jesus Christ," Eves said.

 He further said that he also received a lot of help from various corners. The credit for this, according to him, mostly goes to social media through which people  learnt of the event.

"To break the world record we needed to be over 900. We had roughly 1,800 sign up," Eves added.

Eves said that around 50 families were given the charge of sewing costumes. Some of the dresses had battery-powered lights attached to them. After the Nativity scene, some YouTube musicians got together to make a video, which is scheduled to air 13 December.