Collecting Nativity scenes
Here it is the last few days of November and it is time for me to drag out the storage boxes containing over 100 Nativity scenes that I have collected over the years and display throughout my house during the Christmas season. They range from a large handcarved olive wood set of figures brought from the Holy Land by my wife’s mother to the smallest, a carved Nativity scene inside a walnut shell half.
Christmas cannot begin at my house until those handcarved olive wood figures are in place on the fireplace mantle in my family room. The figures fit inside a stable made by my son, Barry, when he was ten years old. The Baby Jesus rests in the manger with a cotton ball my son, Jeff, slipped under his head one year. There will also be a small basket for special prayers that my daughter, Sue, added one year.
There probably won’t be one room in the house that will not have a Nativity scene somewhere in it and all will remain until the Epiphany on January 6. Even the front porch will have a Nativity scene surrounded by twinkling lights.
Family and friends have contributed to the collection over the years. My sister, Marjorie, packed up and mailed her porcelain family Nativity scene some years ago when she was no longer decorating for the holidays. My sister, Frances, has sent several Nativity scenes including one that is self contained in a mahogany case. My son, John, contributed an unusual Nativity scene in which Mary stands cuddling the baby in her arms with Joseph at her side. My son, Jack, had brought a Nativity set from Spain when he visited there. The most unusual one I have in my collection is one made in The Phillipines from coconut husk.
According to legend, St. Francis of Assisi was responsible for the popularization of the Nativity scene. It existed before him, but it was this gentle saint, known for his love of animals, who introduced it as a live portrayal. He wanted to bring home to the people the humanity and humility of the Christ Child.
The church in his time was a very rigid institution, preaching that life was full of sin and sorrow. St Francis wanted to show that God loved the people and preached the hope and joy of God’s love to counter that disheartening message. So, in 1223 or there abouts, in Greccio, Italy, he constructed a life-sized stable scene and created a live Nativity scene complete with live animals.
Luke’s gospel about the birth of Jesus was sung around the stable. Church historians think this may very well have been the start of caroling, since the church songs of the time were somber Latin hymns and certainly not joyous.
The people of Greccio were charmed and immediately accepted the Nativity scene as a means of making the Christmas message more real. From that meager beginning, the Nativity scene display at Christmas time has always been an important part of the Christmas celebration in southern Europe. The scenes range from, the simplest cutout figures to whole rooms full or even village squares of elaborately decorated scenery. Naples is especially famous for its manger scenes called "presepio."
It has different names in different countries and only in English speaking countries is it called the Nativity. In France it is the
"creche." In Germany it is called "krippe." The Czech’s call it "jeslicky." In Spain and much of Latin America it is called "nacimiento," except in Costa Rico where it is called "portal." Brazil calls it "pesebre."
Regardless of what it is called, the Nativity is the one lasting symbol of Christmas, a time when we should recognize the only four letter word that will bring us lasting peace — love. Who can look at the peace surrounding a Nativity scene and see anything but love.
(Bill Duncan can be reached by writing to P.O. Box 812, Roseburg, OR 97470)