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As I write, Advent is just a week away, and I’m looking forward to all that we share together during this season at All Saints and Christ Church. This includes decorating our own Christmas tree, which takes pride of place in the lounge window, along with our unusual nativity set.
It’s an African baked clay mud hut stable with tiny, simple clay figures decorated with lights and straw.
The First Christmas Story
Nativity scenes come in all shapes and sizes. From tiny metal sculptures of Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus in velvet presentation boxes to life-size (or larger!) sets of wonderfully sculptured and beautifully painted figures. These include angels, shepherds, Wise Men, sheep, oxen, donkeys… Years ago, during Advent, Paul and I visited Dewsbury Minster with some friends. There was an exhibition of nativity scenes from all over the world. Some were traditional, some very modern, some 3D models, and others painted on various materials. It was lovely to see the various interpretations all telling the one and only wonderful story of the first Christmas.
Before I retired, a volunteer in the church and I made a stable out of a big cardboard box. We painted it to look like a stable, put straw and lights, and arranged the figures. We used that stable for some years. Another friend, Mary, an avid knitter, knitted nativity sets for the toddlers on a 3-year cycle. The first-year, Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus; the second-year angel, shepherd and sheep; and the third-year, Wise Men. She’s also knitted donkeys, camels, oxen, sparkly stars, and a tiny stable mouse so I can complete my great niece’s nativity set.
“Where are the wise men?”
My senior colleague used to set up the nativity scene in the hospital chapel’s indoor garden. The figurines are Italian, absolutely stunning and admired by staff, patients and visitors. I admired it too, noticed something was missing and asked, “Where’s Baby Jesus?”. My colleague replied, “He isn’t born until Christmas.” And then I noticed something else, “Where are the Wise Men?” “Oh, Denise,” he said, “They don’t arrive until Epiphany.” And, sure enough, Baby Jesus was in the manger on Christmas Eve, and the Wise Men were in place for the second Sunday after Christmas.
The Tradition of the Nativity Scene
I recently discovered that the first recorded nativity scene was in Greccio. Greccio is a village about 50 miles north of Rome, where St Francis of Assisi had settled. He made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1219-20 to visit Bethlehem. On Christmas Eve 1223, he organised a midnight mass, which included a scene with villagers playing the parts of Mary and Joseph with a rag doll as Baby Jesus. St Francis even brought along a real ox and donkey to complete the image of Jesus being born in a barn. It was a great success and became an annual tradition spread worldwide by missionaries and pilgrims who had experienced it.
St Francis wanted to educate and inspire the villagers of Greccio about the celebration of Christmas – not just as a historical event, but as something real they could imagine and believe in. As you decorate your Christmas tree, set up your nativity, write your cards and share in the various activities of this season, may you experience the wonder and truth of Christmas anew. Emmanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:23). The peace of the Christ Child be with you always.
God bless, Denise
Published in the Parish magazines Dec 2024
Featured image by courtesy of Unsplash