A nativity scene , or crèche , is a depiction of the birth of Jesus as described in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. While the term "nativity scene" typically includes two dimensional depictions in film, painting, printmaking, and other media, the term popularly refers to static, three dimensional, commercial or folk art dioramas, or pantomimes called "living nativity scenes" in which real humans and animals participate. Nativity scenes exhibit (at the minimum) figures representing the infant Jesus, his mother Mary, and Mary's husband, Joseph. Some nativity scenes include other characters from the Biblical story such as shepherds, the Magi, and angels. The figures are usually displayed in a stable, cave, or other structure.
Saint Francis of Assisi is credited with creating the first nativity scene in 1223 (a "living" one) intending thereby to cultivate the worship of Christ. The scene's popularity inspired communities throughout Christendom to stage similar pantomimes and eventually to create elaborate and ever more elaborate static exhibitions with wax and ivory figurines garbed in rich fabrics set against intricate landscapes.
Distinctive nativity scenes and traditions have been created around the world and are displayed during the Christmas season in churches, homes, shopping malls, and other venues, and occasionally on public lands and in public buildings. The Vatican has displayed a scene in St. Peter's Square near its Christmas tree since 1982 and the Pope has for many years blessed the mangers of children assembled in St. Peter's Square for a special ceremony. The White House exhibits an eighteenth century Italian presepio during the Christmas season. Folk art traditions in Europe include the hand-painted santons of France and the colorful szopka of Poland.
Public nativity scenes have not escaped controversy nor vandalism. Erections in public buildings or on public lands have sparked lawsuits in the United States, and a life-sized scene in the United Kingdom featuring waxworks celebrities provoked outrage in 2004. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) notes animal abuse connected with living nativity displays. A city council in Spain provoked protest when it forbade a traditional character in a public nativity scene, and, across America, the theft of ceramic or plastic nativity figurines from outdoor displays is not an infrequent occurrence during the Christmas season.
Birth of Jesus
A nativity scene takes its inspiration from the accounts of the birth of Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Luke's narrative describes an angel announcing the birth of Jesus to shepherds who then visit the humble site where Jesus is found in a manger. Matthew's narrative tells of Magi who follow a star to the place where Jesus dwells, and indicates that the Magi found Jesus around two years after his birth rather than on the exact day. Matthew's account does not mention the angels and shepherds, while Luke's narrative is silent on the Magi and the star. With no basis in scripture, however, three dimensional nativity scenes (whether static or living) usually bring the shepherds and the angels of Luke together at the manger with Matthew's Magi and the star. Further, and without scriptural basis, the ox and the ass are present at the manger as well as other animals such as sheep, goats, and camels.
Origins and early history
St. Francis of Assisi is credited with creating the first nativity scene in 1223 at Greccio, Italy, in an attempt to place the emphasis of Christmas upon the worship of Christ rather than upon secular materialism and gift giving. Staged in a cave near Greccio, St. Francis' nativity scene was a living one with humans and animals cast in the Biblical roles. Pope Honorius III gave his blessing to the exhibit. Such pantomimes became hugely popular and spread throughout Christendom. Within a hundred years every church in Italy was expected to have a nativity scene at Christmastime. Eventually, statues replaced human and animal participants, and static scenes grew to elaborate affairs with richly robed figurines placed in intricate landscape settings. Charles III, King of the Two Sicilies, collected such elaborate scenes, and his enthusiasm encouraged others to do the same.
A tradition in England, United Kingdom involved baking a mince pie in the shape of a manger to hold the Christ child until dinnertime when the pie was eaten. When the Puritans banned Christmas celebrations in the seventeenth century, they also passed specific legislation to outlaw such pies, calling them "Idolaterie in crust".
Components
Static nativity scenes
A static nativity scene is erected in homes and churches during the Christmas season, and is composed of figurines depicting the infant Jesus resting in a manger, Mary, and Joseph. Other figures in the scene may include angels, shepherds, and animals. The figures may be made of any material, and arranged in a stable or cave. The Magi may also appear, and are sometimes not placed in the scene until the week following Christmas to account for their travel time to the event. After World War I, large, lighted manger scenes in churches and public buildings grew in popularity, and, by the 1950s, many companies were selling lawn ornaments of non-fading, long-lasting, weather resistant materials telling the nativity story. While most home nativity scenes are packed away at Christmas or shortly thereafter, nativity scenes in churches usually remain on display until the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
Variants on the standard nativity scene are many and include ethnic dioramas. In Colombia, for example, the pesebre may feature a town and its surrounding countryside with shepherds and animals. Mary and Joseph are often depicted as rural Boyacá people with Mary clad in a countrywoman's shawl and fedora hat, and Joseph garbed in a poncho. The infant Jesus is depicted as European with Italianate features. Visitors bringing gifts to the Christ child are depicted as Columbian natives.
The traditional nativity scene has never been an attempt to accurately depict a gospel event. With no basis in the gospels, for example, the shepherds, the Magi, and the ox and ass are displayed together at the manger. Some traditions bring other scriptural characters to the nativity scene such as Adam and Eve and the serpent, Noah and his animals, the twelve sons of Jacob, the twelve prophets and the twelve apostles. Mundane activities such as Mary washing diapers in the River Jordan, or a dove descending on the newborn infant may be depicted.
Living nativity scenes
Pantomimes similar to the scene staged by St. Francis at Greccio became an annual event throughout Christendom. Abuses and exaggerations in the presentation of mystery plays during the Middles Ages, however, forced the church to prohibit performances during the fifteenth century. The plays survived outside church walls, however, and three hundred years after the prohibition, German immigrants brought simple forms of the nativity play to America. Some features of the dramas became part of both Catholic and Protestant Christmas services with children often taking the parts of characters in the nativity story. Nativity plays and pageants, culminating in living nativity scenes, eventually entered public schools. Today, such exhibitions are challenged on the grounds of separation of church and state.
In some countries, the nativity scene took to the streets with human performers costumed as Joseph and Mary traveling from house to house seeking shelter and being told by the houses' occupants to move on. The couple's journey culminated in an outdoor tableau at a designated place with the shepherds and the Magi then traveling the streets in parade fashion looking for the Christ child.
Living nativity scenes are not without their problems. In 2008, for example, vandals destroyed all eight scenes and backdrops at Mount Carmel Christian Church’s drive-through living nativity scene in Georgia. About 120 of the church’s 500 members were involved in the construction of the scenes or playing roles in the production. The damage was estimated at more than US$2,000. Additionally, the use of real animals in living nativity scenes has provoked complaint.
In southern Italy, especially Sicily, living nativity scenes (called presepe vivente in Italian), are extremely popular, and are rather elaborate affairs, which feature the classic nativity scene as well as a mock rural 19th-century village, complete with artisans in traditional costumes working at their particular trades. These attract many visitors and have been t
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