CRECHE CULTURE: Manger scenes tell more than just the Christmas story

c. 1996 Religion News Service UNDATED _ The scene might be the ruins of an old castle or an ancient temple. Sometimes it’s a village, bustling with activity. It could be a cave, or a rich landscape of mountains and rivers and stars. At other times, it’s a simple barn. No matter how it’s depicted, […]

c. 1996 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ The scene might be the ruins of an old castle or an ancient temple. Sometimes it’s a village, bustling with activity. It could be a cave, or a rich landscape of mountains and rivers and stars. At other times, it’s a simple barn.

No matter how it’s depicted, the Nativity of Jesus remains the central symbol of the Christmas season. But the type of creche, and the figures represented in it, tell more than just the Christmas story. These icons have much to say about the spirit, psychology and cultures in which they were created.


Nativity sets first became popular among 17th-century European priests, who used them as missionary tools to tell the story of Christmas to potential converts in such far-flung places as South America, Africa and Asia, according to the Rev. Johann G. Roten, a scholar at the University of Dayton. And in post-Reformation Europe, Roten said, Catholic priests used Nativity figures to”confirm and reaffirm the faith of their own people.” Like stained-glass windows, Nativity sets were considered the”Bible of the poor,”said Roten, who is director of the Marian Library-International Marian Research Institute.”For people who were not able to read, you had to visualize these things for them.” But as time went on, in the old world and the new, Nativity scenes also found favor in homes and village squares. And the setting artists chose to tell the Christmas story reflected the ways in which European Christians interpreted the events surrounding the birth of Jesus.

By the 18th century, three centers of creche culture emerged in Europe _ Naples, Italy; Provence, France; and southern Germany and Austria. And the Nativity scenes of each region were rich in unique religious symbolism.

Italian creches, for example, usually place Joseph, Mary and the Christ child among the ruins of an ancient temple or an old castle.”It was a historical statement,”said Roten, who is also a professor of theological anthropology.”The old culture has been destroyed and a new history is originating.” Also rich in symbolism are the types of animals found at the manger. Italian creches, like most, always include a donkey and an ox.”The donkey usually has two lines in the form of a cross on its back,”said Roten.”The cross means that the donkey has been baptized. Why? As an animal, the donkey represents the pagans present at the manger. And what is pagan can become Christian through the birth of Christ.””The ox was complementary to the donkey,”he added.”The ox represented the Jewish people.”In ancient Judaism, Roten noted, the ox was commonly used as a sacrificial offering to God. In Christian theology, the death of Jesus on the cross represents the ultimate sacrifice for all humankind.

Early French Nativity scenes generally place the holy family atop a hill, surrounded by the entire village. This signifies that the birth of Jesus affects the”entire community, the mayor, the pastor, the policeman, the thief and the lady who sells fish,”Roten said.”The idea is that the entire village is being drawn into this wonderful event.” But to Roten, the most fascinating figure in French creches is the Ravi, or”exalted one,”who is depicted on his knees with his arms reaching heaven-ward.”He is the fool of the village,”said Roten,”the dumb kid who doesn’t know what’s going on. But it takes someone like him to understand the miraculous event that’s occurred.” Germans and Austrians usually set the birth of Jesus within a sweeping natural landscape, complete with a star-dotted sky, mountains and rivers, typical of most art from the Baroque period, Roten said.”Baroque art was a reflection of heaven on Earth,”said Roten, a native of Switzerland.”In everything you did and showed, there was some kind of presence of the divine. … When you translate these things into creche culture … they suggest the idea of a far-reaching horizon, that this event has far-reaching importance and influence.” More than any other creche tradition, said Roten, the Germans and Austrians included figures with a”certain psychological note”that embody deep symbolic value.

One such example are the two identical figures _ twins, perhaps _ walking toward the creche. They represent humankind’s selfish, introverted nature, he said.”But you see more than just yourself when you see the manger. You discover a new dimension to your own being,”Roten said.”You are no longer self-contained and only preoccupied with yourself.” The earliest Nativity scenes were made of wood and clay. But as the custom spread around the globe, people began to create creches from materials that were integral to their culture.

Today, for example, Christians in France and Ecuador make Nativity sets from brightly colored bread dough. Fashioning figures from gingerbread is a tradition in the Czech Republic. Birchwood is often used in Poland. In Alaska, some native tribes carve Nativity figures from walrus tusks; some Africans use animal bones and ivory to tell the 2,000-year-old Christmas story.

In Peru, terra cotta is the favored medium. In Spain, a whimsical, homespun version of the Nativity uses a kettle to create a cave-like structure to shelter Jesus, Mary and Joseph. On the kettle’s lid, the three kings, camels in tow, proceed on their journey to the Christ child.


Roten tells of an order of nuns who are trying to resurrect the 18th-century custom of constructing Nativity sets from wax.”There is a certain revival movement going on in regard to Nativity sets, to revive the old traditions,”he said.

To help spur this revived interest in creches, the University of Dayton offers a course that follows the relationship between religion and culture using Nativity sets. And the school’s Marian Library, which contains the most comprehensive collection of printed material on the mother of Jesus, houses nearly 450 modern creches.

High prices prevent the library from adding more antiquated pieces to its collection. Recently, an Austrian Nativity set from the late 1800s carried a $15,000 price tag; an 18th-century set from Naples could fetch as much as $120,000, Roten said.

But regardless of the price, in Roten’s view, Christmas creches possess a mystical value that can be appreciated throughout the year.”They make you understand there is a relationship between God and human beings,”he said.”All of these elements try to communicate one basic truth. We can reach out to God because he reached out to us in the first place.”

JC END PAQUETTE

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