One of my favorite traditions at Christmas is putting out my Nativity sets. One of them, a six-inch-tall hand carved scene, remains up all year long. Last year I purchased one in Alaska, with a wolf and a seal sitting right by baby Jesus.
As I set up my multitude of Nativity scenes, I wondered about the history of my favorite tradition. I did a little digging, and I’m sharing it with you. Merry Christmas, and much appreciation to the Smithsonian Magazine!
The Nativity scene traces its origins back some 1,500 years. The tradition has changed over time, taking on new meanings as Christianity itself has evolved.
Saint Francis of Assisi is credited with creating the first outdoor crèche, a French word for crib. According to his followers, he honored the birth of Jesus by setting up a manger filled with hay, an ox and a donkey in Greccio, Italy, in 1223.
“By setting the scene in a real environment, Francis intended to provide the ordinary person with access to the divine in the created world,” says Felicity Harley-McGowan, an art historian at Yale University. “The divine did not have to be inside a structured church.”
After that first nativity scene, the practice became popular and spread far and wide. Within a century, virtually every church in Italy had taken up the practice. Over time, statues were used instead of live actors, which eventually led to the in-home nativity scenes that are so much a part of Christmas today. Within a couple of centuries, nativity scenes had spread throughout Europe. The cast of characters gradually expanded beyond Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, to sometimes include an entire village.
Nativity buffs know that the familiar cast of characters relied upon today—the three wise men and the shepherds—is not biblically accurate. Of the New Testament’s four gospels, only Matthew and Luke describe Jesus’ birth. Matthew mentions wise men, while Luke comments on shepherds. But nowhere in the Bible do shepherds and wise men appear together. Matthew suggests the Magi followed the star to Jesus’s home a year or more after his birth—but believers find inspiration in see these beloved figures from the Christmas story gathered together in one place. No writer mentions donkeys, oxen, cattle or other farmyard friends in conjunction with Jesus’ birth. But what would a nativity scene be without those staples?
The directors of all the Nativity pageants are thankful for these questionable additions. When a person has thirty children, some artistic interpretations are necessary.
Jann Goar Franklin graduated Russellville High School in 1985 and lives in Grand Cane, Louisiana. She also writes books, which are for sale at www.jannfranklin.com. You can reach her at jann@jannfranklin.com