![]() The golden age of crèche-creation came in 18 th century Naples, when artisans moved the manger scene from Bethlehem into bustling towns of their time, expanding the traditional biblical cast with dozens of miniature terracotta figures of butchers and beggars, fops and fortune-tellers, principesse and priests, decked in silks and satins and buckles and beads. Some of the figures can still be found in a crypt chapel of the church. The first such crèche (from the French word “crib”) was a marble statue group Tuscan Sculptor Arnolfo di Cambio carved in around 1290 to go with what were believed to be boards from the Bethlehem manger in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. Never mind they could not all have been in the same place at the same time, as biblical scholars are quick to point out! Figurines soon stood in for people in Christmas displays. In an age of mystery and miracle plays, performers appeared as the Holy Family, the Shepherds, and the Wise Men. Bonaventure reports some spectators did see “an infant marvelously beautiful, sleeping in the manger.” The leftover hay “miraculously cured all diseases of cattle, and many other pestilences.”įrancis’ novel nativity set piece quickly caught on across Europe. With the blessing of the Pope, he brought hay, an ox, and an ass to a niche in a rock and gathered the faithful for Midnight Mass, calling on them to behold the crib of the “Babe of Bethlehem,” their king so humbly born. Bonaventure, tells the tale, Francis was looking for a way in 1223 to make the Christmas story more accessible to the villagers of the Italian town of Greccio and decided to set up his own simple manger. Francis of Assisi can take credit for creating the first Nativity scene.
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