Nativity scene
Other characters from the nativity story, such as shepherds, sheep, and angels may be displayed near the manger in a barn (or cave) intended to accommodate farm animals, as described in the Gospel of Luke.
The painting over its altar, and others before 1400, by Giotto at the Assisi Lower Church, and by Antonio Vite in Pistoia, depict Saint Francis kneeling and placing a small baby into a chest-like manger.
A substantial set of stone figures by Arnolfo di Cambio, a leading sculptor of the day, was made for Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome around 1290.
In the tradition of the Moravian Church, nativity scenes have been the center of the Christmas putz, which is "built to tell the Good News of the coming of the Christ Child" and "is the Gospel in miniature from Isaiah’s prophecy and Mary’s annunciation to the visit of the wisemen and the flight into Egypt.
"[12][13] For Moravian Christians, the nativity scene serves to celebrate "the story of the wonder of Christ’s birth so that the Son of God can be welcomed into the hearts of the home at the Christmas.
"[12][13] By the end of the 19th century nativity scenes became widely popular in many Christian denominations, and many versions in various sizes and made of various materials, such as terracotta, paper, wood, wax, and ivory, were marketed, often with a backdrop setting of a stable.
In the United States, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City annually displays a Neapolitan Baroque nativity scene before a 20 feet (6.1 m) blue spruce.
Families competed with each other to produce the most elegant and elaborate scenes and so, next to the Child Jesus, to the Holy Family and the shepherds, were placed ladies and gentlemen of the nobility, representatives of the bourgeoisie of the time, vendors with their banks and miniatures of cheese, bread, sheep, pigs, ducks or geese, and typical figures of the time like Roma fortune tellers predicting the future, people playing cards, housewives doing shopping, dogs, cats and chickens.
They may be elaborate affairs, featuring not only the classic nativity scene but also a mock rural 19th-century village, complete with artisans in traditional costumes working at their trades.
In 2010, the old city of Matera in Basilicata hosted the world's largest living nativity scene of the time, which was performed in the historic center, Sassi.
[citation needed] In Melbourne, a traditional and authentic nativity Scene is on display at St. Elizabeth's Parish, Dandenong North.
[22] To mark this special event, Most Reverend Denis Hart Archbishop of Melbourne celebrated the Vigil Mass and blessed the nativity scene on Saturday, 14 December 2013.
[24][25] The Czech Republic, and the cultures represented in its predecessors i.e. Czechoslovakia and the lands of former Bohemia, have a long tradition regarding betlémy (literally "Bethlehems"), crèches.
The tradition of home nativity scenes is often traced to the 1782 ban of church and institutional crèches by emperor Joseph II, officially responding to public disturbances and the resulting "loss of dignity" of such displays.
The following people are known for creating Czech paper crèches: Tomáš Krýza (1838–1918) built in a period of over 60 years a nativity scene covering 60 m2 (length 17 m, size and height 2 m) which contains 1,398 figures of humans and animals, of which 133 are moveable.
[31] Gingerbread nativity scenes and cribs in the church of St. Matthew in Šárka (Prague 6 Dejvice) have around 200 figures and houses, the tradition dates from since 1972; every year new ones are baked and after holidays eaten.
Famous in Naples, in fact, is the well-known via dei presepi (via San Gregorio Armeno) which offers a showcase of all the local crafts concerning the nativity scene.
[43][44][45] Perhaps the best known nativity scene in America is the Neapolitan Baroque Crèche displayed annually in the Medieval Sculpture Hall of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
More than 100 human and angelic figures, along with animals, accessories, and architectural elements, cover 250 square feet and create a depiction of the nativity as seen through the eyes of Neapolitan artisans and collectors.
Every year in Lanciano, Abruzzo (Italy), a nativity scene exhibition (called in Italian "Riscopriamo il presepe") takes place at Auditorium Diocleziano, usually until 6 January.
The event is organised by Associazione Amici di Lancianovecchia[54] Museums dedicated specifically to paper nativity scenes exist in Pečky (Czech Republic).
A life-sized scene in the United Kingdom featuring waxwork celebrities provoked outrage in 2004,[56] and, in Spain, a city council forbade[when?]
[59] In 1985, the United States Supreme Court ruled in ACLU v. Scarsdale, New York that nativity scenes on public lands were unconstitutional unless they also displayed non-religious symbols.
[60] This principle was further clarified in 1989, when Pittsburgh attorney Roslyn Litman argued, and the Supreme Court in County of Allegheny v. ACLU ruled,[61] that a crèche placed on the grand staircase of the Allegheny County Courthouse in Pittsburgh, PA violated the Establishment Clause, because the "principal or primary effect" of the display was to advance religion.
Because of the lawsuit, the decision was made to permit a nativity scene to be displayed in the rotunda of the state Capitol, in Olympia, as long as other symbols of the season were included.
