A short history of the Christmas nativity scene

The Christmas nativity is a festive tradition in many Western countries, with sculptures and figurines used to create a physical representation of the scene of the birth of Jesus. This year the nativity celebrates its 800th anniversary, but where did it all begin?

As the mathematically alert will have calculated, the story dates back to 1223: Francis of Assisi, returning from a trip to the Holy Land, created a nativity scene in a cave in the village of Greccio, in central Italy. The scene depicted villagers brought together around a manger or "cripia" in Latin who were surrounded by an ox and a donkey.

From a religious point of view, the Greccio nativity scene "is part of a context where we rediscover that it is smallness that is divine, not royalty", explains Franciscan François Comparat, former professor of theology.

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The evolution of the nativity

In fact, representations of the nativity existed before. "There is a partly symbolic dimension in these 800 years," says Isabelle Saint-Martin, historian at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Études, although she acknowledges that the popularity has boomed in more recent centuries.

"It was especially in the 17th century that devotion to the child Jesus developed, which went hand in hand with interest in the nativity scene," she explains. "To encourage it, we highlighted the story of Greccio."

The 17th and 18th centuries saw the development of nativity scenes with large figurines, particularly Neapolitan. Under the Ancien Régime, small nativity scenes also appeared in display boxes with fixed figurines in spun glass, wax and papier-mâché.

It was at the end of the 18th century that the family nativity scene appeared, with small movable figurines, whose "development paralleled that of children's toys, which took off in the 19th century", explains the historian. The French revolution could also have been "a favorable factor", the limitation of worship encouraging the return of nurseries to the private sphere.

Shortly after, in the very first years of the 19th century, "we saw figurine manufacturers arriving on the Provençal markets. Small family nativity scenes were becoming popular," Saint-Martin says.

Blacksmiths and Bernard Tapie 

In modern times a whole host of characters, including fishermen, spinners and blacksmiths have regularly featured in nativity scenes. In recent years, we have even seen Santa Claus, Bernard Tapie and Yellow Vests included.

"In this new world inaugurated by Jesus, there is room for everything that is human," Pope Francis explained in 2019 in an apostolic letter in which he invited us to reconnect with a spiritual reading of the nativity scene.

Tradition has it that the nativity scene, installed at the beginning of December, welcomes the character of Jesus on Christmas night, then the three wise men on Epiphany Day in early January.

If the nativity scene did not catch on among Protestants, in Catholic countries it developed with local specificities: naive Peruvian "retablos" or German wooden "Christmas pyramids" and Polish "szopkas" in aluminum foil.

The future of the nativity

Since 2018, the Vatican has exhibited around 100 nativity scenes from around the world in the run-up to Christmas. The town of Greccio has been celebrating "800 years" since the beginning of the year.

And in France various initiatives are planned, including a living nativity scene at Bourges Cathedral and a nativity scene festival in Grenoble.

The number of practising Catholics continues to decline in France, but the nativity tradition continues. According to an Ifop survey for La Vie, more than two in five French people (41 percent) still set up a nativity scene - rising to half among families with children.

Pollsters Ifop ascribed this "resilience" to "its traditional and cultural dimension" - but in a country governed by the principle of secularism, the question regularly causes controversy when an elected official, generally from the right or the extreme right, installs a nativity scene, a symbol of Christmas more religiously marked than the tree.

This is the case again this year in Perpignan and Béziers. In 2016, the Council of State authorized the installation of nativities in public buildings, but under strict conditions: the absence of proselytism, cultural or festive events, on the occasion of Christmas etc.

Last year, around 20 Republican senators tabled a bill aimed at "preserving nativities." After all, a tradition that has continued and developed for at least eight centuries is hardly likely to end without a fight. 

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