nativities

For Reasons, I took a day in the middle of this hot hot summer to go visit the KrippenWelt (nativity scene collection) in picturesque Stein am Rhein. What to say? It has many, many nativity scenes. After the third or fourth room of them, I started musing about exactly what archetype we are celebrating here, and then wondering - perhaps unfairly - whether these particular collectors are fans of "marriage is a union between one man and one woman." I just feel like...there may be more alternative depictions of God-becoming-human out there. Or maybe not? Anyway here are some of my favorites. You'll notice that my own taste runs towards the dark and unusual, but there were plenty of very traditional scenes too, some with hundreds of supporting characters, which is a beautiful notion in its own way.

This one was very hard to capture because of the glare from the windows, so you will have to take my word for it that it was awesome and maybe my very favorite. Made in Mali from recycled insecticide cans. (!!)

It's rocks.

Nativity in the Roman Colosseum, a.k.a. a recycled oil barrel. The tag says that this was made in 2000 by artist Roberto Cipollone from Tuscany, and it is titled "Internet" as in "he who gives too much information about himself to the internet is lion food." So.

The Life of Jesus in Russian nesting dolls. Somehow I love that he's born on the biggest one and dies in the fourth-from-smallest. But the very smallest appears to be the Star of Bethlehem, and everything starts again?

Another difficult lighting situation but the label says that the heads of the humans are open so that they can be filled by God's spirit, which seems like an excellent plan. Made by the Shipibo indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest in Peru.

If I've gotten lucky, I've arranged this last one so you can kind of see how it goes together - God is sending out the animals of the Earth in a great circle around the Holy Family. Also from Peru, I think. Stunning. My favorite in the "more traditional" category.