From the early days of the Church, believers painted scenes of the
birth of Christ beginning in the catecombs. These scenes became a staple of
Christian life and carried on through the years. In the time of St. Francis of
Assisi, the images had taken a new form: faithful Catholics would set out
mangers in front of their local church, but these mangers were often jeweled
and made of gold to represent who they held. St. Francis marvelled at this and
felt that the people were forgetting the humble, poor birth of our Lord Jesus.
So in 1223, St. Francis created the first living Creche in a small
cave in Italy. On Christmas eve he gathered with others to act out the Nativity
scene in all it's impoverished glory. This re-enactment is credited as the
first Creche (which is French for "manger") and from that point
forward the creche was designed in a more realistic way by depicting a stable
scene.
A creche traditionally includes two animals: an ox and a donkey.
These were the two animals participating in St. Francis' creche because he
wanted to allude to Isaiah 1:3 which states "The ox knows its owner, and
the ass its master's crib; but Israel does not know, my people does not
understand."
Another important consideration is that the shepherds and the wise
men shouldn't be at the creche together. These days, we tend to simply sit all
the players out and leave them there for the season. However in many countries
they add and remove characters based on the day. So for example, the manger
should be empty until Christmas day. The next day shepherds show up. But not
until early January do the wise men show up (by which time the shepherds have
returned to their duties). And the nativity should stay up until February 2nd,
which is the feast day of the Presentation of the Lord.
And your thought whacking out the nativity scene was the easy part
of Christmas decorating!!!~
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