In southern Europe, where the Christmas tree never found much favor, home Christmas decoration focuses around the Nativity scene. The Spanish call the scene nacimiento (meaning "birth"), or a belén (meaning "Bethlehem"), the Italians call it a presépio (meaning "crib"), and the French call it crèche (meaning "crib"). In the same way that many North Americans collect Christmas tree ornaments, many southern European families slowly build a treasured collection of Nativity figurines. – Encyclopedia of Christmas p. 410
Advent Calendar - December 14
Christmas Fact:
The Nativity figurine market thrives in North America too - judging by the wares available here, and here and here.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
only 11 more sleeps
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2 comments:
I love nativity scenes. Our son's tutor gave him a magnetic from the Oriental Trading Company. She's using them with all her students, using them to teach reading of a simple Christmas story.
I love nativity scenes too. What a lovely gift from your son's tutor. I never thought of them as a way to teach reading!
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