The story of the nativity comes to us from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.  This scene has been the subject of countless sculptors and painters throughout history.

In 1223 St. Francis reenacted what many believe was the first living Nativity. With permission from Pope Honorius III, St. Francis held a special Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve at the monastery at Greccio, Italy, wth the help of Giovanni Velita.  During the celebration a child was placed in a crib as an ox and donkey stood nearby.  This reenactment gave those who attended the ability to witness for themselves the miracle that occurred 1,223 years ago in Bethlehem. Detailed accounts of the events that lead up to the first living Nativity and what transpired afterwards can be found in the writings of St. Bonaventure and Thomas of Celano. 

The popularity of the Christmas crèche spread to Germany in the 1600’s.  Artists began carving these images into wood or making them out of straw.  Eventually, other materials were used such as stone and ivory.

In Italy, initially churches were the only ones that had erected Nativity scenes (Presipio) during Christmas, but it wasn’t long before the rich, prominent citizens had their own made. Some went to extremes, commissioning well known sculptors. Clothing was specially made for each figure and in some cases jewelry was added. It was at this point that figures resembling the type of people found in the town in which they were erected started to appear in the Nativity. 
The Neapolitan crèche is an excellent representation of the lifestyle and people in Naples.  You may see a fisherman, merchant and/or peasant looking towards the crib. You may also see various scenes that were not present during the birth of Christ. There may be a fountain and/or various buildings that also identify with the city.

The new found enthusiasm of erecting a presepi during Christmas may be contributed to Saint Gaetano who openly encouraged people to create the presepi as a sign of devotion. It wasn't until the later part of the 19th century that the presepi became apart of family traditions in nearly every home.

Many of the Christmas crèches made today are modeled after elaborate German crèches dating back to the seventeenth century as well as the Italian presepio.  Usually the Christmas nativity sets are in miniature form and over the years, the sets have been portrayed in many ways. Around the world these sets are known as a nacimiento, belen, presipio, szopks, pesebre, portal, Krippe, or jeslicky. In America the nativity scenes are known as a creche, a word meaning “manger“ or “crib“ in French.

Annually here at the National Shrine, we have our popular International Nativities Display which displays hundreds of nativities from around the world. This year, however, due to construction we will not be able to have this, but we will still have our annual crèche raffle. Look for the return of the International Display in 2008. It will be bigger & better with the addition of 400 new crèches!