by Gerald Boerner
“And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.”
— Bible Quotes
“He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.”
— Bible Quotes
“One’s nativity is not of his own choosing, but whatever it may be, it is entitled to respect; and all nations have honorable place in the world’s family.”
— Paul Harris
“Really, at a time when they’re debating when and where a nativity scene can be used, this is the kind of stuff we need to have out there – outside of the church.”
— John Tesh
“The Supreme Court has ruled that they cannot have a nativity scene in Washington, D.C. This wasn’t for any religious reasons. They couldn’t find three wise men and a virgin.”
— Jay Leno
“Forasmuch as the feast of the nativity of Christ, Easter, Whitsuntide, and other festivals, commonly called holy-days, have been heretofore superstitiously used and observed; be it ordained, that the said feasts, and all other festivals, commonly called Christmas.”
— Bible Quotes
“Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, / Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, / And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.”
— Bible Quotes
“Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way,
And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion,
Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity:
And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea.”
— Bible Quotes
Nativity Crèches (Santons)
Santons (Provençal: "santoun," or "little saint") are small (2.5-15 cm.) hand-painted, terracotta nativity scene figurines produced in the Provence region of southeastern France. In a traditional Provençal crèche, there are 55 individual figures representing various characters from Provençal village life such as the scissors grinder, the fishwife, the blind man, and the chestnut seller.
The first santons were created by Marseillais artisan Jean-Louis Lagnel (1764-1822) during the French Revolution when churches were forcibly closed and their large nativity scenes prohibited. Lagnel crafted small clay figurines in plaster molds and let them dry before firing them.
At Christmas in Provence, in Southern France, families usually set up elaborate villages around the stable with all of the town’s people outside. On Christmas day, parents tell their children stories about each of the statues in their family Nativity scene pointing out how each person brought their best gifts to the Christ-child in gratitude of the Good God. The stories end with an explanation of how the people were turned into statues. These statutes are called santons, a word from the Provencal “santoun” that means “small saint.” Each year the Nativity scenes are taken out to remind us that on the first Christmas, the Good God gave us the best gift ever: his Son, Jesus Christ.
The Provencal santon is a clay figure, hand painted, representing a villager who comes to the crèche to worship the new-born Babe and to offer him the fruits of his or her work. The gifts of the santons are not so precious as the gifts of the three kings, rather the gifts are simple and given wholeheartedly.
A maker of santons is a santonnier, and the creation of santons today is essentially a family craft, handed down from parents to children, Santons are fashioned in two halves, pressed together, and fused. Hats, baskets, and other accessories are applied with an adhesive. When the figure is completely dry, it is given a gelatin bath in order to harden the figure further and to provide a surface for the application of pigments. Faces are painted first, then hair, clothing and accessories. Until the end of the 19th century, santons were air-dried rather than fired in a kiln. As a consequence, such figures were fragile and easily broken. Modern santons are generally fired in a kiln. There are two types of santons: santons d’argile (clay figures), and doll-like santons habillé (clothed figures).
Since 1803, santonniers have gathered in Marseille each December to display and sell their wares at the Foire des Santonniers. Aubagne holds a two-day fair, Biennale de l’Art Santonnier, and the Musée du Santon in Marseille exhibits a private collection of 18th and 19th century santons.
The Varieties of Crèches
Sizes of the creches vary from the itty-bitty to the huge. The most famous tiny one is a creche in half of a walnut shell, made by Christian Ricort. At the Musée des Crèches we saw several others that were fit inside hollowed stones and other fairly small objects. The biggest creche is a 10-meter long replica of the village of Lucéram, also built by Madame Christian Ricort.
A true creche is a simple Nativity scene, with Mary, Joseph, the baby, a few animals and shepherds, and sometimes the three mages. The creches of Provence often expands this theme into the world of Provencal santons, with a complete creche that includes a replica of the village, the surrounding hills, and depictions of the principal arts and trades of the area. An example of this "grande crèche provençale" is Lucéram’s biggest creche, located in the Chapelle St Pierre [photo].
Lucéram’s annual "Circuit des Crèches" proposes a circuit for visitors to follow, leading them through the town, down little streets, beneath low vaulted passages, through large squares, past museum,s, chapels, "lavoirs" and fountains. Collections of creches are presented in the Chapelle St Pierre, the Musée de la Creches and the Maison de Pays. A life-sized creche is in the main square, Place Adrien Barralis, and another in a dark passage high in the old village. Crèches fill old stone "lavoirs", with one in a gold-fish tank submerged in the bassin. Large creches are inside houses, viewed through windows or open doorways, and smaller creches are everywhere. They perch over the top of doorways, sit in wood and stone flower boxes, inhabit small air-vent openings in the stone walls. Part of the pleasure of the Lucéram creches is discovering these jewels of imagination and creation.
An elderly lady who is continuing her mother’s trade as the town’s "fileuse" (wool spinner) invited us inside to see the creches she had there, and demonstrated her wool spining method for Beyond. Her own creation was an African crèche influenced from when she had lived in Chad. Another creche in her house had been built by blind children from the School of the Blind in Cannes – the pieces as small as could be made by touch alone.
In different parts of the village, Beyond found crèches made by small children, using plastic characters, and sophisticated crèches done at great cost and with hundreds of hours of labor. Crèches were made from stone, olive wood, knitted wool, clay, bread, modelling clay, ebony, bee’s wax and match sticks. Some of the smaller creches were installed in barrels, in glass bon-bons (wine jugs), hollowed-out petanque balls, hollow amethysts, gourdes, bee hives, loaves of bread and amphors.
Today regional crèches have sprung up in many parts of France and Canada and they too are called santons. You can find santons wearing the clothing and working at the special trades of Alsace, Brittany, Catalan, Quebec, Montreal, etc. Collecting santons continues to be popular, however the original religious meaning is lost on many collectors as their focus is on buying the santons as art objects rather than as something sacred.
Background and biographical information is from Wikipedia articles on:
Luceram Crèches can be found at…
http://www.beyond.fr/themes/luceram-creche-provence-france.html
Santon (Figurine) can be found at…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santon_%28figurine%29
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