17 December 2008

Exhibit Showcases Crèches from Around the World

Some 500 Nativity sets on display in Washington

 

A Peruvian crèche made from gourds

A Peruvian crèche made from gourds

By Meghan Loftus
Staff Writer

Washington — In Polish, it is szopka; in Portugues, pesebre; German, krippe; Spanish, nacimiento; and French, crèche. For the world’s 2 billion Christians, the Nativity scene, depicting the birth of Jesus Christ, is an important part of celebrating Christmas.

Visitors to the National Cathedral in Washington will find a display of 500 Nativity sets from around the globe, including Kenya, Finland, Israel, Panama, Sri Lanka, Portugal and Burkina-Faso, to name a few, through January 6, 2009.

Crèches are simply folk art or commercial representations of the birth of Jesus Christ. The history of the crèche dates back to Francis of Assisi, a Catholic saint, who in the early 13th century wanted to make the birth of Christ more real to Christians. Francis and his friend Giovanni Velitta set up a stable with animals and straw and enlisted people in the community to act in the stable.

UNIQUE TECHNIQUES

The crèche artists featured in Washington were creative in considering their materials and the designs. Two hand-blown glass ornaments from China were painstakingly painted with Nativity scenes from the inside, using single-hair and multihair brushes that were bent to fit a tiny opening at the bottom of the ornament. A crèche from Africa was crafted from indigenous wenge wood, and the artists used the grain of the wood to create patterns and facial features.

 

The szopka from Poland is made of foil.

The szopka from Poland is made of foil.

The ancient Japanese art of raku firing was used on the ceramic pieces of the crèche from South Africa. In this technique, each piece is baked in the kiln for 12 hours, then glazed. The piece is then put back in the gas kiln to be heated to 950 degrees Celsius. It is then removed and the hot piece is placed on a bed of sawdust to create the pattern on the piece.

Some artists made deliberate stylistic choices that reflected a larger idea about the country of origin. Liliana Mera Lime of the Dominican Republic crafted her Nativity figures without any defined facial features. She believes that though the people of the Dominican Republic have a distinct personality, they are a mixture of many races, ethnicities and cultures, and she wanted the figures to reflect this reality.

UNCOMMON MATERIALS

The materials used for the crèches are as diverse as the styles. Though most crèches are constructed from wood, clay, metals, or stone, some used unconventional materials. The crèche from Hungary used felt material to depict traditional Hungarian clothing on the figures and to create the long-horned white ox, which is native to Hungary. One Mexican crèche is interactive; when a handle is turned, the wise men and shepherds raise their arms in exultation and the animals raise their heads to the newborn child.

Natural materials were used on some of the crèches. A Peruvian crèche was cleverly constructed using different gourds to represent the animals and figures, and a Haitian crèche used a coconut to cover the Holy Family. The Japanese crèche was carved using mother of pearl, and on the shelf above it is a crèche from El Salvador made from large seeds with a dark coating.

Visitors have the opportunity to write their favorite crèches in the guestbook. One visitor commented on the crèche made of foil and cardboard from Poland: “The idea that it is made from things we throw away every day makes me see the [holiness] more.”

Another crèche that attracted much attention for its unusual material was from the United States. The crèche from Washington state was made from the ash of Mount Saint Helen, a volcano that last erupted in 1980.

More information on the exhibit is available on the web site of the National Cathedral.