19 Facts About Nativity scene

Nativity scene himself had recently been inspired by his visit to the Holy Land, where he'd been shown Jesus's traditional birthplace.

The Nativity scene's popularity inspired communities throughout Christian countries to stage similar exhibitions.

Nativity scene takes its inspiration from the accounts of the birth of Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.

The nativity scene created by Saint Francis, is described by Saint Bonaventure in his Life of Saint Francis of Assisi written around 1260.

Exhibitions similar to the Nativity scene staged by St Francis at Greccio became an annual event throughout Christendom.

Related searches

In some countries, the nativity scene took to the streets with human performers costumed as Joseph and Mary traveling from house to house seeking shelter and being told by the houses' occupants to move on.

In Melbourne, a traditional and authentic Nativity Scene is on display at St Elizabeth's Parish, Dandenong North.

Santon is a small hand-painted, terracotta nativity scene figurine produced in the Provence region of southeastern France.

In 2006, the nativity scene featured seventeen new figures of spruce on loan to the Vatican from sculptors and wood sawyers of the town of Tesero, Italy in the Italian Alps.

The Nativity scene featured seventeen figures with nine depicting the Holy Family, the Magi, and the shepherds.

The 2008 Nativity scene was set in Bethlehem with a fountain and a hearth representing regeneration and light.

Life-size nativity scene has been displayed annually at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah for several decades as part of the large outdoor Christmas displays sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

On her Christmas Day 2007 television show, Martha Stewart exhibited the nativity scene she made in pottery classes at the Alderson Federal Prison Camp in Alderson, West Virginia while serving a 2005 sentence.

In 1969, the American Civil Liberties Union, tried to block the construction of a nativity scene on The Ellipse in Washington, D C When the ACLU claimed the government sponsorship of a distinctly Christian symbol violated separation of church and state, the sponsors of the fifty-year-old Christmas celebration, Pageant of Peace, who had an exclusive permit from the Interior Department for all events on the Ellipse, responded that the nativity scene was a reminder of America's spiritual heritage.

The court opined that the nativity scene should be dropped from the pageant or the government end its participation in the event in order to avoid "excessive entanglements" between government and religion.

In December 2004, Madame Tussaud's London, England, United Kingdom nativity scene featured waxwork models of soccer star David Beckham and his wife Victoria Beckham as Joseph and Mary, and Kylie Minogue as the Angel.

Nativity scene's said the display was intended in the spirit of fun.

The Nativity scene was damaged in protest by James Anstice, a member of the Jesus Fellowship Church, who pushed over one of the figures and knocked the head off another.

The Nativity scene represents the day and night, the rain and snow, the culture and the works of the countryside way of life that has kept changing in recent decades.