Kribkes - The Origins

The nativity scene as we know it today has its origins with Francis of Assisi (1181 – 1226) This monk, who we know from his love for animals, was full of stories about the birth of Jesus. He was very concerned about the fate and circumstances in which Jesus was born and told about it over and over again to anyone who would listen.
Because he felt that his contemporaries had little regard for the human side of the story of the birth of Jesus, he decided to make it visual. He hoped that people would follow Jesus' example and go through life soberly and humbly.
In 1223, Francis had a stable built in the middle of the woods of Greccio. He arranged for an ox and a donkey to come and asked a farmer from the village to represent Joseph, a farmer's wife would stand for Mary and he put a small child in a manger (Manger - Manger). He made what we now call a living nativity scene.
Christmas night he celebrated Holy Mass there, the whole village came to watch and everyone was deeply impressed. The result was that people wanted more and more at Christmas to have the birth story portrayed in this way in the domestic circle. They carved their figurines from wood or they sculpted them from clay and that's how the current nativity scene took shape.

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