December 15, 2006
By Sandra Brands

ALBANY, NY – The traditional Nativity set usually has a straw-filled manger in a facsimile of a stable, surrounded by a Mary, Joseph, three kings, a couple of shepherds and a hovering angel – often with European features – and an assortment of animals.

At least, that's the traditional Nativity in some parts of the world. In other parts of the world, the depiction of Christ's birth might take place on a beach, at the foot of a volcano or in an igloo. The three kings might come wearing fur coats, and the animals might be a water buffalo, a llama or a walrus.

What makes up a traditional Nativity set depends on who's making the Nativity scene. That's what makes collecting sets from around the world so fascinating, says the Rev. Jan Rowell, pastor at Scotia United Methodist Church near Albany.

"The Christmas story is about God coming among the people, being with us in Jesus," she says. "Each Nativity seems to reflect the important part of the story to each culture. These (Nativities) help people connect to the story because they see their own faces.

"The Nativity sets demonstrate the universality of the story," she says. "It's not confined to one culture."

Take the Nativity set from Kenya, she says. The features of the face of Joseph depict the face of the woodcarver who made the set, which is a Kenyan tradition.

The Burmese set has a large number of animals. The Japanese images of Mary and Joseph seem rooted in portrayals of the Buddha. Jesus is sleeping in a basket swing hanging from the rafters of a Laotian house on stilts. From India comes the brass candlestick with the colorful enameled Nativity scene. A pitch-black set obtained while on a Volunteer-In-Mission trip to Red Bird Mission in Kentucky is carved from coal.

"A lot of the people in that area (Kentucky) worked in the mines," Rowell says. Like so many of the sets, the coal Nativity is an example of how people take the ordinary in their environment and transform it into art that tells the Christmas story, she says.

In the Holy Land, it's traditional to make the Nativity scenes out of olive wood. In Burma and Laos, bamboo is used. The Asante and Kenyan sets use ebony. Another set from Red Bird Mission is made of corn husks.

For Rowell, the Nativities are also a teaching tool, showing how different cultures understand God as well as helping people clarify their own views of God in their lives.

Nativities can help parents teach children about the Christian faith, she says. "I encourage parents to have a Nativity set (that) children can play with and can use to tell the Christmas story."

‘God with us'

Each year, at the beginning of Advent, Rowell unwraps her Nativity sets and displays them throughout her house. Often, she brings a few to church for the year.

"I keep a few sets out, often connected to a certain place to remind me of the people," she says. This year, she displayed sets from Africa, Ecuador and Mexico.

Rowell began collecting Nativities while in junior high school. Her first set was from a Woolworth store, and her father, Bill McClary, a member of Burnt Hills (N.Y.) United Methodist Church, built the crèche. Rowell added a figure a year.

Today, she has 40 Nativity scenes, some of which she's purchased through online auctions, some from a sweat-free shop in Albany and others while on Volunteer-In-Mission trips. A number of the sets have been given to her as gifts. She even has one of toothpicks and dowels made by her daughter, Elizabeth, as a school project.

"What I look for is how people of different cultures would depict Christ coming among them and in their culture," Rowell explains, "because Emmanuel is ‘God with us.'"

United Methodist News Service
Sandra Brands is director of communications for the United Methodist Church's Troy Annual Conference.