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Nativity scene from Olot in 1927. Author: Fernando Hualde

It must be recognized that, when Christmas arrives, putting up the nativity scene at home or in the parish is a custom strongly rooted in our country. It is also true that this not only happen in this Basque-Navarrean land, but throughout the Christian community. Precisely this month of December 2023 marks the 800th anniversary of that first nativity scene in history, a live nativity scene, made of flesh and blood, except for the Child who was a figurine. This took place in Italy, at the initiative of Saint Francis of Assisi. Therefore, it was in December 1223 when the nativity scene tradition began to take shape, initially as living nativity scenes, and shortly after based on figurines. These were born as a pedagogical tool of the Franciscans to teach the biblical passages of Matthew and Luke that narrate the Nativity of Jesus, to a society that mostly did not know how to read. From that moment onwards, it was the Franciscans and the Clarisses (female branch of the former) who maintained and extended this tradition. (more…)