Editing Nativity scene (section)

==Components==
===Static nativity scenes===
[[File:BarcelonaNativityScene.jpg|thumb|Outdoor nativity scene of life-sized figurines in [[Barcelona]] (2009)]]
Static nativity scenes depict Jesus, Mary, Joseph, farm animals, and sometimes other characters.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Burke |first=Jennifer |date=30 November 2021 |title=Christmas creches help Catholics enter into Nativity story |url=https://catholiccourier.com/articles/christmas-creches-help-catholics-enter-into-nativity-story/ |access-date=2022-08-12 |website=Catholic Courier |language=en-US}}</ref> While most home nativity scenes are packed away at Christmas or shortly thereafter, nativity scenes in churches usually remain on display until the feast of the [[Baptism of the Lord]].<ref name="Dues" />

The nativity scene may not accurately reflect gospel events. With no basis in the gospels, for example, the shepherds, the Magi, and the [[ox]] and [[asinus|ass]] may be displayed together at the manger. The art form can be traced back to eighteenth-century [[Naples|Naples, Italy]]. Neapolitan nativity scenes do not represent Bethlehem at the time of Jesus but the life of the Naples of 1700, during the [[House of Bourbon|Bourbon]] period. Families competed with each other to produce the most elegant and elaborate scenes and so, next to the [[Child Jesus]], to the [[Holy Family]] and the shepherds, were placed ladies and gentlemen of the nobility, representatives of the [[bourgeoisie]] of the time, vendors with their banks and miniatures of cheese, bread, sheep, pigs, ducks or geese, and typical figures of the time like Roma fortune tellers predicting the future, people playing cards, housewives doing shopping, dogs, cats and chickens.<ref>[http://citiesitaly.com/destinations/naples/the-neapolitan-crib "Neapolitan Crib: The crib and 1700s Naples."] {{webarchive|url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20131220062628/http://citiesitaly.com/destinations/naples/the-neapolitan-crib |date=20 December 2013 }}. CitiesItaly.com. Retrieved 18 December 2013.</ref>

===Living nativity scenes===
[[File:Sicilian artigiana 2.jpg|thumb|Living nativity in [[Sicily]], which also contains a mock rural 19th-century village]]
{{See also|Nativity play}}

In southern Italy, living nativity scenes (''presepe vivente'') are extremely popular. They may be elaborate affairs, featuring not only the classic nativity scene but also a mock rural 19th-century village, complete with artisans in traditional costumes working at their trades. These attract many visitors and have been televised on [[RAI]]. In 2010, the old city of [[Matera]] in Basilicata hosted the world's largest living nativity scene of the time, which was performed in the historic center, [[Sassi di Matera|Sassi]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Most people in a nativity scene: Welton Baptist Church sets world record|url=http://www.worldrecordacademy.com/mass/most_people_in_a_nativity_scene_Welton_Baptist_Church_sets_world_record_112612.html|access-date=6 January 2015|publisher=worldrecordacademy.com|date=4 December 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304033101/http://www.worldrecordacademy.com/mass/most_people_in_a_nativity_scene_Welton_Baptist_Church_sets_world_record_112612.html|archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref>

===Animals in nativity scenes===
[[File:9821 - Milano - Sant'Ambrogio - Sarcofago di Stilicone - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto 25-Apr-2007.jpg|thumb|The ox, the ass, and the infant Jesus in one of the earliest depictions of the nativity, (Ancient Roman Christian sarcophagus, 4th century)]]

A donkey (or ass) and an [[ox]] typically appear in nativity scenes. Besides the necessity of animals for an operating manger, this is an allusion to the [[Book of Isaiah]]: "the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider" ([[Isaiah 1:3]]). The Gospels  mention neither an ox and nor a donkey, however.<ref name="Hobgood-Oster">Hobgood-Oster, Laura. ''Holy Dogs and Asses: Animals in the Christian Tradition''. University of Illinois Press, 2008. {{ISBN|0-252-03213-6}}.</ref> The first Christian writer to mention the ox and the ass in the stable in Bethlehem is [[Origen of Alexandria]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Origen |title=Homilies on Luke |date=1996 |url=https://archive.org/details/homiliesonlukefr0000orig/page/55/ |quote="That was the manger of which the inspired prophet said, 'The ox knows his owner and the ass his master’s manger.' The ox is a clean animal, the ass an unclean animal. 'The ass knows his master’s manger.' The people of Israel did not know their Lord’s manger, but an unclean animal from among the Gentiles did."}}</ref> Another source for the tradition might be the extracanonical text, the [[Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew]] of the 7th century.<ref>{{cite book | title=John Gill's Exposition of the Bible | url=http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/habakkuk-3-2.html | year=1748–1763 | author-link=John Gill (theologian) | last=Gill | first=John | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100821011101/http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/habakkuk-3-2.html | archive-date=2010-08-21 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=The Eucharist in Romanesque France: iconography and theology | last=Saxon | first=Elizabeth | page=107 | publisher=Boydell Press | isbn=978-1-84383-256-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5DwQB4_6tG0C&q=Habakkuk+%22Between+two+animals%22&pg=PA107 | year=2006 | access-date=2020-10-19 | archive-date=2021-11-07 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211107122436/https://books.google.com/books?id=5DwQB4_6tG0C&q=Habakkuk+%22Between+two+animals%22&pg=PA107 | url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Esslingen - Weihnachtskrippe.jpg|thumb|Living scene in Germany]]