Christmas And No End

Re-creating the scene of Christ's birth is one of the most tender and enduring Christmas traditions. In late summer of 1994, an earnest effort was begun at The Marian Library to collect various cultural expressions of the nativity scene. To date, the collection consists of more than 800 creches from many parts of the world. It represents a contribution to the study of religion and culture, and highlights the many ways in which they reflect age-old aspirations and fears of the human soul. The creche collection has developed into an ongoing project which, as a source for the study of the Incarnation, also finds expression in research and courses. This exhibit is part of an effort to make the meaning of God's coming in this world better known.

A special meaning of this event is given with the beginning of a new millennium. Even 2000 years after Christ's birth, Incarnation has not come to an end. As long as there is time and space, people and history, Incarnation in its effect, not as cause will be an ongoing event, personal as well as collective. God's coming is offered to all peoples at all times. This is the deeper meaning of the nativity sets exhibited here. They are a reflection on the many ways in which Christ has been sought and found, with a strong emphasis on seeking.

Christmas and no end there is an old legend about seeking and finding. The wise man Artaban in his pursuit of the star misses his three friends. He misses the Christchild, too, because his pilgrimage to Bethlehem leads to strange encounters with dying soldiers, ailing beggars and poor mothers. He gives them two of his three diamonds saved for the child in the manger. After thirty- three years and many adventures he returns to Jerusalem. There, he still diligently searches for the child. Artaban, now an old man, notes an unusual commotion. Inquiring about its cause he learns that they are taking Jesus of Nazareth, who calls himself King of the Jews, to Golgotha and his death. Artaban knows instinctively that this is the king for whom he has been searching. He rushes to the scene. Alas, once again, he is sidetracked. On his way he meets a young girl being sold into slavery. His heart is moved, and he gives away his last diamond for her ransom. Just then, darkness falls over the city, and Artaban knows that his king is dead. Inconsolable, he cries out: "Thirty-three years I looked for you, Lord, but I have never seen your face or ministered to you." But then a voice comes from heaven and says: "What you did to the least of my brothers and sisters, you did it to me." Artaban's restlessness is gone. His heart grows calm and his soul peaceful. His long journey is ended. He has found his king.

Meanwhile, the story goes on for each one of us is Artaban.

--Johann G. Roten, SM

Along the Path

This exhibit of more than sixty artefacts, some of them large and others tiny, conveys a variety of interpretations of the Christmas event. Some of the sets are little monuments to artistic creation and thus a simple statement of beauty. Others will take the visitor to faraway countries and their genius of telling the story of the Incarnation. Most of the scenes speak about human life as much as they speak of religion and God. There are allusions to life's ordinariness and mystery, and attempts to deal visually with suffering and injustice. Sometimes the story crests in a symbol pregnant with meaning, at other times the tale ends with a question mark. In all of these nativity sets the challenge of the Incarnation remains intact.

1 The Annunciation

2 Hats Everywhere
Unknown Artist
Mexico

3 Like Wife, Like Husband
Karin Howard
USA

4 Empty Hands
Chiapas Indians
Mexico

5 Trigonometry
Elizabeth Kuchen
Switzerland

6 African Symphony
Mohammed Amin
Ghana

7 Nondescript?
Gerry Wallace
USA

8 Sealed Scroll
Pelagia Bonniwell
USA

9 Cradle and Cross
Caritas Müller, Switzerland
Hans Wachter, Germany

10 The Accident
Manuel F. Cunha
Portugal

11 The Star That Was No Star
Unknown Artist
Mexico

12 Twins
Hans Huggler
Switzerland

13 Horse, Elephant and Camel
Unknown Artist (Tlaquepaque)
Mexico

14 Lightness of Being
Genella Ossi
Italy

15 Child Prodigies
June McKenna
USA

16 O Lord, you search me ...
Myra Vargas
Eduador

17 No Island
Unknown Artist
Madagascar

18 Romanesque Realism
Sisters of Bethlehem
France

37 Only A Taste
Gerardo Ortega
Mexico

38 Vegetal Reign
Mercedes C. Servin

39 Angel and Devil
Palsied people
Mexico

40 Rough and Tumble
Gochi Brothers
Mexico

41 Bulging Eyes
Unknown Artist
Poland

42 Pin People
Rita Chiavacci
USA

43 House of Bread
Angel Ortiz
Mexico

44 Flying Camels
Estella Bedoya de Arias
Ecuador

45 Masks
Eduardo Borja
Eduador

46 Blues
Jack Black
USA

47 A Collectible?
Hummel Collectibles
Germany

48 Ice Queen?
Unknown Artist
USA

49 Heavenly Music
Florencio Rodina
Gautemala

61 Open House
Kevin Hanna
USA

Christmas Between Adobe and Kiva

The first Indian-made nativities seem to have appeared in the late 1950's, at a time when the century-old European Crèhe tradition slowly but surely went into temporary decline. Over the next decades interest and production quickened. Today, a number of Indian artisans consider nativity sets an integral part of their yearly program. The early impetus for the making of indigenous crèches may have come from the tourist industry and major collectors. Growing interest in popular art and crafts, and stronger emphasis put on local cultural expressions of faith by the Catholic Church also explain why the making of nativities by Indian artisans of the southwestern United States is considered by experts a new and promising phenomenon.

What is meant here when speaking of Southwest and Indians is the region between Albuquerque and Taos in New Mexico. There are nineteen villages or pueblos in or close to that part of the Rio Grande Valley. Some of them are only sparsely populated, more tourist attraction than home to what is known as Mesa Indians. However, most of them, spread out between Acoma in the South and Taos in the North, have an age-old tradition of making pottery, which is the seed bed and also the stuff from which most Pueblo nativities are made. Although exposed to Christianity since 1540 when the first Spanish explorers entered New Mexico, the Indians' contribution to Christian art has been modest and sporadic until they discovered the nativity set. Today, Indian nativity artisans are believed to be the only homogenous group in the USA producing art on the theme of Christ's birth.

As in other regions with a rich crèche culture, Pueblo nativities represent different styles from colonial painted (or fabric-clothed) figures to sets made of Yucca. But the great majority of Pueblo artisans work solely in clay. At one time, their technique and decorating art depended very much on tradition and style proper to each pueblo. Things have changed. Many artisans now have their own style, sometimes a mixture of styles from different pueblos. For this reason, it becomes almost impossible to find the typical nativity set from Laguna or Jemez. This applies to the fifteen nativity set on display in this exhibit. They are from fifteen different artists, most of them contacted personally by the exhibitors, but they do not represent fifteen different pueblos.

At first glance, the visitor will discover that there exists a great similarity between the different sets. One of the foundational characteristics of pueblo art is its earth-boundness. Whatever the figure or personage, it does not speak its own language or message but that of the clay and the earth from where it comes. The message of the earth speaks of life and life's origin. Faces, limbs and extremities of pueblo crèche figures are crude and clumsy in the eye of the beholder used to the work of Neapolitan figurari or Provencal santonniers. For the Indian artisan the many details of the human or animal body are not important as long as they express loud and clear the message of the earth. The visitor has to look for different kinds of detail: colors, ornaments, various postures and features of a culture which is not indebted to Christianity. Most Indians have accepted the Christian religion as an addition to their own pre-Christian way of life. For this reason, the visitor will have to look at these nativity sets from two different vantage points. The Christian perspective is represented in the scene as such and its traditional characters. Indian culture is present in the finer details of decorative motifs and other traditional elements.

19 Corn and Rain
Mary Toya
Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico

20 Ladder of Ascent
Santana Seonia
Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico

21 Animalitos
Ignacia Saya Duran
Tesuque Pueblo, New Mexico

22 Cowboy Style
Reycita Garcia
San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico

23 Paths Crossing
Ethel Shields
Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico

24 Three Mothers
Thelma Lujan
Taos Pueblo, New Mexico

25 Stick Dancers
Alfred Aguilar
San Juan, New Mexico

26 All White
Antoinette Concha
Taos and Jemez, New Mexico

27 The Wonder of Telling
Mary Lucero
Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico

28 Indian Gifts
Margaret Gutierrez
Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico

29 Honored Tradition
Juanita Dubray
Taos Pueblo, New Mexico

30 ... And Beyond
Ann Graffy
USA

31 Adobe Nativity
Robert Toledo
Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico

32 Earthiness
Martha Arquero
Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico

33 Pilgrim's Rest
Dorothy Gutierrez
Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico

34 Jar and Tiles

35 Jar and Tiles

36 Jar and Tiles

No Place Like Home

One of the very human lessons of Christmas is about the importance of home. In the Incarnation, God made his home among us. He made thus an indirect but clear statement about the right to home and country, citizenship and social security. But if there is no place like home, it is equally true that home is first and foremost where they take you in. The latter was Christ's first and own experience. He was taken in by his mother, and all other generous or not so generous people who gave and still give him shelter in their homes or in their hearts.

Speaking about the Christchild's second home, we seem to know that it was a manger (Lk 2,16). But where stood the manger? Was it a cave, a barn or some run- down motel of Antiquity? Early Christmas tradition was influenced by Roman mythology. It placed the Christchild in a shelter or refuge not unlike that of Romulus and Remus. In Roman art it is called tugurium, meaning a roof, level or inclined, supported by four posts and open on all sides to wind, rain and sun. In the course of history, the architecture of Christ's first dwelling has changed many times as the following sampling shows. But many of them have retained the original concept of a simple roof over four posts.

50 Animal Nativity
Barry Grosscup
USA

51 Gothic Delight
Unknown Artist
Germany

52 Mere Pretext
Unknown Artist
Italy

53 Living Stone
Agnes Boiste
France

54 Taunting Heaven
Unknown Artist
Peru

55 Princely Canopy
Terez Patona
Hungary

56 Portable Bliss
Huamani Mitma
Peru

57 Flower Power
Unknown Artist
Mexico

58 Peppers and Snow
Jil Gurule
USA

59 Illumination in Wood
Jan Rejman
Czech Republic

60 Spectacle for the Many
Unknown Artist
Peru