The nativity scene is 800 years old – and is celebrated with an exhibition in Laholm Church

July

It can be said that the age of the Nativity scene this year is 800 years, as the origin of this phenomenon is attributed to the monk Franciscus of Assisi, who is said to have performed a live nativity scene in the year 1223. In Laholm in Halland, there is a church in which Sweden organized an exhibition of the nativity scene on Saint Lucia Day. On the occasion of the jubilee.

CBN News He conducted a video interview with Jeffrey Kluha at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., where he explained that Francis of Assisi was in Bethlehem and wanted to help people feel the “humble nature” of Jesus' birth.

So it is said that the monk, during Christmas of 1223, re-enacted the birth of Jesus, with animals, actors and a manger full of straw outside the Italian town of Greccio in Italy.

And at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., they are now displaying three award-winning handcrafted nativity scenes from the 2023 Malta Nativity Scene Competition.

“It forces you to confront how real Christ's birth is,” says Jeffrey Kloha, while looking at one of the museum's nativity scenes.

In Sweden, i Halland's Laholm The Church of Sweden placed a nativity scene in St Lucia's Vigil to mark its 800th anniversary. The initiative attracted as many as 25 beds brought by different people.

“It was so much fun to get 25 together. I thought we could get five to ten nativity scenes together,” says Pastor Anders Knutsson Cederhage on the phone with Varelden today.

He says parishioners participated and, as was intended, brought nativity scenes of all kinds, such as ceramic figurines from Mexico, three carved marble nativity scenes, and a Playmobil nativity scene.

“They thought it was very interesting, and it was very positive,” he says of the response.