FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions we get most often, with short answers. Each one links to the guide that covers the topic in detail. The customs here are traditions, not rules: families have always done things their own way, and that’s just fine.
The dates
When do you set up the nativity scene?
Traditionally at the start of Advent, which is the fourth Sunday before Christmas, between November 27 and December 3 depending on the year. Many families set up the scenery and the village then, and leave the manger empty.
When do you place the Baby Jesus?
On Christmas Eve night, not before. Traditionally the youngest child in the house does it, often after Midnight Mass or on coming home from a Christmas Eve service. It’s the high point of the nativity, and doing it earlier takes away its meaning.
When do the Wise Men arrive?
At Epiphany: January 6, or in the U.S., the Sunday between January 2 and 8, when Epiphany is celebrated. The custom is to put them at the far end of the nativity on December 25 and move them a little closer each day: twelve days of travel. The Magi’s journey.
When should you take the nativity down?
On Candlemas, February 2, which rounds off the Christmas cycle. Some families take it down after Epiphany or after the Baptism of the Lord; taking it down on December 26 cuts the story off just as it’s getting started.
What is Saint Barbara’s wheat?
A Provençal custom: on December 4, you plant wheat or lentils in three saucers lined with damp cotton. The sprouts go into the nativity at Christmas. As the saying goes, if the wheat grows well, the year will go well. How to do it. Malta has its own version, the ġulbiena, sprouted in total darkness so the shoots stay white: see the nativity in Malta.
Santons
What santon size should you choose?
The 3-inch (7 cm) size if nothing limits you: it’s the standard, with the widest choice of figures. The 1½-inch (4 cm) size if space is tight. For a village nativity, plan a total width of 25 to 30 times the height of your santons. The size guide.
How many santons do you need to start?
Five: Mary, Joseph, the Baby Jesus, the ox and the donkey. Everything else can wait the first year. Your first nativity scene.
Can you mix santons of different sizes?
Yes, but only one way: smaller santons at the back, to suggest distance. Never the other way around, and only if a hill or other scenery separates them from the larger ones. The details.
Who is the ravi?
The figure with his arms raised and his mouth open. He’s often described as the village simpleton, but it’s more accurate to see him as the one overwhelmed with joy at the news. He’s one of the village figures of the 19th-century Provençal nativity, though, surprisingly, he isn’t in the usual cast of the pastorales (the Provençal Christmas plays). Who’s who.
How do you clean a santon?
With a soft, dry brush. Never use water or any cleaning product: the paint is often gouache, which comes off at the first rub. Care and storage.
A santon broke. What should you do?
Collect all the pieces, test-fit them without glue, then glue them with white wood glue or slow-setting epoxy. Avoid super glue, which soaks into the clay and leaves a mark. The method.
Building
Where do you start if you’ve never built a nativity scene?
Start with the backdrop, then the ground, then the buildings, then any water, then the wiring, then the plants, and the santons last. The most common mistake is doing it the other way around. The order of operations.
Can you use moss gathered in the woods?
We don’t recommend it: in a heated room it gets moldy or dries out within weeks, and it brings moisture and sometimes bugs into the scenery. In many places, picking it is also restricted (including on most public lands in the U.S.). Use preserved moss, or preserve your own with glycerin. The details.
What lighting for a nativity scene?
Warm (2,200 to 2,700 K), low, and not too much of it. Three or four lit spots, and the rest in shadow. Cool white light from above makes it look like a store window. Lighting.
Is a working fountain complicated?
It’s the only project in our guides that could damage your furniture. Use a low-voltage mini pump, a store-bought watertight container instead of a homemade basin, and run a one-hour test before you finish the scenery around it. There’s also a very convincing version with no water at all. The full guide.
My nativity looks flat. Why?
It almost always comes down to three things: no slope in the ground, a visible corner where the backdrop meets the floor, and a backdrop with too much detail or contrast. All three can be fixed. Why the backdrop decides everything.
Traditions
Where does the nativity scene come from?
The tradition goes back to Greccio, in central Italy, where Francis of Assisi set up a manger with a live ox and donkey on Christmas night 1223. The santon came much later, in Marseille, around 1800. The full history.
Do you have to be a believer to have a nativity scene?
No. Many people set one up out of family tradition, for the fun of building, or for the kids. The Provençal nativity is as much a portrait of a village as a religious scene, which is why it’s so full of people. That said, for Christians it’s first of all a quiet way to keep Christmas centered on the birth of Christ.
Is the caganer a joke?
No. This little crouching Catalan figure goes back at least to the 17th century and is said to bring fertility to the soil. He’s hidden somewhere in the scenery, and kids hunt for him. In the glossary.
Is the nativity scene the same everywhere?
No, and that’s the beauty of it. The Neapolitan presepe, the Kraków szopka, the Latin American nacimiento, the Moravian putz of Pennsylvania and the Alpine nativities are all different traditions. Each tells the story with its own landscape and its own trades. The nativity beyond Europe.
Can you add figures that aren’t traditional?
Yes: that’s exactly what the tradition has always done. The Provençal cast of characters took shape around 1800 and through the 19th century, when people put their own villagers into the nativity. In Naples, workshops add figures from the news every year.
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