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Christmas crib was born, in the canonical sense, only in
recent times, “that Christmas night of 1223, St.
Francesco……”
There
are those who go even further back in time, as will see later. The
intellectual affirmations ( above all those that tried to show the
validity of their statements ) are not familiar to me, but I always try
to get to the
“truth” of matters. therefore, in order to be sure of the
facts, I have divided
The
history of the crib as we know it, into different parts :
1)
The greek and roman
inheritance.
2)
The crib, interpreted as
being a part of figurative art.
3)
The miracle of
St.Francesco
The
representation of the divinities in figurines finds it’s origin in an
antique era. The great works representing the gods though, did not ever
prevent the common man in making his own symbols and of keeping them in
his home. In the Acts of the Apostles we find this use mentioned, in
fact St. Paul had to defend himself from the craftsmen of Efeso, because
his preaching, according to them, impeded their selling of silver
statuines representing Artimide ( Act 19, 24 and following ).
Now
it is for certain that in Naples, where today the St.Gregorio Armeno
street is,
proof has been found, archaeologically documentated, of an
artisan activity, dated back to the V century b.C., which created
products in clay that represented pagan divinities ( in
particular the goddess Demetra ). it seems in fact that on the spot
where the convent of St.Gregorio Armeno now stands, there was once a
temple dedicated to Cerere, the roman equivalent of the same greek
goddess. The conversion of temples was a common practice in all
civilizations, including the christian one, that transformed many of
these pagan places into churches.
We
shall speak in greater detail of this particular
neapolitan street (for it’s connections to art and “magic”
) another time.
The
continuation in the pagan era was insured by the tradition of having in
the homes
( in the “atrium”, where the fireplace was situated ) small
alters dedicated to the Lares, on which coloured clay figures were
placed.
Moving
ahead in time to the VIII century, Naples was host to oriental monks
of the St.Basilio order, “expelled” by Leone III, emperor of
the east, who fought the cult of holy images. Of course the craftsmen
who constructed these statues were exiled with them, and it was natural
that they made their homes in the same area of St. Gregorio Armeno.
There
are some who believe that our crib was born from the pagan tradition,
that we spoke about above, of keeping tender figurines in the homes. A
sort of continuity can be perhaps found instead in the glass “bells”,
or even in the statues of the saints, kept in many homes of neapolitan
families, but were absolutely not to be found
in the crib.
First
of all our Christmas cribs symbolize, certainly, the Holy event, but
even though it is the central part of the scene, it is not the real
protagonist of the representation. I should add that many who have a
passion for this subject give more importance to other scenes (for
example , the announcement to the shepherds, or the “diversorium”,
scenes that certainly do not have a divine context ), than to the actual
Nativity itself.
The
crib, comes to life
only in the Christmas season. instead the Lares were also present
all year round on the small domestic alters. If the
be truth be said, even in the homes of the aristocracy, where the
representations
of the Nativity
occupied a whole room,
they were in any case locked up
for the rest of the year too. The real objects of the cult, like
the cross or the statue of the 
Virgin Mary with Baby Jesus, were not for
example “obscured” at Easter, for the only reason that they were a
not part of that period !
Also the presumed continuity does not consider the most antique
times of the crib history, created having two dimensions and only having
three a long time
afterwards.
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