As the season of Remembrance and ‘mists and mellow fruitfulness’ gives way to Advent and winter, we are realising that we may miss the 2020 Nativity plays and the rehearsals but retain some of the Santa paraphernalia … and this year we have plenty of time to prepare. Our head guide, Margaret explores the many customs we have at Christmas, starting this week with The Nativity…

To many Christians, Easter and the Resurrection cross are seen as pivotal. My Granny

made short shrift of that. ‘There would have been no cross without the Nativity!’

It is interesting though that the Nativity which has such a high profile nowadays is mentioned in only two of the four gospels. St Matthew recounts the Annunciation and the journey of the Magi - or wise men – who followed the star and arrived some time after the birth (Ch. 1, vv 18-25 & Ch. 2 vv 1-18). St Luke describes the Annunciation (Ch. 1, vv 26-38), and the choir of angels who appeared to the shepherds and directed them to the stable where the infant Christ was lying in a manger (Ch. 2 vv 1-18). So much detail  - but note, no mention of animals in either gospel!

Cue the debate as to whether the innkeeper’s wife sent the animals elsewhere, or whether they remained in the stable - as depicted in the Renaissance paintings - thus earning the eternal gratitude of Nativity producers everywhere for extending their cast list. Our own family roles were shepherds (‘got to be tall to be a shepherd!’), angels (miscast!), stars (plenty of them!) and a rabbit (did they have rabbits in the Holy Land?...).

We have St Francis of Assisi to thank for the presence of live animals. According to

St. Bonaventure, Francis secured permission in 1223 from Pope Honorius III to set up a manger with hay, plus live ox and ass in a cave near Greccio (an Italian hilltop village).  Francis invited the people to view the simple scene while he preached to them. The idea caught on and spread. Over time, actors, clergy and local people also took part.

In 1288, Pope Nicholas IV commissioned Arnolfo di Cambio, architect and sculptor, to create statues for a Nativity scene in the crypt of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. These permanent displays are a much-loved feature of Christmas services. Whose heart does not rise when we contemplate a nativity scene - especially when the little Lamb of God is placed in the crib on Christmas morning?

The images show: the grotto of St Francis at Greccio in mediaeval art and as it is today, a c.1400 painting of the Nativity (humble animals sharing the limelight with the Christ child) by Lorenzo Monaco, and the Epiphany arrival of the kings at Portsmouth Cathedral’s Nativity crib (angels, not animals here) – the set created for us by the sculptor Christine Derry.