Ship of Fools: Odd Characters in your Nativity Scene

Thread: Odd Characters in your Nativity Scene Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Og, King of Bashan (# 9562) on :

Do you have any odd characters in your home nativity scene?

We have a wooden scene that was carved by my wife's grandfather. Last year, while we were decorating the house, I put the tree ornament that looks like our dog in the middle of the nativity scene. It started as a joke, but then we decided that we liked the idea of our Tuesday keeping the holy family safe. So it stayed, and we intend to add representatives of any dogs that we may own in the future.

Anyone other than the standard cast of characters in your home nativity scene?

Posted by Evangeline (# 7002) on :

Not a home nativity but my church does a nativity play without rehearsal and some rather odd characters turn up at the stable. This year we had a dragon, a rabbit and a fireman as well as the usual shepherds, wise men and the little girls in fairy outfits being angels.

Posted by Patdys (# 9397) on :

I think if you have a dragon in a wooden stable full of straw, then a fireman is a wise decision....

I can just imagine it. Aaachoo. Oh shit. Sorry. Everyone, back to burning bulls. We'll try again when dragons are extinct.

I have some friends where our Christmas tradition, well mine really, is to hide baby Jesus somewhere in their lounge.

Posted by georgiaboy (# 11294) on :

My home nativity group is carved wood figures (Haitian mahagony). Characters are Mary, Joseph, Babe-&-cradle (one piece), 1 shepherd, 2 sheep, cow, donkey, 3 kings.

To which have been added over the years carved African animal figures (in roughly the same scale), so there are now leopard, black elephant, lion, and what is perhaps an eland?

Someday I'll find an angel figure that maybe matches.

Posted by Chapelhead (# 21) on :

Ours has a reindeer, which is at least a bit Christmassy, if a little unlikely for the noughth century holy land.

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :

A friend gave me a Nativity from Alaska. It has a moose, a bear and a wolf. The stable is an igloo. It stays on my china buffet all year!

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :

Not an addition but a subtraction: we did have one toddler at a Crib Service a year or two back who picked up Jesus and walked off with him (we got him back at the end of the service).

I'd love there to be a Dinosaur ... Or Three Little (amazingly kosher) Pigs ...

I did hear of a "dare" placed by a member of the chorus at Sadler's Wells theatre back in the 1960s, when singing in "The Mastersingers". The theatre had a rather small stage, and he bet that he could come on in the final crowd scene carrying a complete set of golf clubs and that no-one in the audience would notice.

It was an easy victory.

Posted by Twilight (# 2832) on :

Our nativity is white ceramic so when someone gave me a white ceramic Santa this year he seemed to fit right in. He stands respectfully off to the side, behind an angel. I figure he's the ghost of Christmas future.

Posted by Hedgehog (# 14125) on :

I have a turkey in mine! And it was actually marketed for Nativity scenes. I had no idea that turkeys were all that common in Bethlehem circa the year 0 A.D.

Posted by infinite_monkey (# 11333) on :

My nativity set started when I bought just the holy family from an Ecuadorian craftsman. I didn't have money or room in my suitcase to get a full set.

Over time, I've cobbled together stand-ins for the accoutrements. The role of Wise Men is performed by 3 owls (one ceramic, one plastic, one plush), tiny hedgehogs stand in for sheep, and there's a German shepherd. I have a plush Totoro as the angel, and there is also a random tiny plastic monster from a KinderSurprise egg paying homage.

I love it--reminds me of a Christmas Pageant in its mash-up of reverence and randomness.

Posted by Bostonman (# 17108) on :

We happen to have two smallish bird statues (?) in the house, and the nativity scene got set up right next to them. They look like giant dinosaurs about to eat the Holy Family.

Posted by Mamacita (# 3659) on :

I have a Peruvian nativity scene which I purchased several years ago in San Antonio at a huge market where there were lots of vendors from Central and South America. The nativity set is ceramic, all one piece, and all the people are in indigenous dress. The scene is covered with a blue dome with cut-out stars and has room to put a votive candle behind the Holy Family. But the best part is the Baby Jesus is being visited by a sheep and a llama.

Posted by Ruudy (# 3939) on :

I thought for sure this thread was going to be about the Caganer typical of traditional Catalan nativity scenes.

Posted by The5thMary (# 12953) on :

A few years ago I remember seeing a delightfully odd mishmash of a Nativity scene on someone's front lawn here in Atlanta, GA. There was the usual suspects: Mary, baby Jesus, Joseph, the wise men, and angel or two and then there was an inflatable Santa Claus that tipped over next to the manger (too much Christmas cheer?), some reindeer, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, and a statue of Elvis Presley! I thought it was great because I know that some people in that neighborhood are intolerant Southern Baptists and I pictured them having fits every time they saw that particular Nativity scene. [Biased]

Posted by Zacchaeus (# 14454) on :

One year in church, our littlies made a crib scene, doe some reason it included a crocodile...

Posted by Keren-Happuch (# 9818) on :

Ours is set up on a shelf already populated with ornaments this year, so the shepherds are in a field of elephants. They have also recently been joined by a plastic giraffe, escaped from Noah's ark.

Posted by Og, King of Bashan (# 9562) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ruudy:
I thought for sure this thread was going to be about the Caganer typical of traditional Catalan nativity scenes.

That was part of my inspiration, as well as the subject that got me to look beyond the Mystery Worshiper reports on the Ship.

The other half of my inspiration was the rambling sermon that the priest at my parents' church gives every year, in which he (a dog lover) mentions that there must have been dogs at the manger. Our dog has been a real "kingdom of heaven" parable; she looks like a 50 pound geriatric mutt, but to us, she is a source of much love and care.

Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Keren-Happuch:
Ours is set up on a shelf already populated with ornaments this year, so the shepherds are in a field of elephants. They have also recently been joined by a plastic giraffe, escaped from Noah's ark.

In previous years, there was a train passing through. The train done gone, as the song has it.

Posted by Badger Lady (# 13453) on :

Our set is missing Joseph but has a random women who I figure is the midwife. So Mary has a chat to her over the crib. Joseph has obviously nipped out to get nappies...

Posted by Boadicea Trott (# 9621) on :

We have the traditional Nativity set,which we have had for 25 years, plus a caganer that was bought in Fuerteventura in 2000, and a penguin, which has been a regular fixture since the youngest child was very small. It makes us smile [Smile]

Posted by Panda (# 2951) on :

The school in my parish had a Gruffalo in its nativity play this year. Apparently he sneaked in with the sheep...

Posted by rolyn (# 16840) on :

From the sermon at our Christmas Eve service we learnt that 54% of children now believe Father Christmas was present at the birth of Jesus.

The oddest character in our Nativity stable one year was our ginger kitten. It decided to curl up and go to sleep in there before we got around to putting the model characters in position.

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