I am having vivid dreams about building a nativity scene...and I don't mean simply placing little figures of Joseph, Mary and Jesus and the other supporting characters. I mean that I am having dreams about buying and sawing wood, hammering and painting, imagining and creating. I have never really given much thought before to the construction of such Christmas time scenes, but circumstances have changed.
Tucked away in a quiet residential corner of the lovely Andersonville neighborhood in Chicago, sits St Gregory the Great Church. This beautiful church is not overly well known, nor a tourist destination. There has been water in the organ pipes and perpetual fundraising for tuckpointing projects. But Saint Gregory is community. One enters from the west into warm cream painted walls and pillars, rich mahogony wooden pews, red flickering candles, and a stunningly painted beamed ceiling. The air smells of sweet candle wax, wood polish and incense and the radiators bang and clank to life in an effort to heat those who arrive on the many cold Chicago winter mornings. To the left of the altar is the Marion altar where young brides stand to offer prayers and flowers to Mother Mary. and built into the wall next to Mary, is the church's scene of the Christmas birth. Children stare in fascination at the 12 inch figures of Mary and Joseph, sheperds, angels, animals and the Magi. However, if one looks closer at the pretty wooden hand carved figures, one notices that some of the animals are missing legs, there is misspelled latin on the angel, and baby Jesus, while lovely, is an oversized replacement for the original Jesus that had been stolen a few years before. The sheer size of the baby Jesus head in comparison to Mary's slight frame would imply that the virgin birth may have been even more of a miracle than we have previously thought.
Rome is overflowing with baby Jesuses (Jesi??) There are large shiny faced human sized ones, there are tiny glow in the dark ones, there are ones in which it seemed that Jesus was born as a twelve year old, and there are others which do not portray Jesus as being a very pleasant child at all. But in Italy, the nativity scene, or 'presepe' as they say, is serious business! Families spend years creating their personal presepes, lovingly adding pieces with each passing Christmas and rather than Christmas trees, many public buildings display ornate nativity scenes. The figures can range in size from a centimeter each to nearly life size. They can be any level of quality from cheap plastic to hand painted terra cotta or stunningly carved wood. There are sought after makers such as the cherub faced Fontanini pieces from the north in Florence, but the more I learn, the more I hear that the true artisans lie to the south in Napoli.
One day was spent in Rome touring the dusty, though well loved, Museu Tipologico Internazionale Del Presepio. Despite being surrounded by hundreds of nativity sets from all over the world, the scene from Napoli commanded attention with it's vibrant colors and life like expressions. However, since a trip to Napoli was not in my near future, a frustrating afternoon and evening was spent searching through shops of religious articles surrounding the Vatican, in order to acquire a new baby Jesus for St Gregs. As I stood nervously in one shop while an older pushy man tried to sell me a fake Fontanini Jesus, I realised that the pieces of quality were not to be found amidst the made-in-China tourist junk surrounding St. Peters. I caved under pressure though, bought the plastic Jesus and quickly left the store, barely in command of my sanity.
*****
The sky was a forboding shade of grey and a tolerable mist alternated with a cold heavy rain, but Piazza Navona still echoed with the voices of a hundred Italians with their bright cheery colored umbrellas. The wet, dangerously slick, dark grey cobblestones of the square sofly reflected the lights and surrounding buildings as men on either side sold roasted chestnuts. The center of the square was dominated by the ornate 17th century Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (fountain of the four rivers) and the beautiful church of Sant'Agnese in Agone faced inward. To one side of the piazza sat a whimsical two story toy store, selling incredibly detailed high quality wooden, metal and stuffed toys. The square itself was full of little temperary stalls selling everything from candy to leather purses, from deep green plants to Tibetan singing bowls. But what drew me in were the stalls selling delicate hand crafted miniature figures for family presepi. I stood for extended periods of time at each stall, studying the tiny wares and trying the patience of those around me. I stared in fascination at the larger moving pieces.. a woman washing her clothes, a man chopping wood, and I couldn't resist touching the smaller pieces.. little pots and pans, mini baskets full of painted fruit or fish, petite wine bottles..
After studying the offerings of each stall and devouring a delicious, sugar coated ciambella (massive donut) my companion and I circled back to the first stall where I had previously spotted a lovely terra cotta sheep. We chatted a while with the man running the stall and despite my disappointment at learning that all the baby Jesuses had long since sold out, he assured me that he would be happy to ship to anywhere in the world. (seriously though.. How does one refer to 'Jesus' in plural???) The older man looked on nervously as I clumsily inspected the delicate sheep and upon purchase, he carefully wrapped it, giving special care to protecting it's legs, while instructing that the sheep only return to Chicago and my church via carry on. I bought a few additional little pieces to be used in terrariums, had one last longing look at all of the beautiful, gorgeously painted terra cotta figures and went on my way, dreaming of my own brightly colored future presepe.
 |
| http://www.presepipampa.it/it |
