In essence, the nativity scene with its little figurines is a largely faithful representation of the birth of Jesus the Christ child as told in the Bible. And yet there are a lot of lesser known and curious details about this depiction of a narrative which has inspired millions of Christians and captured the imagination of artists for two millennia.
9. The cattle are lowing but not in the New Testament
Although the lambs may have accompanied the shepherds of Luke's gospel, neither Luke nor Matthew make any reference to the presence of animals in the nativity story. But there was another widely distributed text, known as the gospel of James, reportedly from the 2nd Century, which did. The text was not included when the new testament was being compiled by Bishop Irenaeus in the late 2nd Century, but scholars say it was widely known across the Christian world, and much of what it says has passed into Christian understanding of the Holy Family, and indeed into the nativity scene we have today. It is in this text that we find much more detail on the back stories of Mary and Joseph. It is here that Mary's parents are named as Anna and Joachim, and that Joseph is described as being much older than Mary and a widower, as is often depicted in nativity sets and other art works. And it is also here, in this non-Biblical text, that the oxen and the donkey feature in the nativity story. Of course in ancient times up until relatively recently, people lived closer to, and more in harmony with, the natural world, often sharing the same buildings as animals, so what may seem odd today may not have been all that odd in generations past. Photo: Brendan McDaid
10. Away in a manger
The story of Jesus being wrapped in swaddling and placed in a manger, which is a trough to feed animals, does indeed stem from the bible, specifically the Gospel of Luke, who relates that this happened as there was no room at the inn for Mary and Joseph. It is from this detail about the manger that we get the idea that Jesus was born in a stable among animals, although none of the early Christian writers within the Bible or outside of it mention a stable. Several later, non-Biblical sources however do place the nativity scene, and Jesus' birth, in a cave. While the nativity story will likely occupy the mind of theologians and historians for centuries to come, as as it has done in centuries past, no-one disputes the significance and impact of the Christ child, whose influence and whose image, always at the centre of the nativity scene, would, within a few hundred years of the gospel story being written, change the course of history and go on to shape the world we all of us - of all faiths and none - live in today. Photo: Brendan McDaid