This Fontanini Nativity Stables
is approximately 16” wide, 11.5” at its peak, and 8” deep. The Fontanini stable is constructed of wood. The stable is framed in tree bark and covered in decorative moss. The walls of the stable are wood. There is a wooden post on the right side that is a support beam for the structure. There is a loft in the back with hay and sphagnum moss atop it. Under the loft is a small fence. There is also a small wooden ladder under the side of the loft. An olive tree grows on the left side of the manger. The roof is draped in dense sphagnum moss and framed with tree bark.
DATE OF NATIVITY
>br>Various theories on when Christ was actually born - from 12BC to 1AD have been bandied around over the years. Having worked on these scraps of evidence and theoretical arguments, my son, Kazimir, and I support the 5-4BC theory because it matches the times when we know that:
1. Herod the Great was friends with Mark Antony, who was a trusty of Julius Caesar, and also an intimate friend of Caesar Augustus (who set the census)
2. Herod died in 4BC, which means that Jesus had to be around some time during the 33 years of Herod's reign.
3. There are several theories about the date of the census. The most probable being the Imperial Citizens Census which was decreed in 8BC. This would have taken several years to complete, reaching Palestine around 6-5BC. so if we say that Jesus was born in the winter of 6BC, he would have been a child approaching two when Herod had the Innocents slaughtered before he himself died of a horrible disease in the Spring of 4BC. Or, one could say that Jesus was born in 5BC & was a baby still when taken off to Egypt to escape the slaughter.
Why 25th December
The precise date is more difficult to pinpoint, the calendars having changed so often since then. One argument which often comes up against winter is that shepherds would not have their sheep out then. This is cancelled out by at least two points:
1. Even today, Christmas pilgrims report seeing the shepherds in the fields outside Bethlehem.
2. Some sheep were usually kept close to the city all year, for sacrificial purposes at the temple.
The 25th was observed in the Western Church as early as the 3rd century. the 6th January in the Eastern Church. Certain theories relate to the celebrations of Saturnalia, and Winter Solstice, both during the last week of December. Another theory is that the Church arranged the commemoration of festivals not on any special date relating to that festival but to the cardinal points of the year. Thus The Annunciation at the time of the Spring Equinox, St. Michael at the Autumnal Equinox and Christmas at the Winter Solstice. Yet another relates the date to that of the Dedication of the Temple, a Jewish feast of great significance held on the 25th of Cisleu (December 20th) easily mis-scribed.
Perhaps they are all wrong theories, and someone actually remembered the date of Jesus' birth to have been on the 25th December after all! We are all so busy trying not to make wrong statements about historical facts, that we may be overlooking the simple facts that it is not impossible for someone in, say 100AD to have had a relative- grandparent, great-grandparent who actually remembered the event and passed on the accurate date.
Select this link to view our impressive selection of Nativity Figurines.