Wood and Bark Fontanini Stable

This beautiful Wood and Bark Fontanini Creche
is 11.5 inches tall, 16.75 inches wide and 8.5 inches deep. It is made of wood, moss and bark. Perfect manger for your 5 inch Fontanini characters. The roof of this cr�che is covered in lush sphagnum moss and has a bark trim. The inside floor is covered with a fine coating of tan sand. The structure is held up by two wooden posts. On the right side there is a small staircase with bark surrounding it. There are two large support beams crossing each other beside the staircase. There are two decorative stone wall sections on the brown plaster like back wall of the stable. This Fontanini Stable is a beautiful start for your nativity scene decorations. Select this link to the impressive selection of Nativity Figurines. Select to view all of our wonderful Christmas Decorations Ideas for the holidays. Select to add other special Nativity Accessories to your unique Nativity collection.

The Christmas Crib
In the year 1220 St, Francis of Assissi visited Bethlehem. He liked the way the Christmas was celebrated there so much, that he asked the Pope for permission to recreate it in his own Italian village. Click to look at more Christian Gift Ideas for your holiday gift giving.
He built a manger in a cave. In it he placed a stone image of the baby Jesus. He surrounded the manger with real animals. Then he said a Mass (communion). The people found it so moving that they said it was possible to believe you were there at the actual birth of Jesus. Click to see all of our rustic Nativity Creches For Nativity Sets.
Before long, wooden nativity scenes were displayed in churches and homes across Europe. Today they continue to be popular as a way of reminding us of what Christmas is really about, the birth of Jesus. Click to check out our unique Christmas Nativity Scene Sets.
The tradition was brought into Spain from Naples during the reign of Charles III of Spain. In Catalonia, a figure is included that represents a Catalan peasant. In Provence, in the South of France, nativity scenes are sometimes made up of hundreds of small painted clay figurines called Santon. They represent all the traditional trades and professions of old Provence. Because of their cultural value the Santons are often collected as art or craft objects, regardless of their possible use in a nativity scene.
A Christmas Nativity Scene, also called a crib or cr�che, generally depicts the birth or birthplace of Jesus. Nativity scenes, in two dimensions or three, usually show Jesus in a manger, with Joseph, and Mary in a barn intended for the housing of animals. A mule, ox, sheep, and sometimes other barnyard animals, surround them. The scene sometimes includes three wise men, shepherds, angels and the Star of Bethlehem.

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. Select if you would like to hang Nativity Ornaments on your Artifical Prelit Christmas Trees.