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By
Billie Ann Lopez
Tucked inside
a small rectangular gold box, the beauty of which is further enhanced
by 13 stunning precious stones each accented by pearls, is a piece of
Christ's manger, a gift from Pope Urban V to the Habsburg Emperor
Karl IV in 1368. It now resides in Vienna's Schatzkammer (Treasury)
in the Hofburg complex.
Speculation,
of course, but some sources suggest that this relic may have come
from a manger included in a scene set up in the 7th century in Santa
Maria Maggiore in Rome to duplicate the Bethlehem cave in which
Christ was born. The cave used for the 7th century depiction
supposedly contained a fragment from the original Bethlehem cave that
was a much venerated relic.
Nativity
scenes were already popular in painting and sculpture when in 1223
St. Francis of Assisi set up a live Nativity scene in the forest near
Greccio, using a manger and a real cow and ass. St. Francis invited
his colleagues and the local populace to join him there to celebrate
the birth of the Christ Child, thus inaugurating a tradition that is
still observed today throughout the Christian world. In a time when
few could read and write, visual aids were quite useful in spreading
the faith.
In Austria,
the custom of setting up crèches, or Krippen, in churches is
thought to have started in Graz in 1579 with the Jesuits and spread
rapidly throughout the country. Early scenes were simple, limited to
figures of Mary, Joseph, the Christ Child in a manger, a cow and an
ass all inside a rough cave-like stable. But as this tradition grew,
other biblical scenes were added, for example, the arrival of the
shepherds and the giving of gifts by the Three Kings. As the years
passed, the scenes themselves expanded to include the whole village
of Bethlehem, though depicted with Austrian landscapes and the
figures dressed in local Austrian clothing.
The annual
display of crèches in Austria temporarily came to a halt
around 1786 when Emperor Joseph II began instituting his religious
reforms. One of his edicts forbade setting up crèches inside
churches. Instead of throwing them out, many churches gave their
crèches to local families thus insuring this popular Christmas
tradition continued, but in a different setting. Some of these late
18th century crèches have survived having been handed down by
families from generation to generation to the present day, and in
most cases, added on to. In some villages, families open their homes
during the holidays to share their family crèches with their
neighbors and even tourists.
In Vienna, the
magnificient 1,000 piece Jaufenthaler family Krippe, which came from
an Alpine village near Innsbruck, can be seen in the Austrian
Folklore Museum (Oesterreichisches Museum fuer Volkskunde). Parts of
the Jaufenthaler Krippe date back to the late 18th century, around
the time Joseph II's reforms were first implemented. Although details
as to how the family acquired the original pieces have not survived,
the crèche remained in the family for four generations. Simon
Jaufenthaler, the great grandson of the original receiver, sold the
crèche in 1897 to the Austrian Folklore Museum to safeguard it
for future generations.
Covering over
22 square meters, the créche includes 256 clothed figures plus
scores of angels. The oldest pieces have carved wooden heads, while
younger pieces are formed from wax. The créche contains a
grand mixture of religious and secular scenes. There is a scene of
the Wedding of Cana, and another depicting 12 year old Jesus
preaching in the temple. Herod is shown on the throne of Solomon with
its golden lions. A military caravan with uniformed soldiers and
horses winds its way around and down the Alpine mountain setting with
waving palm trees in the painted backdrop. Villagers are dressed in
Tyrolean local costume and occupied with their daily tasks. Women are
spinning or drawing water from wells. Peddlars are shown with their
rucksacks. There are weighing scales and piles of fruits and
vegetables ready for market, winesellers with their small flasks,
farmers sowing crops in the fields or riding in their sleighs,
shepherds with their flocks, an hunter and his stag. An astrologer is
shown with his telescope. There are both grand and humble homes as
well as a fully furnished kitchen. Numerous cows, sheep, goats,
geese, chickens, a dog chasing a pig, geese in the water, a
capricorn, plus two sheep hung up ready for slaughter enhance the
life of the village scene. And in the midst of it all, one finds the
Nativity with elegantly dressed figures of Mary and Joseph and the
swaddled Christ Child nestled in his manger. The Jaufenthaler Krippe
is a pageant of wonders.
Many churches
and museums throughout Austria have special displays of crèches
during the holidays. St. Peter's Church off the Graben in Vienna has
been displaying crèches in its crypt since the end of WWII.
Innsbruck has a large collection of old crèches on display in
its Tiroler Volkskunstmuseum. Steyr has a mechanical crèche
that includes some pieces dating back to the 18th century. It still
works and draws visitors for Sunday performances during advent every
year. Steyr also has the largest crèche in Austria with 800
carved figures that can be seen in Lamberg House.
But while the
crèche remains popular in churches and museums, it is its
presence in Austrian homes that is still central to Christmas in
Austria. Unlike the Christmas tree that is the prominent symbol for
Christmas in most Protestant homes throughout Europe, in Austrian
Catholic homes the crèche still signifies the Christmas
holiday season. |
