Nativities made from paper and cardboard

Although we do not consider cards as part of our collection, we made an exception with this one that Kathy gave us in 2018 since it is dimensional

This and the following pictures are of 4x8 sheets of paper with nativity figures are them. They were printed in the 1940's and intended to be mounted on marine plywood for outdoor display. They were a gift from the Warren Robison family. 

Everything except the wooden stable is made of paper. The art is called quilling. Thin strips of paper are formed into shapes and glued in place. Carole used to do a lot of quilling but never made anything like this nativity. This piece came from the Folklife Festival in Kutztown, PA. The festival features and explores many aspects of the lives, history and customs of  the Amish. We have been going to the festival periodically ever since our girls were little.
Quilling is an ancient art that began soon after Bibles were first published. People would trim off the edges of the pages of the Bibles and roll them into shapes. Many of the Bibles featured gold edged papers.

This piece also came via the Kutztown Folklife Festival in Kutztown, PA. Carole commissioned the artist to make her a nativity and encase it in beveled glass. The paper is hand cut and the art is called scherenschnitte.

This is one a only a few nativities in our collection that are based on a greeting card. It is a stencil  placed in a plastic frame.

This and the next one are sturdy gift boxes that Kathy gave us. 

Nativities featuring Black figures

It is important for people to be able to relate to Jesus as being like themselves. Jesus sees people as believers or non-believers. God created everyone equal with a soul and a free will. It is up to each person whether or not they accept His gift of salvation. Skin color does not matter. Nativities with African-American figures are hard to find. So, Carole gets excited when she finds figures of different ethnicities.

All in one piece

Given to us by Carla of Lucky Duck Pet Stuff when she was preparing to retire and go out of business.

Also part of our miniature collection

These are African American children dressed up for a nativity pageant. Some of the figures refused to stand on their own, so Carole embedded them in clay.

Think this came from a dollalr store

Larger heavy resin nativity

The base for this nativity has cutouts for each of the figures-the easiest place to see this is the lamb.

Small ceramic dish with lid that Carole made in  ceramics when learning to use decals.

Bought in a yard sale for five cents

2015 Nativity Display

At the present time we have 812 nativity sets. I estimate that we display around 600. Every year we have to choose not to display some since we are out of room. We try to limit our new ones to very small ones and ornaments. We violated this policy a couple times this year with a unique nativity in a metal tree nativity and a horsehair ceramic Indian nativity set.

Most of these nativities came from Latin America: Costa Rica, Peru, Bolivia, Mexico, Guatemala, and Aruba.