Cherished Nativity sets display true meaning of Christmas 

En Español

The Nativity scene – Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus – is a Christmas image found worldwide. Big or small, carved from wood, sculpted from stone or knitted from yarn, the crèche represents the true meaning of the holiday. 

“Christmas is not about some reindeer,” said Jairo Muñoz, a parishioner of St. Joseph in Cockeysville. “It is not about a fat guy in a red suit. It is about baby Jesus.” 

A native of Colombia, Muñoz displays 25 different Nativity sets throughout his home – even in his bedroom – on every table or flat surface. For his front yard, he built a small house showcasing figures he made of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus, along with two angels. 

“It is what I want to present to the world,” Muñoz said. “A lot of people stop by and say, ‘Thank you.’ ” 

Some of his crèches are more elaborate, featuring shepherds, the Magi and animals from donkeys to camels.  

“It was a family tradition growing up,” Muñoz said. “My mother loved it.” 

Lia Garcia, director of Hispanic Ministry for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, collects Nativity sets wherever she travels, including Egypt, Italy and Guatemala. 

“You see the cultures resembled in the little pieces, little pieces of art,” Garcia said, noting the traditional fabrics on her figures from Peru and the bright colors on a set from Guatemala. “It is a reminder that the church is universal, and the Nativity story is definitely something that all of the Christian community can identify with. People through art celebrate the coming of Jesus or the Nativity.” 

Garcia displays her more than 50 sets starting Thanksgiving weekend. Each set evokes a memory.  

“I remember exactly where I was,” she said. “Each one of them just means something different to me. They all have a place in my home.” 

Friends and family often add to her collection.  

“Just the fact that they think of me and they bring back a little treasure, that always means a lot,” Garcia said.  

Her oldest figure is the baby Jesus, a gift from her mother 20 years ago. Her children grew up with the tradition, first playing with their own set and now helping arrange the crèches and claiming favorites. 

“The Nativity scene is something that everybody can gravitate to,” Garcia said. 

Darcie Dixon, a parishioner of St. Leo the Great in Little Italy, treasures a Nativity set made by her mother, who taught ceramics to neighborhood friends in the 1970s. 

“My most treasured piece from that time is a Nativity set, marked ‘MVD 1974’ at the bottom of each figurine. MVD are my mother’s initials,” Dixon said. “I lost my mother to cancer when I was just 20, and for the past 35 years, I’ve felt her with me each Christmas as I place the pieces on the mantle.” 

The vintage set reminds her of the love Mary had for the baby Jesus. “The love between a mother and child” is “a love that never fades,” she said.  

Origins of the Crèche 

Greccio, 1223: St. Francis of Assisi arranged the first live Nativity in a cave near Greccio, Italy, using a manger, hay and animals to recreate Christ’s humble birth. 

A sensory devotion: Villagers attended a midnight Mass beside the scene, experiencing the Gospel story in a tangible way. 

Global tradition: Nativity scenes spread across Italy and eventually the world. 

Email Katie V. Jones at kjones@CatholicReview.org 

Read More Christmas

Christmas: A birth and a wedding

Beyond fear 

Discovering the Eucharist at Bethlehem

Arriving at the manger with Caryll Houselander

Celebrate Christmas like a Hobbit

Fundraiser by cancer survivor, third-grade classmates brings Christmas joy to school, community

Copyright © 2025 OSV News

 Print