Merry Christmas
Dec. 24th, 2016 07:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenak...to all who celebrate, and hopefully a good holiday/holidays to everyone else. As in every year, the APs and yours truly walked through Bamberg admiring the various nativity scenes.
St. Carmel was reliably great:
With some of the stalwart Bethlehem regulars, and some newbies. An example for the later:
I liked the boys, but I gotta say, reading Bethlehem granny was my favourite of the new ones:
Not that the regulars ever lose their charm:
Meanwhile Our Lady's reliable goes for the Franconian look in their depiction of Bethlehem:
But they, too, have newbies:
(If you're wondering, "Frauenpower" means "women's power", yes. A Stammtisch is a circle of friends regularly getting the same table in their pub of choice.)
And then there's the Franconian Bethlehem farmer's market:
While the stable is also very Franconian:
The kitty figurine is hidden at a different point every year and onlookers are invited to guess. This year, it is here:
An oldie but goodie:
Meanwhile, the heavenly choir this year includes a little drummer angel:
And this father and son as onlookers:
Some of the older figurines have to be restored regularly. Here's an example of before and after, to show how much work goes into the maintenance:
Spotted outside: a Christmas tree made out of roots:
The most remarkable nativity scene at St. Matern's this year was also the sole overtly political one, called "Christmas in the Holy Land Today":
The sign, below in detail, says that if you go from Bethlehem through Jerusalem today, you pass on the old paths and see faces both suffering and cheerful; that the Holy Land today is torn apart and full of both despair and hope, birthplace of three world religions:
To continue with yet another aesthetic and interpretation, this time of St. Stephen's:
Which doesn't just depict the nativity itself but also various events of Jesus' life, and some later saints. Here's twelve years Jesus at the temple:
St. Catherine of Alexandria (with the cloak) and St. Barbara (with the cup):
St. Francis preaching to the animals, with the holy family fleeing to Egypt in the background:
Lastly, St. Martin finished its restoration, and thus looks this way again:
Their nativity scene is also lovely, and has details such as these:
Hanging out in Bethlehem:
Don't ask me what the Chinese letters say. I have no idea, but it is my concluding picture:
If it says "Made in China", go figure. Doesn't change the charm. Happy Holidays!
St. Carmel was reliably great:
With some of the stalwart Bethlehem regulars, and some newbies. An example for the later:
I liked the boys, but I gotta say, reading Bethlehem granny was my favourite of the new ones:
Not that the regulars ever lose their charm:
Meanwhile Our Lady's reliable goes for the Franconian look in their depiction of Bethlehem:
But they, too, have newbies:
(If you're wondering, "Frauenpower" means "women's power", yes. A Stammtisch is a circle of friends regularly getting the same table in their pub of choice.)
And then there's the Franconian Bethlehem farmer's market:
While the stable is also very Franconian:
The kitty figurine is hidden at a different point every year and onlookers are invited to guess. This year, it is here:
An oldie but goodie:
Meanwhile, the heavenly choir this year includes a little drummer angel:
And this father and son as onlookers:
Some of the older figurines have to be restored regularly. Here's an example of before and after, to show how much work goes into the maintenance:
Spotted outside: a Christmas tree made out of roots:
The most remarkable nativity scene at St. Matern's this year was also the sole overtly political one, called "Christmas in the Holy Land Today":
The sign, below in detail, says that if you go from Bethlehem through Jerusalem today, you pass on the old paths and see faces both suffering and cheerful; that the Holy Land today is torn apart and full of both despair and hope, birthplace of three world religions:
To continue with yet another aesthetic and interpretation, this time of St. Stephen's:
Which doesn't just depict the nativity itself but also various events of Jesus' life, and some later saints. Here's twelve years Jesus at the temple:
St. Catherine of Alexandria (with the cloak) and St. Barbara (with the cup):
St. Francis preaching to the animals, with the holy family fleeing to Egypt in the background:
Lastly, St. Martin finished its restoration, and thus looks this way again:
Their nativity scene is also lovely, and has details such as these:
Hanging out in Bethlehem:
Don't ask me what the Chinese letters say. I have no idea, but it is my concluding picture:
If it says "Made in China", go figure. Doesn't change the charm. Happy Holidays!
