Colour in the Bleakest Midwinter
Dec. 25th, 2025 02:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakChristmas Greetings to all with my annual nativity scenes pic spam!
Let's start of this year with St. Martin, the old Jesuit church.
Moving on to St. Stephen, aka the Lutheran church with a proud big nativity scene display in Catholic Bamberg. They have the same figurines every year, unlike the others, but I adore them, so here they are again:
On to the small church St. Matern, where they host an exhbiition of nativity scenes each year. Some are historically themed, like this medieval visit by the three wise men:
Lots feature the natvitiy ina a traditional Franconian environment, like this farm:
Some go meta, like this one, which doesn't depict a visit by the wise men but by the "Sternsinger", the kids who go around between January 2 and 6th dressed up as the three and declaiming songs and poetry while getting donations for a charity:
Then there are biblical scenes which aren't the nativity at all, though I have to say this is the first time I saw Adam and Eve with a Christmas Tree in paradise:
OTOH, St. Francis having Christmas visions is more common (he was also in the Lutheran display):
Or you get childhood scenes from Jesus later, like here with Joseph in the Nazareth carpentry:
Or unusual formats, like this nativity in a lantern:
Or a nativity set in the Alps:
This year's standout in the St. Matern exhibition was the depiction of twelve years old Jesus in the Temple, though, with some incredible detail and extra scenes within the display. Behold:
And lastly for St. Matern, more standard is the Bamberg Nativity:
A highlight every year: Our Lady's, the Obere Pfarre, which goes 19th century Franconian every year, but with different scenes each time. And it's gigantic in size.
The actual theologically relevant bits are of course these:
But the creativity goes into the rest of Franconian Bethlehem:
Every year, children and adults alike have fun discovering where a little cat figurines is hidden. You've already seen it, but it's tricky this year. However, we did find it:
For the second year in a row, the nativity display in our central Bamberg cathedral is making genuine efforts to compete with the Obere Pfarre one in detail and creativity, though. Behold:
I do love the combination of Brezel-consumer and monk amidst the Bethlemites:
This being Franconia, there is of course a beer drinker. No facial similarities to certain politicians born in Nuremberg intended:
And with this last look at a Synogogue in the middle of a cathedral, I conclude this year's Christmas pic spam.
Let's start of this year with St. Martin, the old Jesuit church.
Moving on to St. Stephen, aka the Lutheran church with a proud big nativity scene display in Catholic Bamberg. They have the same figurines every year, unlike the others, but I adore them, so here they are again:
On to the small church St. Matern, where they host an exhbiition of nativity scenes each year. Some are historically themed, like this medieval visit by the three wise men:
Lots feature the natvitiy ina a traditional Franconian environment, like this farm:
Some go meta, like this one, which doesn't depict a visit by the wise men but by the "Sternsinger", the kids who go around between January 2 and 6th dressed up as the three and declaiming songs and poetry while getting donations for a charity:
Then there are biblical scenes which aren't the nativity at all, though I have to say this is the first time I saw Adam and Eve with a Christmas Tree in paradise:
OTOH, St. Francis having Christmas visions is more common (he was also in the Lutheran display):
Or you get childhood scenes from Jesus later, like here with Joseph in the Nazareth carpentry:
Or unusual formats, like this nativity in a lantern:
Or a nativity set in the Alps:
This year's standout in the St. Matern exhibition was the depiction of twelve years old Jesus in the Temple, though, with some incredible detail and extra scenes within the display. Behold:
And lastly for St. Matern, more standard is the Bamberg Nativity:
A highlight every year: Our Lady's, the Obere Pfarre, which goes 19th century Franconian every year, but with different scenes each time. And it's gigantic in size.
The actual theologically relevant bits are of course these:
But the creativity goes into the rest of Franconian Bethlehem:
Every year, children and adults alike have fun discovering where a little cat figurines is hidden. You've already seen it, but it's tricky this year. However, we did find it:
For the second year in a row, the nativity display in our central Bamberg cathedral is making genuine efforts to compete with the Obere Pfarre one in detail and creativity, though. Behold:
I do love the combination of Brezel-consumer and monk amidst the Bethlemites:
This being Franconia, there is of course a beer drinker. No facial similarities to certain politicians born in Nuremberg intended:
And with this last look at a Synogogue in the middle of a cathedral, I conclude this year's Christmas pic spam.
