The Nativity of Christ is one of the most important holidays for Orthodox people. This is a family holiday. On this solemn day, they visit churches decorated with decorated Christmas trees.
Also, in churches - inside or outside the sanctuary, on the street, a Christmas nativity scene is being erected - an image of the scene of the Nativity of Christ using various materials.
Many believers set up a festive composition at home as well. A beautiful DIY nativity scene, like nothing else, conveys the holiday atmosphere.
What is a Nativity Scene?
Nativity scene, if translated from Old Slavonic, means a cave. And it is called Rozhdestvensky, because the Savior was born in it. It is known that there was a manger in the cave, where the Blessed Mary put the baby after birth.
The manger was nothing more than a cattle feeder. The cave of the Nativity of Christ is located in Bethlehem, and the manger was taken to Rome in the 17th century as the greatest shrine.
The history of the den
Initially, the nativity scene looked like a two-story box with slots in order to drive the dolls in it. The top floor of the box was decorated like a cave with the Star of Bethlehem glued on.
The inner walls were hidden behind snow-white rabbit skins, since white is the color of purity and innocence. Figures of the baby-Savior, the Virgin Mary, Joseph, a donkey and an ox were sure to be present. Sometimes there were also wise men.
Such nativity scenes were made by ordinary peasants, as a rule, in winter, in their free time from agricultural work. The owners of the box, the nativity scenes, told stories themselves and moved the dolls, sometimes they were helped by the boys from the church choir with chants.
And the first such a nativity scene, personifying the events of the Nativity of Christ, was created in 1223 by a monk, Francis of Aziz. After that, they gradually spread throughout Europe and reached Siberia in the 19th century. Thus, even people who could not read could get acquainted with the Bible stories.
Nativity options
For outdoor compositions, you can use snow, thick cardboard, wood. For small indoor Christmas nativity scenes, the choice of materials is very wide.
This is paper, plasticine, clay, salt dough, fabric, it is possible to use natural gif.webpts - acorns, chestnuts, cones, and much more.
Making a beautiful Christmas nativity scene for home, school and kindergarten, with the whole family, together with children, can be a wonderful pastime on the eve of Christmas celebrations.
Composition basis
There are many ideas on how to make a Christmas nativity scene. First you need to make the basis of the composition.
- For the base of the craft, which will depict a cave, a box or cardboard box is suitable.
- The walls can be pasted over with kraft paper, even slightly wrinkled, this is how the texture of the rock is conveyed, colored yellow or beige paper.
- Corrugated paper is also suitable, its texture will bring relief to the walls. If you have fabric of suitable shades, then you can drape it and arrange a nativity scene without a rigid frame.
- The top of the box depicts the sky, so use materials in blue as Christmas is celebrated at night. In the sky, you cannot do without the Star of Bethlehem, it can be cut out of foil.
- The floor of the den (the bottom of the box), in addition to paper, is decorated with hay, pebbles, and spruce branches.
- Alternatively, the nativity scene can also be made of clay or spruce branches, for this it is better to first build a wire frame and lay the branches on top.
- After making the base of the den, it is necessary to supplement it with figures.
Nativity scene with toy figures
Surely in every home there are small toys in the form of animals and dolls of suitable size depicting people.
They can be used in a composition. This simplest craft option is also available to kids, together with their parents they can choose suitable figurines and find a place for them in the cave.
Paper nativity scene
Images cut out of cardboard, painted and installed on a transverse base are perfect as figurines.
You can also glue paper cones - these will be people's clothes, and glue circles - faces and pens to the cones. So the figures will turn out to be voluminous. Large beads, plasticine or clay balls can also be used as a head.
The most difficult technique for making paper crafts is papier-mâché. To do this, you need a ready-made mass or you can cook it yourself.
You will need:
- Egg tray
- PVA glue
Egg cardboard trays must be crushed and boiled overnight.
- Squeeze out excess moisture in the morning, add a little PVA and knead a homogeneous mass.
- When making large figures, it is better to use a foil frame, and from above it is already covered with a mass of papier-mâché, forming your figure.
Nativity scene made of clay, salt dough or plasticine
The heroes of the composition can be dazzled. There are a lot of suitable materials for this. This is the simplest thing - plasticine, its advantage is that it is soft and colored, ready to work right away.
It is also possible to use salty dough, it must be made according to the recipe:
- 200 gr flour
- 100 g salt
- 125 g water
- 50 g PVA glue
First, you need to combine salt with flour, and then pour in PVA and water, stirring thoroughly.
Clay or salt dough crafts must be done in advance, taking into account the time for the crafts to dry. You can dry low products on a baking sheet covered with foil in the oven with the door open at 60 degrees for 2-4 hours, and for drying more voluminous work, the temperature should be higher - up to 150 degrees.
Cloth nativity scene
Dolls for a nativity scene can not only be drawn or dazzled. They can also be sewn together. Felt is perfect for this. From hard felt, you can make cones - bodies, and from a soft head. Or you can make stuffed toys.
For those who know how to crochet, it will be great to use their talent and make angel figurines in this way, for example.
Unusual nativity scenes
The imagination of people is limitless, but here you can give free rein to a creative impulse and make a DIY Christmas nativity scene from unusual materials:
- With a 3-d handle
- From origami
- Cross stitch on canvas and use fabric embroidery
You can use one craft material or combine textures and techniques. For example, take animals from toys, and make people out of paper, make the star of Bethlehem using the origami technique.
In the photo of the nativity scene, you can see a variety of techniques and techniques of execution. It is not difficult to complete the composition, but creating with children is priceless.
Photo crafts Christmas nativity scene
