Many people still believe that it isn’t really Christmas if snow doesn’t fall on Christmas Eve! Peace and the anticipation of a new birth somehow merge with a snowy landscape, that at least for a little while instils towns, squares, villages, elds, meadows and forests with a certain tranquillity. The aggressive noise and bustle of everyday life is reduced, although many people see this day as an opportunity for noisy merrymaking amid the stalls of a Christmas market. In the relentless year-round rhythm of hurrying and scrambling after one goal or another, modernhuman beings need a little peace, at least once a year.How picturesque our towns and villages can be on Christmas Eve, when the roads and paths are totally empty, but a special festive light shines forth fromthe windows of the houses, telling us that people arecelebrating the holiday in peace. For some people,this holiday has a far greater signi cance and is an integral part of their religious consciousness. For others, Christmas Eve and the day that follows are simply a holiday, a festivity, without any deepermeaning.
Since the rst nativity scene was created by Jesuitmonks in Portugal in the second half of the sixteenthcentury, the art of making Christmas cribs has been developed by self-taught artisans, craftsmen and exponents of various artistic genres. This is also true in Slovenia, where the rst Christmas crib is believedto have been created in 1644. Given the considerablediversification present within this particular field of creativity, it is actually possible to di erentiate between numerous types of Christmas crib, either with regard to the techniques used to make them or in terms of their artistic and expressive value. Onetype is the cabinet nativity. As its name suggests, thisis a nativity scene placed in a glass-fronted cabinetor display case that could be deeper or shallower,depending on the type. Once the Christmas period isover, the cabinet nativity is simply closed up and putaway until the next year. Our stamp shows a cabinet nativity from Šentrupert in the Dolenjska region, a characteristic example of “folk art” or self-taught artistic creativity from the nineteenth century.
Janez Bogataj
