3 The crib (Il presepe) By: N i c o l e G l o r i a L i s a B e a t r i c e E l e n a D a l i l a

The crib is a representation of the nativity scene

It was created first by st. Francis of Assisi in One year before his death st. Francis decided to recreate the Nativity Scene at Greccio’s castle, because he wanted to astonish people with his first living crib. That night lots of people arrived, and since that time the crib has become an important tradition in Italy. In spite of its religious nature, the crib is also an important tradition for not-catholic people.

The crib is full of particular symbols that come from the Bible expecially from the 4 Gospels: for example angels in the sky, lots of sheperds with their sheep, peasants who give presents like vegetables, fruits and meat to Baby Jesus.

There is the living crib that is composed by a group of people dressed up like the Virgin Mary Joseph and the other characters of the crib, and the normal crib is a miniature representation of the nativity scene formed by little statues, cadboard houses, and paper mountains.

These are some neapolitan statues… They are very strange!!!!