While Christmas trees have always been a staple of the holiday season for me, I found out that this wasn’t the case in Honduras. More important than the tree (which many families now have, don’t worry) is the Nacimiento (nativity scene). Now, I know what you’re thinking: nativity scenes include a manager, a couple figurines (Mary, Joseph, Jesus, Three Kings, Angel, Shepard), some animals (goats, sheep, etc), and hay. My family has one it puts on a small table. No big deal, right? Not exactly. The nativity scenes that families make here take up an entire wall to an entire room. They have the standard birth-of-Jesus section, but also include a representation of nature (various trees, animals of land and sea), a section representing your local city (in this case Talanga, complete with ladies making Tortillas, the central parque, pulperias, etc), and a greater portion representing Honduran culture in general. Some people painstakingly craft their own ceramic buildings/people/animals, some use action figures and toys (I saw one family have the ninja turtle Michelangelo watching over the baby Jesus), but most use a combination of both (i.e. Flounder from Disney’s The Little Mermaid was in a pool of water along with other sea critters next to an ornately made representation of the local church). Every nacimiento I saw had it’s own unique theme, a different view of what was most important around the holiday’s in the artist’s eyes. This was my favorite one, and thankfully was only a half-block away from where we live. Enjoy.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Nacimiento
While Christmas trees have always been a staple of the holiday season for me, I found out that this wasn’t the case in Honduras. More important than the tree (which many families now have, don’t worry) is the Nacimiento (nativity scene). Now, I know what you’re thinking: nativity scenes include a manager, a couple figurines (Mary, Joseph, Jesus, Three Kings, Angel, Shepard), some animals (goats, sheep, etc), and hay. My family has one it puts on a small table. No big deal, right? Not exactly. The nativity scenes that families make here take up an entire wall to an entire room. They have the standard birth-of-Jesus section, but also include a representation of nature (various trees, animals of land and sea), a section representing your local city (in this case Talanga, complete with ladies making Tortillas, the central parque, pulperias, etc), and a greater portion representing Honduran culture in general. Some people painstakingly craft their own ceramic buildings/people/animals, some use action figures and toys (I saw one family have the ninja turtle Michelangelo watching over the baby Jesus), but most use a combination of both (i.e. Flounder from Disney’s The Little Mermaid was in a pool of water along with other sea critters next to an ornately made representation of the local church). Every nacimiento I saw had it’s own unique theme, a different view of what was most important around the holiday’s in the artist’s eyes. This was my favorite one, and thankfully was only a half-block away from where we live. Enjoy.
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