Nativity

I got this idea from a book called "Heaven on Earth- a handbook for parents of young children" by Sharifa Oppenheimer. It's my absolute favorite parenting book, based on Waldorf philosophy, and so full of great ideas for festivals and traditions. We also do a night time prayer from the book. I will have to write a post about that another time, because it is one of the most special times of the day.

I wasn't expecting to get to do the Nativity scene this year because I didn't have one! I was not raised to be religious, and we never had one growing up. I am not religious, but I AM spiritual, and something about this tradition really struck me. I know it is something that we will do every year. And the best part is that my "mama bird" Lisa GOT me a Nativity Set for my birthday!!! It arrived about a week before Christmas. Usually this tradition is done throughout the month of December, with something added to the Scene every week. This year we shortened it and added something every day. It still worked to build anticipation and was SO BEAUTIFUL!

The book says that we can use this as a way to celebrate the return of the Light. The best way for a small child to understand this concept is by the birth of a baby. It also celebrates our own children in a way, because they so recently were born as well. It says that this is a "way to honor humanity's place in the natural order of life" It also states that "This slow building toward a subtle event, the coming of the Child, can act as an antidote to the societal pressures that bombard us at this time." I'm not sure if this is the usual way that the Nativity is used or not, but I really loved it. Here is our version....

Night 1-
I guess you aren't supposed to put the Stable out yet - but I didn't realize that! The first night was to recognize the "mineral kingdom" To do this we put some pretty rocks that we have collected, some of Myles seashells, a crystal that I have had for as long as I can remember, a stone bracelet that I have, and our big crystal candle holder. One the first night (usually first week we lit one candle).

Night 2 - next is the "plant kingdom". We added a plant behind, and also made little trees out of small branches that had fallen from our tree outside stuck in clay. This is also a great night (week) to put up your tree! We lit two candles.
Night 3 - I forgot to take a picture of night 3, but it's the "animal kingdom". This is when you are supposed to add the stable. We added all of the animals, plus another wooden donkey that we got in Costa Rica. This is also a good night to hang up your pet's stockings! We lit 3 candles.

Night 4 - This is the "human kingdom". The night before Christmas we added all of the people except for the baby. Also - the whole time the 3 wise men were making their long journey to the stable. They started on night 1 in our kitchen window on the other side of the house, and every night got a little bit closer, until tonight when they arrived. If you are doing this by the week, they can start their journey at the beginning of the week and arrive on this night, or however you want to do it. It's a great time to talk about the long journey that they had to make it to be with the baby. We lit 4 candles.

Here is a video of Adelaide blowing out the candles on Christmas Eve. She was really into waving the smoke away!

And then on Christmas morning Adelaide finally got to put the baby in the manger (we actually used a little seashell instead! She had been waiting for that the whole week. It was very special. You then light 4 candles AND a very special Christmas candle as well. We forgot the special Christmas candle, but will be sure to find a good one before next year!
This is probably really annoying to those who ARE religious and have specific meaning and use of these things. I would love to hear other versions of the tradition, or other ideas to add to our own special traditions!