Did anyone celebrate Christmas today?
Until about two minutes ago – I had never ever wondered about the word ‘nativity’. I was looking at the Calendar of Days below and saw that today is “Epiphany” or “Twelfth Night” – and since I didn’t really know what they were, looked them up and found myself wondering about “nativity’ as well. It’s a word that’s become such a part of Christmas I’d never thought about it having a meaning separate to that.
“Nativity means the birth of a person and also refers to the facts of their birth, such as the time, place, and situation. The term “nativity scene” is commonly used for depictions of Jesus Christ ‘s birth, in paintings, sculpture, and movies. The word comes from the Latin term “nativus”, which means “born.” The Bible mentions the nativity of several prominent characters, but today the term is used primarily in connection with the birth of Jesus Christ… The first nativity scene, or creche, was created by Francis of Assisi in 1223. He gathered local people in Italy to portray the biblical characters and used a figure made of wax to represent the infant Jesus. The portrayal quickly caught on, and live and sculpted nativity scenes spread all over Europe.”
Well I’ll be! I think I’m equally surprised by the fact the word has its own meaning from which the Christmas tradition grew – AND that I’ve never wondered about it before!