Today's nativity scene comes from southern France or northern Spain and includes 'santons' the little saints, or ordinary people, who bring to Jesus the gifts of their everyday lives such as bread, or music, spinning or fishing. Even the animals become santons, offering warmth, strength or kindness.

As our Advent journey reaches its conclusion, and we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, we join with other 'santons' around the world to bring ourselves into the story, into the picture, and to worship the newborn Christ.

This szopka scene is an example of the colourful and often elaborate nativity scenes created in homes of people in the Krakow area of Poland. Anywhere between 12cm and 2m in height, they usually include a model of an actual church, and may also include extra layers with characters from the both Polish history and present day life.

On Christmas Eve, families may share in ritual ceremony where oplatek (holy bread) wafers are shared as a sign of forgiveness, reconciliation and hope.  This simple yet beautiful ceremony recalls the birth of Jesus and the promise of peace and goodwill to all. 

Today.s image comes from Australia, and is painted by Deborah Durie Saines,, about whom I could find out nothing other than she was named as the illustrator of a devotional book published in 1995.

The image combines traditional symbolism and colours with cultural references, such as the stars of the Southern Cross in the sky, and the location being a rocky outcrop.  Mary seems to be having a well-deserved snooze as Jesus is sleeping nearby in his cradle.

The Jesus Mafa series of paintings date back to the early 1970s and were produced by artists commissioned French Roman Catholic missionaries using photos of indigenous people enacting scenes from the stories of Jesus.  Nowadays they are sometimes criticised for being essentially white colonial images modelled by black people - but that seems a little harsh to me, they reflect the time in which they were made and were valued by the people who received them, included with Bibles in their own language.

The magi are likened to the wise ones or healers of local, African culture, so this scene is much-loved and creates much interest for the people it was painted for.