CHRISTMAS FOREMOST IT'S . . . . .

After the previous post, and all its bling decorations, I propose you to come back to the essential meaning of Christmas.

Après le "post" précédent et toutes ses décorations scintillantes, je vous propose de se remettre sur le voie de la signification essentielle de Noël.

La Crèche. Nativity Scene.

Here, in France, when I was a liitle girl, we used to create it with Santons of Provence it comes from "Santoun" little saints in provençal

Quand j'étais une petite fille, noous avions l'habitude de préparer la crèche avec des santons de provence (le nom vient de "Santouns" en provençal qui signifie petits Saints).

The crèche is composed with original figurines of Nativity:

They are figurines made in clay, and hand-painted. None of them is similar to an other, they're all unique creation!

And also figurines of the day to day life in Provence at the 19 th Century. They were all "coming" to celebrate the birth of Christ.

Each of them represented a former trade.

Les vieux métiers du 19ème siècle :

Shepherds with the Priest (Curé) , Mistral, Grinder...

Berger avec le Curé, le Mistral, le Rémouleur.

Some of them are famous and particular to Provence :

Le Ravi :

with his arms up above his head He is the simple minded of the village. He puts up his arms, by surprise, learning Jesus's birth.

le simple d'esprit, qui élève les bras au ciel à l'annonce de la naissance du Christ.

Mistral :

a figurine of a shepherd with wind in its cloak. The wind of South of France is called "le Mistral"

le berger au vent dans la cape.

The shepherd : generally carrying a lamb

The old man and woman (le Vieux et la Vieille) :

They're generally represented arm in arm.

Généralement, présentés bras dessus bras dessous.

Water Carrier ( Le Porteur d'eau) : to remind the importance of water in the region of Provence.

I have taken all these pictures at one of the Paris Christmas Market , near Concorde.

During my youth, they were sold in almost every stores at the same place you bought Christmas tree decorations. Nowadays, trend is reversed, while we find decorations everywhere, Nativity scene figurines are found only at specialised stores.

Pendant mon enfance, les personnages étaient vendus presque partout avec les décorations de Noël. De nos jours, la tendance s'est inversée, alors que l'on trouve partout les décorations de Noël, les figurines de la crèche sont vendues dans les magasins spécialisés.