MANY NATIVITY-SETS IN VARIOUS MATERIALS AND IN DIFFERENT STYLES HAVE BEEN MADE ALL OVER THE WORLD AND OVER MANY CENTURIES. SETS OF HAND-CARVED TIMBER, WOODPAP, TERRA-COTTA, PLASTER, IVORY, STONE AND NOWADAYS ALSO OF SYNTHETIC .THOUSANDS OF COLLECTORS AND MUSEUMS ARE LOOKING AFTER SPECIAL SETS DURING THE YEAR. IN THE SEVENTIES OF THE LAST CENTURY IT WAS A TREND TO REPLACE THE OLD TRADITIONAL AND CONVENTIONAL NATIVITY-SETS FOR MORE MODERN AND MORE ABSTRACT ONES. IN THOSE YEARS FLUMINALIS GOT HUNDREDS OF THE MOST STUNNING SETS FROM CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES.............AFTER THE GREAT MODERNIZATION WITHIN THE CHURCHES NOW THERE IS A GREAT DEMAND FOR TRADITIONAL NATIVITY-SETS AGAIN.

The Nativity Story

The birth of Jesus Christ is known as the nativity story, but the word nativity is not specific to Christianity. Nativity means the event of being born, specifically the location and circumstances. The elements of Christ's nativity are familiar to many people as a unified scene, but they are actually drawn from two separate and different Biblical accounts.

The Nativity of Matthew
Matthew, the first book of the Biblical New Testament, begins with a genealogy of Christ and then moves into a nativity story. Matthew's nativity focuses solely on King Herod and the journey of the three kings or three wise men.

Matthew writes that the three wise men came "from the east," following a star that proclaimed Christ the King of the Jews. The three wise men visit Herod before following the star to the house where the holy family is living in Bethlehem, where they present the baby and holy family with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

However, their story of a young king angered Herod, and he orders that all children two years old and younger living in Bethlehem and the surrounding coastal areas be killed. Warned in a dream, Christ's father Joseph flees with the holy family to Egypt and eventually settles in the city of Nazareth.

The Nativity of Luke
Luke is the third book of the Biblical New Testament and contains most of the elements familiar to us from outdoor nativity scenes. Luke's account begins in Nazareth of Galilee, from where the holy family travels to Bethlehem because of a tax census.

Numerous travelers are in Bethlehem, so Joseph and Mary shelter in a stable, unable to find room in an inn. Thus the Christ child is born in a manger, which is a stall for feeding cattle.

Luke's nativity scene moves from this point to another outdoor scene, in this case a field full of sheep. An angel appears in the sky and informs the shepherds of Christ's birth. After this announcement, the sky is filled with a multitude of singing angels. The shepherds hurry to the manger where the angel told them they would find Christ, and inform Christ's mother Mary that her child is in fact a Savior.

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