|
 FROM
CHRIST CHURCH NEWS CANDLEMAS 2006
The Story Behind the
Nativity Scene
One Thursday morning at Prayer group during Lent, I had placed on the
table some simple wooden figures from Poland which depicted the
suffering Christ. Richard, who had joined us that morning, admired them
and asked if I knew where he could get some big figures of the nativity,
as he’d been looking for something similar for sometime.
In July I was in the town of Zagare, in the north of Lithuania, where my
daughter, Sarah, was working for a charity. It is a relatively poor town
situated on the border with Latvia, where unemployment is high, and only
6% of the population are connected to the mains water system, the rest
being lucky if their well hasn’t either dried up or frozen. Sarah was
organising a Cherry Festival in the town as a way of revitalising it,
and attracting visitors. The opening ceremony included a market, and
this is where I noticed a few beautiful sculptures by the artist Dalius
Udrakas, which he sold to supplement his income.
The next day, with the help of my son Alastair acting as translator, we
visited Dalius in his home, and commissioned him to make some large
nativity figures for our Church in time for Christmas. At first he was a
bit reluctant and nervous to take on the challenge, not only because of
the time element, but also the artistic design, which we left completely
up to him. We just gave him rough dimensions explaining that the idea
was for children to process with the figures during the Crib Service. He
chose to make the sculptures from Lime wood as it is a softer wood and
therefore was quicker to work with. He looked at books, and also went to
the local church a number of times to study the nativity figures there.
Dalius is a gentle man who works away in the evenings in his outside
studio shed. His daytime job is teaching crafts and other skills to
mentally ill patients at a local home.
He finished Mary, Joseph and Jesus by September, and as this coincided
with Alastair visiting Sarah, the first figures made the journey to
Moscow where Alastair is living, because the logistics of how to get
them home were starting to worry us! This also presented me with a good
reason to visit Sarah, so I did so in November to be guided back home
again by 3 shepherds, 2 kings, and a cow. In the meantime Mary, Joseph
and Jesus had moved west again, and were resting in Warsaw.
The final Journeys took place in the week before Christmas as Sarah was
accompanied home by the third king carrying his pot of Myrrh, and Mary,
Joseph and Jesus just made it through a suspect baggage check at Warsaw
airport, where they were double checked to ensure that they were not
stolen ancient artefacts! The angel will arrive later this month by
Police escort, and the Donkey will follow the star in time for Christmas
2006.
We are delighted with their quality, and are so glad that they are
appreciated by so many, and have helped to make the Christmas services
so special.
MAIR RABAGLIATI
RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE
 |
