St. Francis’ meditations on the life of Christ led him to create the first-ever Nativity scene in Greccio, Italy, in 1223. Fresco by Giotto of St. Francis of Assisi embracing the Child Jesus at ...

On Christmas Eve, Ukrainian families create a living Nativity scene by spreading straw across the floor and placing hay beneath the dinner tablecloth. “This gesture connects the birth of Jesus to the ...

This small village has a rich religious history, being credited with starting the tradition of live Nativity scenes. Located in the Lazio region of Italy, the town of Greccio is where Saint Francis of ...

This year marks the 800th anniversary of the hallowed Christmas Eve in 1223 when St. Francis of Assisi summoned the people of Greccio, Italy, to a manger he had arranged with straw and a breathing ox ...

A couple of Christmas observations: REAL JESUS – I think the nativity set’s stable that my mother put out every December for decades was made of sturdy cardboard, and the animals, shepherds, Wise Men, ...

The Christmas 2023 Nativity scene at the Vatican will evoke the first-ever live manger, which was created by St. Francis of Assisi in Italy in the 1200s, the Vatican said Monday. The Vatican’s ...

The annual challenge for clerics is to present a story listeners think they know everything about — the Son of God being born in a manger to a Virgin far from home — and offer something new, memorable ...

Kansas’s Sen. Brownback told the group, who had erected a temporary nativity scene on the Capitol grounds that, "it's okay to talk about the birth of Jesus at Christmas." “We need to have these ...

BETHLEHEM, West Bank — It isn’t subtle. Nor is it intended to be. Instead of a pastoral-looking Nativity scene, the creche features baby Jesus wrapped in a checkered Palestinian kaffiyeh, surrounded ...

This article about the Nativity is republished here with permission from The Conversation. This content is shared here because the topic may interest Snopes readers; it does not, however, represent ...

Bethlehem usually comes alive at Christmas, writes Queen Rania of Jordan in The Washington Post, but not this year. In the Holy Land, "celebrations have been canceled". In the occupied West Bank, one ...

A church in Bethlehem, the biblical birthplace of Jesus, is receiving attention for its decision to redesign its Christmas nativity scene to reflect the impact of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Just ...