THE crib in the Nativity tableau at the entrance to Sacred Heart Catholic Church, in Townsend Road, Minehead, is to be blessed in a short service on Friday evening.

Carols will be sung at 6pm before the crib is blessed and the celebration continues mince pies and mulled wine. Everyone is welcome.

A nativity tableau is erected each year depicting Mary and Joseph and various animals but the baby Jesus is not added until Christmas Eve. 

St Francis of Assisi is said to have created the first nativity scene in 1223 in Italy after visiting the Holy Land and being shown Jesus’ traditional birthplace. 

It was a manger, an ox and a donkey and produced as part of the Christmas Eve Mass at Grecio as an effort to replace secular materialism with an emphasis on the Christian message.

It was a living scene with humans and animals in the traditional biblical roles.

These live displays became very popular but, later, statues replaced the humans and animals. The displays grew into elaborate scenes with figures dressed in fine robes set in intricate landscapes.

Now many nativity scenes are made of all sorts of materials and varying sizes from just a few inches to life size.

The scene has various interpretations in different countries, including figures representing different characters from village life in France, and Polish scenes include spires and domes from historic architecture. In Australia, alive animals such as kangaroo and koala are included.