“The Nativity scene is a way to bring Advent and Christmas into the home,” says Sarah Cahalan, the library’s new director. “It helps people to prepare for Christmas. In many cases, people’s Nativity sets are heirlooms that have been handed down or added to over the years, so in addition to the connection with the Holy Family people can feel a connection with their own family and culture as well.”
Cahalan says a Nativity is always popular with children because it’s such a hopeful and joyous scene. “But it’s also a way for Christians to think about the significance of God sending Christ to us as a human,” she says.
It’s unconventional for a library to have such an extensive art collection; the Marian Library also owns statues and paintings. It was partly that unusual blend of library materials that attracted Catalan to the Dayton position in February. “The Nativities are so colorful and in some ways are like little dolls and doll houses,” she says. “And they tell a story that involves family and animals.”
How it began
The idea to gather the Nativities at UD originated with the Rev. Johann Roten, the Marian Library’s director of research and special projects.
“I thought that we have students who are becoming doctors of theology and that we needed outreach to the community,” said Father Roten, who — not surprisingly — often has a Nativity scene displayed on his office desk. “I thought the Nativities were a wonderful way to attract people to the university — not only older people, but young people as well. I thought they would come and enjoy.”
That’s exactly what’s happened since 1997 when the Marian Library began to exhibit little crèches on top of book cases and in-between rows of books. Now more than 200 Nativities of all types and sizes are on display during the Christmas season, attracting more than 5,000 visitors each year.
Now is a good time to visit
If you’ve been meaning to visit the annual Christmas exhibit, you’d better plan on doing it this holiday season. Due to some upcoming library renovations, the displays will be more limited in scope for the next couple of years. This year, however, there’s still so much to see and experience. It’s a perfect family outing — it’s all free and the children will love seeing the variety of folk art scenes, most of them handcrafted.
Pick up a “Seek and Find” flyer at the welcome table, and your children will have fun matching the pictures with the objects in the cases. Take the finished sheet to the Library’s main desk and they’ll get a prize.
Mexico is featured
Because the Marian Library owns so many Nativity scenes, a different theme is selected each year. This year’s focus is on Mexico, with the first-floor gallery filled with what are known as “Nacimientos.” They range in size from miniatures to creches several feet tall.
“We want to highlight in a special way a country that is close to us, not just for reasons of geography but because they have a very rich Nativity culture,” Roten says, explaining that Mexico is a country with 31 different states and a variety of folk art traditions. More than a dozen of those are represented in the display.
A good example of a creche that reflects Mexican culture is the one that incorporates Our Lady of Guadalupe, a devotion that is extremely important in Mexico and increasingly in the United States. Other scenes incorporate the devil, who has traditionally been important in Nativity scenes set in Mexico and Latin America. “They are a symbol of evil and where there is good there is evil,” Roten says. “They demonstrate that tension.”
The materials also demonstrate the influence of indigenous people. The scenes are fashioned of straw and clay, of metal and paper mache, and of Amate, a form of bark paper that has been manufactured in Mexico since pre-Hispanic times. In one of the sets, thousands of little beads have been pressed into wax to create delicate floral patterns on the figures.
"Many of these are labor-intensive and made by artists from all social strata," Cahalan says. "Some are very humble and made of corn husks, others are layered with painted gold patterns known as estofados. One of the contemporary creations is made from auto parts." You'll see a marketplace vignette where the Holy Family is surrounded by taco sellers and the Christchild has hired a mariachi band.
In some instances, Nativity-making is a family affair: the artist makes the figures, his wife and children paint them.\
The newest attraction
Nativity scenes aren’t just traditions from the past — they continue to be made today. Cast your eyes upward when you enter the Roesch Library entrance and you’ll see a great example. Local artists Michele Devitt and Matt Burgy are the creators of a new 12-foot metal mobile of the Nativity that hangs in the atrium.
Devitt, the Marian Library’s curatorial assistant and volunteer coordinator, says the inspiration came from an idea she’d had since making mobiles with her third-graders as an art teacher. ”I had never seen a Nativity mobile and thought it would be great to have one,” she says. When she began thinking about where such a mobile could hang, she envisioned the Roesch atrium.
The pieces are cut from aluminum, brass and copper sheet metal. “It took about 40 hours to cut the pieces, and a few of our volunteers helped also,” Devitt says. “Matt then spent another hundred hours putting the pieces on the rods, bending the rods and balancing them.”
Devitt says the piece demonstrates that sacred art comes in all forms. “We hope visitors will see the mobile as a contemporary art form used to express the value in having Nativities to remind us of the true meaning of Christmas,” she says. “Hopefully people will also see the details, movement, and texture of the metal as an interesting and eye-catching creative piece of art. “
Don’t miss other galleries
Two other galleries have creches on display. On the seventh floor, you’ll find intriguing pyramids from the Nativity culture of the Ore Mountains in eastern Germany. Often crafted of wood, the little figures are displayed on spinning cases called pyramids. When the candles are lit, their heat causes the pyramids to revolve. One of them will remind you of a pop-up book; it’s made of paper and dates to 1875.
The second floor has Nativities from 18 other countries. Cahalan says many visitors come to search for Nativities from the lands of their ancestors.
One of the most innovative is “How Grate Thou Art,” a set made in the United States and fashioned from kitchen utensils. The artist says he was inspired after finding the corkscrew, which looked to him like an angel with its arms raised in celebration. The stable is a cheese grater, the holy parents are measuring spoons and baby Jesus is a strawberry huller nestled in a mini tart pan.
The “House of Bread” creche is created from bread dough and hand painted by a French artist in Alsace.
Last opportunity to see village, train
Kids will love two displays on the seventh floor that won’t be back after this year. There’s an extensive French Provencal village complete with fields of lavender and 150 clay figures called “santons.” You’ll see a pig pulling a cart, a village market complete with chickens, a painter at his easel.
The model train layout is a labor of love, created by volunteers and UD students in 2015. It incorporates 10 stations depicting the events surrounding Jesus’ birth and childhood. Each station features lights and music or a story with narration by volunteer Mike Foley.
Essential: dedicated volunteers
Harry Mushenheim of Dayton is a retired math teacher who has made the Marian Library a second home. He’s always loved art and enjoys dreaming up and creating the settings for the Nativity scenes. “I try to think up an idea that will enhance the pieces in each set,” he says.
It was Mushenheim’s idea to create the train display. “Many American families put a train around their Christmas tree, it’s part of childhood,” he says.”So I thought, why not have a train going around the manger scene?” Engineering students helped out with the sound and set-up.
Mary Powers of Beavercreek has been volunteering at the library for 10 years. Her tasks range from dusting the display cases to sewing the protective covers used when the creches are loaned out. If a scene needs curtains or a figure needs a costume or costume repair, Powers is happy to comply.
“It’s about being with the baby Jesus,” she says. “This is such a special time of year.”
WANT TO GO
What: "At the Manger: World Nativity Traditions." A display of more than 200 Nativity scenes from the University of Dayton's Marian Library.
Where: Roesch Library, University of Dayton campus.
When: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday through Jan. 8. The library will be closed on Dec. 23-26 and 30-31 and Jan. 1-2.
Admission: Free.
Tours: For the first time, a self-guided tour brochure is available. Additionally groups of six or more can request a guided tour by calling (937) 229-4214.
Parking: On weekdays, pass through the main campus entrance on Stewart Street just east of Brown Street. Stop at the visitor center and an attendant will give you a parking pass and direct you to a parking lot. On weekends, you can park in any single letter lot without a pass. The main entrance to the library is located near parking lot B.
Lesson plans: World Nativity lesson plans prepared by education majors from the University's School of Education and Health Sciences are available for download on the exhibit's website. The lessons are free and suitable for pre-K through eighth grades.
For more information on exhibits, hours, directions and parking, visit go.udayton.edu/manger or call (937) 229-4265.
RELATED DISPLAYS:
There are 120 Nativity scenes on display throughout the Mount St. John (Bergamo) complex including 25 at Gallery St. John, 4400 Shakertown Road in Beavercreek. Other creches from the Marian Library collection are on loan to churches throughout the region, including 11 currently on display at Saint Luke Catholic Church in Beavercreek. It is located at 1440 N. Fairfield Road.
For more information about the Marian Library, check out the All About Mary website, at udayton.edu/imri/mary worldwide.
About the Author
