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The Presepio in the rest of the world
In Latin America, having put aside every aspect of refined
art, the Presepio took on decidedly folkloristic art which emphasised
blue skies and shining sun, since in these countries Christmas falls
in mid Summer and Presepio are often built in the open, in gardens
or patios and are decorated with all sorts of cacti.
In Mexico the Presepio is one of the most authentic expressions
of typical Indian craft-work sold at every village market and which,
from 1500 onwards, was enriched by the influence of European and
Asian settlers. Spanish rule brings with it Iberian art which overshadows
that of the Maya and Aztec peoples as we see in statues still extant
in the Presepio of San Miguel di Allende and wax Presepio figures
belonging to old noble families of Spanish descent.
In Brazil, the Presepio was diffused between 1600 and 1700,
by the Jesuits and by missionary priests from Portugal, Spain and
France, who came to evangelise the native Indians. Although it is
said that a century earlier Jose de Anquieta helped the Indians
to make a Nativity Scene with figures modelled in clay. While in
Europe the art of the Presepio had reached its highest forms of
expression, in Brazil it was introduced and began to spread first
modelled on Spanish and Portuguese Nativity Scenes and later with
its own characteristics and the introduction of Indian mythological
figures. In north-eastern Brazil we find the Lapinhas symbolic constructions
in which Baby Jesus is dressed in cloth of gold and precious gems,
set on the hill top and surrounded by flowers, plants, birds and
animals of all species. Typical also the two floor Presepio with
the Nativity below and above the Crucifixion scene surrounded by
the favourite saints of the artist or commissioner.
In Paraguay the Presepio is set up in almost every home because
there is a tradition that it protects the family from harm. A few
days before Christmas the people take a wooden board on which they
put a mound of humid earth where rice grains are sown which soon
sprout tender green leaves. On this mount they build the scene with
figures and little animals made of cotton wool and pieces of coloured
glass to look like rocks and stones. Then the entire Presepio is
enclosed with a circle of melons, pineapples and coconut flowers.
Baby Jesus is placed in the cradle but in the week of the new year,
the little babe is replaced with a bigger child holding in one hand
a small globe of the world and in the other a cross.
In Peru the Presepio, Sammarcos, is a sort of altar with
doors painted in lively colours and which containing numerous figures
and scenes, religious and non.
In Africa, the first Presepio with clay figures were brought
by the missionaries. It was not easy to convince the natives that
the new God became a little white baby, but at the time there was
no local iconography to present the new religion in a way that Africans
could understand. Only later when the newly made Christians began
to produce works of art, were the missionaries able to show the
natives how to build their own African Nativity Scenes, often carved
in precious ivory or wood, with Three Kings dressed like local chiefs
in ornate costumes adorned with hundreds of multicoloured beads.
In the Far East, where missionaries created Christian oases,
the Presepio flourished. Although he never became a Christian, the
Emperor Indie Akbar (1556-1605) showed remarkable appreciation for
the Presepio and freely allowed the tradition to spread throughout
his vast empire.
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Fides News
Fides
News 2004