Commonly known as the nativity scene in english, la crèche de noël is the most common symbol in france for christmas. In Provence, artisans make beautiful figurines of all sorts of people, they make them doll size and smaller. They also fabricate scenes and in the center of town, they set up rows and rows of wooden shelters to set up their beautiful creations to sell during Christmas time in the market. You can expect to pay 30€ (~ $45) for a figurine. My mom has a few in the states she brought all the way from France since before I was born. The ideas are all the same, but I went in search for one that most resembled hers. It seems today they may use different material, but I can't be positive about that.
My father built a nativity scene with the whole village, foutains, villagers, farm animals when I was a little girl and we cherished it (it even had lights ,moss in the fountains etc...)You just reminded me of it!
ReplyDeleteKelly did you end up getting any of the figurines?
ReplyDelete@Mom that is wonderful! It makes me so happy to hear it brings you back
ReplyDelete@Kristina, no I actually didn't buy any. I'm trying to acquire as little material possessions as possible. I've got my photos. Besides, my mother has several back home.