Christmas Treasures (2): The guests of the nativity scene.
Written by Margaret Ikladious- Member of US Press Agency( USPA )
As a continuation of the Christmas Treasures series, we will talk today about the history of the Christmas Grotto and the characters in it that we may see throughout the Christmas celebration.
Cave of the Nativity :
Its idea dates back to 1223 when St. Francis of Assisi embodied the first real cave containing living creatures, such as the cave in which the baby Jesus was born.
And her body for the sake of the people in the village and to visit it, and from here began the spread of the work of the cave everywhere.
In the 15th century A.D., the custom began in Italy to build permanent caves in houses made of different materials and methods.
The traditional cave contains many characters:
Baby Jesus inside a manger (manger and eating place for animals)
And the Virgin Mary and Joseph the carpenter, the shepherds, the Magi, the cow, the donkey, the sheep, the star, the angels, and the gifts presented to the child.
+ Jesus Christ as a child:
He is the owner of the feast and was born in the cattle manger to teach us humility and true love, that is, by sacrifice and leaving his heavenly throne and embracing his father and descending and incarnating for humans to bear our sins and save us.
+ Joseph and Mary:
Symbols of all humanity, where man and woman are together "the image and likeness of God" as stated in the Book of Genesis: "So God created man in His image, and the image of God created mankind, male and female He created them" (Genesis 1:27).
+ Sponsors:
They represent the class of the poor and the simple, the poor classes of the people in those days, waiting for the Messiah to relieve the tired and the afflicted and to bestow joy and peace upon them. In addition, they remind us that Christ is the true shepherd who came out from the descendants of King David, and he is the King who was born a shepherd.
+ Magi:
The Magi are Chaldean or Persian princes or priests interested in studying astronomy and astronomical phenomena. The name Magi is given to philosophers and men of science, especially astronomy. The Magi are counted among the astrologers, that is, those who predict events by reading the stars, and they worshiped the four elements: fire, water, earth, and air.
But most of their worship was confined to the fire, and they were the first pagans entering the Christian church.
Two traditions discuss the origin of the Magi, the first is eastern (Syriac), and the second is Western.
The eastern tradition says that the Magi were twelve who followed the star that appeared to them until they reached the city of Edessa (present-day Urfa), located in Upper Mesopotamia, where they were informed that there was famine and poverty in Palestine, and they decided to send only three of them to carry their gifts to the child Jesus the King. The rest returned to where they came from, regretting they could not see the strange baby.
As for the Western tradition, it says that the Magi were three who most likely came from the areas surrounding the city of Babylon, and they were either princes, scholars, or priests who worshiped ancient eastern gods, and most likely, they were fire worshipers.
The Western Church says they were three wise men, assuming each gave some of the three gifts mentioned.
Given that the eastern and western traditions convey to us Aramaic-Syriac names for these Magi, it is most likely that they were of Assyrian or Aramaic origin.
The names transmitted by Westerners are:
Malkoon, Kaspar, and Baghdasar.
Malkin (Malik) is the diminutive of the Aramaic word Malku, which means King.
And "Kasbar" is an abbreviation of "Kawkab Sfar," a compound Aramaic name meaning the morning star.
As for "Baghdassar," it is a written word, and its origin is "Beltassar," which means, according to some, "Blessed from Bel."..!!
They also remind us of Christ, who is the King of kings who bowed down to him, and who the prophets spoke about and humanity waited for centuries, and we find that the whole earth with everything in it, alive and inanimate, prostrates and blesses the King of the Heavens, our Lord, and God.
+ cow:
It is a symbol of the material food necessary for man, not to live for him, but to help him live and serve the true God, and the symbol of the cow that warms Christ in a straw manger.
+ ass:
The main means of land transportation for the general public. It is also a symbol of patience and enduring hardship
For the sake of faith and in the service of the Savior.
+ sheep:
It is a means of food and warming, and it symbolizes the flock of sheep and the necessary unity of a group of believers that keeps the warmth of faith in their hearts.
+ the dove:
A symbol of the Holy Spirit, and it is the third person in the Holy Trinity. It is a pure white dove that descended on the Virgin and accompanied her throughout the months of the Holy Conception.
+ beauty:
The "magi" who expected the birth of Jesus were depicted as arriving on camels
The beauty symbolizes the patience and endurance the Magi suffered throughout their journey to see the newborn King.
+ Angels:
They symbolize the effective presence of God among people, provided that the hardness of hearts and the darkness of consciences do not hinder it.
+ gold:
A symbol of the King, and there is no gift more worthy of a king than gold, and this gift was another recognition of the Kingship of Christ.
+ incense:
A symbol of the priesthood, which is one of the manifestations of worship and an indication of the divinity of Christ.
+ bitter:
A symbol of the pains and torments that Christ tasted, which no one could and will not be able to bear
The great sacrifices He made to save us.
+straw manger:
When God condescended and decided to incarnate and resemble us with our human nature, but without sin, he chose to come into this world in a cold cave among animals to teach us humility and true love through sacrifice, leaving him to his heavenly throne and the bosom of his father, and he came down to us humans to bear our sins and save us.
He was born with a straw feeder (animal feeder) intended for feeding animals, and it was usually a basin carved into a piece of rock, or it might be made in the form of a box made of wood, metal, or masonry.
He was not equipped with any clothes or robes worthy of him as a king, but he was born in a poor place, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and slept lying among the animals.
Her breath in that cave warmed the air and protected the newborn from cold and frost.
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