Creches recall roots of Christmas

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By Mary Louise Speer | Friday, December 8, 2006 2:46 PM CST | () comments

Nick Loomis/QUAD-CITY TIMES Mary Brown of Davenport sets up a creche, or nativity, scene Thursday night for the second Creche Celebration at Augustana College’s Black Box Theatre in Rock Island. The exhibition, which is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, will be on display today through Sunday.

Tonight people can stop and immerse themselves in the Christmas season with a visit to the second Creche Celebration in the Black Box Theatre at Augustana College, Rock Island.

The theater is set up with more than 100 creches, or nativity scenes, and the exhibit is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

“This is a multi-denominational effort and it dovetails with the Messiah,” said organizer Marcy Jackson of Bettendorf.

The celebration is held in conjunction with Augustana College’s Handel Oratorio Society’s performance of the Messiah and supported by Churches United of the Quad-City Area.

Organizers promise a scene of beauty and peace.

“When the lights go down, when the smells of the candles emanate, and when you stand up here and look out and see everything down in the box, it’s awe-inspiring,” said Pam Moreno of Moline.

The creches come from all over the world, including wooden set of tall figures from Madagascar to collector plate nativity scenes from Denmark, cheerful children’s manger play scenes and bears in the form of the Holy Family.

Lynn Clever, a member of Riverside United Methodist Life Center of Moline, helped set up a handmade creche that came from Hawaii. That nativity is a legacy from her mother-in-law.

“It was made of coconut, tree bark and pine cones,” she said. “It’s really special, too, because my mother-in-law’s not living any more.”

The story behind the creche is a sad tale, she said. Her mother and father-in-law flew to Hawaii in 1980 to help family members after a devastating collision with a drunk driver. One person died. But the star on the hut, carved from a coconut, is a sign of hope.

Moreno carefully arranged the tiny figures of sheep carved from the pine cones. “My hands are a little shaky because we’re doing all this minutiae work,” she laughed.

She finds it difficult to pick out a single favorite from the many sets on loan during the three-day exhibition. The Holland family of East Moline contributed 40 nativities for the display, Moreno said.

Some of the scenes are whimsical. The three wise bears bear gifts for the family in a bear family scene displayed in the Americana section.

Others bring to mind the richness of the gifts borne by the wise men. A set of blue Royal Copenhagen and Bing and Grondahl Christmas plates take people back in time to the late 1800s and 1900s. The Bing and Grondahl Porcelain Factory of Denmark began manufacturing Christmas plates in 1895.

Another favorite of Moreno’s is a mud clay hut shaped like a garlic clove. The figurines of the Holy Family reside inside, cast in a traditional mode in their nontraditional abode.

Cindy and Michael Thayne of Dubuque loaned the group a wooden set of figures that came from Madagascar. A friend picked up the set for them when they lived in South Africa, Cindy Thayne said.

The Messiah is being performed at 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m., Sunday .in Augustana’s Centennial Hall, 3703 7th Ave., Rock Island.

The city desk can be contacted at (563) 383-2450 or newsroom@qctimes.com.

If You Go:

What: Creche Celebration

Where: Black Box Theatre, Bergendoff Hall of Fine Arts at the corner of 7th Avenue and 38th Street, Rock Island

Hours: 12-8 p.m. today and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sunday