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| Alexis Xenakis and the Creche Guild would love to hear from you! |
Share your love of creches with fellow enthusiasts through Crechemania.com and the Creche Guild....
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| My first creche, a Greek fatni that has been part of my life since I was a young schoolboy, has been patterned on an Italian original. |
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There it was, nestled among all the school books at window of the Dernikos bookstore on Ermou Street in Pyrgos, Ilias, in the early 1960s.
I was mesmerized! I had never seen anything like it—a fold-out creche. A simple opening motion is all that’s required to display the elements of the Nativity on five planes. I remember having to sing lots of Christmas Carols from house to house before I had enough money to buy it.
This paper creche has been a part of my life ever since. It’s a small miracle that it has survived at all after all these years. It has accompanied me on my family’s many moves to and from Greece; to my college dorm room; my army quarters; and has come to stay in our Midwest Victorian home.
It lies folded in a drawer most of the year. But when the days begin to grow shorter and the snow flakes start to swirl covering everything in a fresh blanket of glistening snow I know it’s time to unfold it. After all these years it has lost none of its power to inspire, and I still stare at it with the same wonder I did as I child. Its story, you see, is timeless.
The "Manger Scene" haunted me for years
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| The classic "Manger Scene" by Whitman, circa 1963. | ||
But this creche did not fold flat like the Greek fatni, and so, before another trip back to Greece later it was given as a present to our priest's family.
But its image has haunted me through the years, and three decades later imagine our priest's surprise when he received a Dicken's Village-type of manger in the mail with the note: Dear Father, You could not have known how much that little nativity I gave you has meant to me. Would you consider returning it to me and accepting in return the enclosed manger?
The priest perhaps thought this as a practical joke: asking for a paper creche back—after 30 years? Or, perhaps, with all his family moves it might have gotten damaged or lost along the way. At any rate, I never got a reply.
In vain I looked for it in antique shops, used-book stores, and flea markets. I would describe the "Manger Scene" to whoever was standing behind the counter, but no one, it seemed, had ever seen it.
And then, one day, there it was: for auction on the Web! Was it worth the $5.95 I paid for it? Gentle reader, let's just say I understand why some enthusiasts are paying hundreds of dollars for a creche on the Internet!
Crechemania.com is born
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| Crechemania.com brings is devoted to the love of the creche. | ||
I set out to create a site that celebrates our love of the creche, its history, iconography, lithography, and development. A site that shared creche models that others could download and print; a site that reached out to fellow enthusiasts: to ask that you share your collection; your favorite books; your favorite museum exhibits; any historical information you may have. Or whatever else that has to do with creches!
The Creche Guild
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| Join the Creche Guild and meet fellow enthusiasts! | ||
Pleasantly, everyone—even those I had beat at an auction!—were most kind. Soon I had a sizable number of enthusiasts in my mailbox, and I felt that the best way to communicate with them was through a mailing list group. I found in Yahoo.com just the platform for creating such a group—and the Creche Guild was formed.
Our group is still new, and most of our members are still rather shy about posting. But I very much look forward to hearing from each and every one of them—and you.
About that special moment when you discovered your first creche.
Let us hear from you: post a note on our Creche Guild mailing list, or post a message on Crechemania's Bulletin Board
We can't wait to hear from you!
—Alexis Xenakis
Crechemania.com