St Francis of Assisi is credited with the creation of the first Nativity Scene. In 1223 he the idea of re-creating the birth of Jesus to emphasise the humble circumstances of the birth. He made is first nativity scene outside a cave in Italy.

After that live re-creations became popular throughout Italy and soon re-creations of the nativity scene were made using static figurines. They came to be displayed outside churches and then it became popular for individuals to display traditional nativity scenes in their own home.

The traditional characters in a nativity scene are Mary and Joseph, the baby Jesus, the donkey, an ox, the shepherds and the 3 wise men.

Most individuals display all the characters at the same time but many only add the characters on the day they would have been there. So the manger would lie empty until Christmas eve and part of the Christmas eve commemorations would be the formal placing of the baby Jesus figurine in the manger. Later the shepherds would be added and later still the 3 wise men would join the nativity scene.

Nowadays traditional nativity scenes are still as popular but so too are more modern depictions of the scene. The nativity scene is also depicted as a more of a toy than a religious commemoration, with the participants looking more like children’s book characters.