while an important part of the early Christmas ritual
there was the celebration of Mass over a "manger" in which the
consecrated Host was laid, as once the body of the Holy Child in the crib
at Bethlehem.{42} Further, an eastern homily of the late fourth century
suggests that the preacher had before his eyes a representation of the
Nativity. Such material representations, Usener conjectures, may have
arisen from the devotions of the faithful at the supposed actual
birthplace at Bethlehem, which would naturally be adorned with the sacred
figures of the Holy Night.{43}

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the crib can be traced at
Milan, Parma, and Modena, and an Italian example carved in 1478 still
exists.{44} The Bavarian National Museum at Munich has a fine collection
of cribs of various periods and from various lands--Germany, Tyrol,
Italy, and Sicily--showing what elaborate care has been bestowed upon the
preparation of these models. Among them is a great erection made at
Botzen in the first half of the nineteenth century, and large enough to
fill a fair-sized room. It represents the central square of a town, with
imposing buildings, including a great cathedral not unlike our St.
Paul's. Figures of various sizes were provided to suit the perspective,
and the crib itself was probably set up in the porch of the church, while
processions of puppets were arranged on the wide open square. Another,
made in Munich, shows the adoration of the shepherds in a sort of ruined
castle, while others, from Naples, lay the scene among remains of
classical temples. One Tyrolese crib has a wide landscape background with
a |108| village and mountains typical of the country. The figures are
often numerous, and, as their makers generally dressed them in the
costume of their contemporaries, are sometimes exceedingly quaint. An
angel with a wasp-waist, in a powdered wig, a hat trimmed with big
feathers, and a red velvet dress with heavy gold embroidery, seems comic
to us moderns, yet this is how the Ursuline nuns of Innsbruck conceived
the heavenly messenger. Many of the cribs and figures, however, are of
fine artistic quality, especially those from Naples and Sicily, and to
the student of costume the various types of dress are of great
interest.{45}

The use of the Christmas crib is by no means confined to churches; it is
common in the home in many Catholic regions, and in at least one
Protestant district, the Saxon Erzgebirge.{46}