"The communist regime didn't take the legacy of the ancient tradition into account..." : The Nativity scene as part of the Christmas celebrations during the state socialism era.
Abstract
The paper focuses on nativity scenes and nativity scene-making in the Czech lands during the period of state socialism. It asks questions about the circumstances under which people encountered Nativity scenes in the private space as well as in the public space and how they perceived them.
The paper is based on interviews with nativity scene-makers, collectors and museum workers and presents interim findings related to the preparation of the dissertation thesis. Nativity scene-making as a part of the Christmas holidays experience has an extensive tradition in the Czech lands.
The phenomenon, which fully developed here during the 19th century, was exposed to adverse circumstances in the following century. The change initiated by the events of February 1948 created a social climate perceived as unsuitable for the further development of Nativity scenes.
The literature evaluates the Nativity scene-making in this period with several stereotyping sentences, the content of which is included in the title of the paper. Although it is not possible to speak of the period under study as the heyday of Nativity scenes, the basic research already reveals a mosaic of information and stories that uncover the varied fate of the cultural practice not only in settlements with a nativity scene making tradition.