by Chloe Iles
Christmas is one of the busiest times at Chloe's Mobile Farm with high demand for their living Nativity - so they decided to find out what the animals in the Nativity scene are all about...
Most representations of Jesus's birth show donkeys, cows and sheep watching over the Holy Family.
The donkey is the most commonly seen animal in the Nativity. The bible says that Mary rode a donkey into Bethlehem before giving birth to the baby Jesus. We see this today in most Nativity scenes where a donkey is standing or bedded close by the manger keeping watch over the new family. Then, on Palm Sunday Jesus rode into Jerusalem for the last time on a donkey.
Many nativity scenes include an ox and or a cow near the cradle or nestling near the manger. Some historians believe that the ox and the donkey in the hut refer to the Old Testament. From the verse of the prophet Isaiah. "The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's manger; Israel has no knowledge, my people have no understanding" (Isa 1: 2-3). This sentence means: animals know where they belong.
An ox is any cattle over 4 years of age who has been trained to do work - most often they are castrated males used to pull heavy items. Cows are smaller than oxen, they are usually female and are used for food purposes such as milking or beef. Cattle became firmly associated with modern nativity scenes following the publication in the late 19th century of the Christmas Carol 'Away in a Manger' and its phrase 'the cattle were lowing'.
Shepherds and their flocks are mentioned in the Christmas story according to Luke. The shepherds were the first to hear the good news of Jesus' birth when they were visited by an angel. They hurried to the stable, together with the animals for which they were responsible. Since there were several shepherds, it is fair to think there were many sheep as well as goats.
In some Nativity scenes there are also exotic animals, such as an elephant, a camel and at least one horse. The three saddled animals belong to the three Kings from the East. They represent the continents known at the time. The elephant, placed next to King Gaspar, represents the African continent; King Balthazar rides on a camel as a representative of Asia; and Melchior rides a horse as a representative of Europe.
Although Chloe's Mobile farm doesn't have an elephant yet, we do love our nativity scene complete with cows, sheep, goats, ponies and donkeys!
