How to Make a Pagan Nativity Scene for Yule

Since ancient times, the winter solstice has been regarded as a time associated with divine birth. Modern pagans still celebrate the symbolic rebirth of the Sun god at this time of year. A beautiful way to decorate in honor of the season is with a nativity scene. Not the typical christian nativity scene, of course, but one with a pagan twist.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Small assortment of animals Piece of white cotton batting Spray-on glitter glue Fabric scraps in white, red, black and gold Additional scrap fabric (any color, any type) Miniature baby doll (2 inches) Gold paint Trees, bushes, etc, such as for model train set or doll house Sticks, twigs, and stones collected from outdoors Can of spray-on "snow" Oval hand mirror removed from frame White Christmas lights Wire, dolls or cardboard cut outs for goddesses

1. Find an area to set up your nativity scene. This is something you will probably not want disturbed throughout the holiday, so find some surface where it will not need to be moved, such as on a shelf or a side table.

2. Ball up some of your scrap fabric and drape the white batting over it. Arrange the scrap fabric underneath to make some natural-looking hills and mounds under the snow. Don't make too many hills, or it will be hard to stand anything up on the bumps. Make sure most of the flat area is the center and the front.

3. Spray a light coating of silver, white, or blue glitter glue on your batting to make it glisten like snow. Allow the glue to dry thoroughly.

4. Arrange your miniature trees, bushes, and your branches, sticks and rocks around on the blanket of snow to make the scene of a forest clearing. Spray them lightly with some spray-on snow. Place the mirror off to the side somewhere, it will look like a still, icy pond. If you like, hanging white Christmas lights above the scene gives the impression of stars.

5. You have a few choices to represent the goddesses: the maiden, the mother and the crone. One option is to make small paper doll style cut-outs, then glue them to cardboard. Cut away the excess cardboard around the image. Tape a cross piece on the back so that they stand up. Drape them with real fabric for a more realistic look: The maiden wears white, the mother wears red and the crone wears black.

6. Another option is to use dolls or figurines from a Christian nativity scene. Remove any shepherd staves and drape them in the scrap fabric with the goddess colors. If you like, paint their faces white or silver, since they are moon goddesses, then paint on a hint of features with a fine brush or fine felt-tipped markers.

7. One final option is to use wire and foil to create an armature frame of each goddess, and drape the fabric over them like hooded robs or scarves, so that their missing faces are obscured. This option gives you the most variation for posing them, so that they can sit or even kneel. One thing to keep in mind is that you want them all looking downward, as they will be looking at the baby.

8. Place your goddesses center-stage on your snowy field. Paint the miniature baby-doll gold and swaddle it in a bit of gold fabric. This is your Sun god who has just been reborn. He can be placed in the arms of one of the goddesses, or can be laid on a small bed of Spanish moss, with the goddesses surrounding him.

9. Add your forest animals. Most toy stores offer bags with a variety of animals, but you can also find them in gardening centers, stores that sell accessories for model train sets or small statuary at dollar stores. Arrange them all around the scene, pointing towards the baby, as though they are coming out of the woods to meet the new Sun god.

Tips & Warnings

• If you can't find miniature trees, just use some cut branches trimmed to look like trees, turned upside-down and stuck in a small lump of white clay to hold it in place.