Manger figurines

Mangers used for Christmas decoration are certainly known to many regions in the Christian world. In Germany, building mangers and using them first became popular in the mountainous areas in the 18th century. In the western Erzgebirge, the carved figurines created for decoration showed motifs of the orient. Soon and to a growing extent, decorative elements related to the region came up, mining being another source of inspiration. Thus, it is not very surprising to learn that in the Erzgebirge, the Christmas manger is closely connected with the Weihnachtsberg (Christmas mine), a variant of Christmas decoration that depicts both the biblical Holy Story and scenes as known from the miners' hard work. Christmas mines are usually designed to show the village or town where they are displayed as well as the countryside around, with Christ's birth being set in the environs of the designer's home or in the miners' changing room. At the beginning, the figurines used with the mangers were of paper. Later, wooden ones were preferred. Particular to the Seiffen region are the mangers of exotic woods.