Spanish Nativity

Navidad 2009 for U.S. Belenistas

Reports on the activities of US belenistas are beginning to filter back to this blog. 

Benito Santiavañez forwarded information from José Herrero in Nebraska. José did his usual large belén, which seems to be getting bigger every year.  This is his seventh year, and it takes him and his helpers about three months to set it up every year at the local parish church, Cristo Rey.

In an interview with the local station 1011, José tells us that  this year it is 25’ long and 12’ deep. He has several cities (Nazareth, Bethlehem and Jerusalem) in it this year and has added a different temple, which you can see above. I also noticed several moving figures in this year’s belén.

As usual, his light effects are beautiful.  You can get the best view of them on his YouTube video, and you can also read a little background on José Herrero in a nice interview published in  the local paper, the Lincoln Journal Star.  Below is his Misterio, using figures by José Luis Mayo of Madrid.

In a few days, I’ll publish some great photos that Benito sent me of his own belén at the parish church of San Martín, and some photos from local residents of the Sunnyvale area who have just begun to put up a belén or have expanded their belén and made it something very impressive indeed. I was impressed, at least!  Stay tuned.

Happy New Year…and back to Belenismo

After a couple of weeks of silence, recovering from the holidays, which included setting up my belén and giving historical tours for the Art Association, I think it’s time to get back to belenismo here.

Cruising around on the Internet a couple of weeks ago, I came across mention of a book named El Arte Belenistico de Murcia. It was first published in 1982, and although there have been other editions, it is now long out of print. I went to the wonderful book search site, ABE books through Iberlibro, and found several copies of it, selecting one from Libreria Javier Fernandez in Madrid.  This is a stall on the Cuesta de Moyano, the famous used-book street in Madrid, and I have often shopped there in person. I ordered on-line and they provided prompt and efficient service, and now I have the pleasure of reading this wonderful little book.

The authors are María José Díaz and José María Gomez, and it was published by Biblioteca Básica Murciana for the Consejeria de Cultura y Educacion, the regional cultural affairs organization.  It covers the history of the belén figure artists and workshops, as well as the art itself, in Murcia since the days of Salzillo in the 18th century.  The authors obviously know their subject thoroughly and have great love for it.  There are also some fine historical photos of workshops, including their owners, such as la viuda de Galán, below.  For many years, she was the only woman to own a belén figure workshop.

 

Some are figuristas and owners, such as the young Juan Antonio Griñán, shown here.

There are also photos of some long-disappeared or unique styles of belén figures.  This is a pastor by Nicolas Almansa.

I have been working on creating a new belén for next year, and I found an interesting observation that I thought readers might enjoy: … porque se quiera o no el belén es un diminuto teatro, repetitivo siempre de la magna obra, que llega anualmente puntual a su cita, el nacimiento del Niño Dios.

In English, that would be:  …like it or not, the belén is a tiny theater that always repeats the same great drama, which arrives punctually at its expected date every year, the birth of the Child God.