It’s way past time to begin this year’s belén. Because of all my other obligations, I haven’t had time to create a new one for the Mission Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche, which is where I usually set it up.
But I’m going to add a couple of scenes. I planned to add an Anunciación a los Pastores (Annunciation to the Shepherds…for non-Spanish speakers and non-art historians, this means the proclamation by the angel to “certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay”) and a Flight Into Egypt. I discovered that I didn’t have the figures for the latter scene, so I changed to the “Viaje de los Reyes,” the trip of the Magi on their way to Bethlehem.
Below are the figures I have selected for the Shepherds scene. They are from Artesanía Fernández, which is a Madrid company that seems to buy molds from deceased companies and even products from other workshops and sells them throughout Spain. They have both resin and terracotta products.
The figures and my “workshop” are on my back porch. These are 14 cm terracotta figures, Murciano or Madrid school, bought at the Feria in Madrid about 4 years ago.