{"id":4038,"date":"2023-11-13T17:03:51","date_gmt":"2023-11-13T16:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.holyart.it\/com\/?p=4038"},"modified":"2024-11-22T11:03:02","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T10:03:02","slug":"miniature-christmas-villages-let-the-magic-of-christmas-into-your-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.holyart.it\/com\/christmas\/miniature-christmas-villages-let-the-magic-of-christmas-into-your-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Miniature Christmas villages: let the magic of Christmas into your house"},"content":{"rendered":"

Miniature Christmas Villages are an original and novel way of bringing the atmosphere of the Festival into our homes. Let’s find out how they are built and what their characteristics should be<\/h4>\n\n

Why not build a miniature Christmas village in place of the Nativity scene? Until some time ago such a statement might perhaps have given rise to some perplexity. Yet miniature Christmas villages<\/a><\/strong> have now become a custom in many houses, even in our country where the tradition of the Nativity scene is so deeply rooted. Moreover, many types of traditional Nativity scenes can also be compared to villages reconstructed in detail, with houses, streets, mills, fountains, and inns, in an imitation of historical settings linked to our past. Think of the Neapolitan Nativity scene<\/a><\/strong>, which recreates the atmosphere and characters of 17th-century Naples, and the many Nativity scenes with a historical setting that refer to the Italian Renaissance, or to the Palestine of the time of Jesus.<\/p>\n

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\"animated<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/div>\n

Animated statues in the Neapolitan Nativity scene<\/a><\/strong>
\nThe Nativity scene is one of the most famous and spread traditions connected to Christmas<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The miniature Christmas villages are in some ways profane Nativity scenes, as they differ from the traditional ones in that they do not represent the Nativity of Jesus. But in recent years they have also conquered adults and children in Italy, with the magical and joyful atmosphere they know how to create.<\/p>\n

Their tradition is linked above all to the United States and the Nordic countries<\/strong>, which also inspire their atmosphere and architecture, although as we will see there are different types, all characterised by well-defined elements. In general, they are composed of houses, shops, and churches, arranged along narrow streets illuminated by\u00a0streetlights, and often enriched by fountains, ice rinks, Christmas trees, and even rides. All are immersed in a winter landscape, with snow, costumed characters, and often the kind and colourful presence of Santa Claus.<\/p>\n

How were miniature Christmas villages born?<\/p>\n

The history of miniature Christmas villages<\/h2>\n

Handmade houses<\/strong> and miniature buildings were used as Christmas decorations as early as the 18th century in some countries of Germany and Central and Eastern Europe. The inhabitants of those areas rebuilt with recycled materials, wood and cardboard, the places where they lived, small rural villages and suburbs. This tradition moved to the United States <\/strong>with immigrants and even there began to appear small colourful and picturesque scenarios built at the foot of the Christmas Trees. Traders <\/strong>understood the potential of such a tradition, and so the first cardboard houses appeared on the market, which anyone could buy to decorate the house and create their own personal Christmas village. They were called putz houses <\/em>and had a Germanic style that Americans liked very much.
\nAfter the First World War<\/strong>, the production of putz houses passed to some Japanese companies, which enriched them with coloured cellophane windows and mica powder sprayed on the roofs to recreate the effect of snow. They also began to illuminate the interior with small lights<\/strong>, so that the glow could be seen from the windows.
\nAfter a setback around the 1950s and 1960s, in 1976 a Minneapolis retail florist, Bachman’s, created a line of miniature Christmas houses that were enriched every year with accessories and new buildings, sparking a real passion among collectors.
\nToday, among the main producers of Christmas decorations of this kind we can count the Lemax<\/strong> Villages, of the eponymous company founded in 1990 and which for thirty years has been one of the main points of reference for collectors around the world. Searching online you can find villages of all kinds, from those with a Victorian setting to those inspired by the atmospheres of Charles Dickens, but also modern villages, the 1950s, and small fantastic worlds with houses made of sugar and inhabited by men of gingerbread.<\/p>\n