This Christmas season, I again chose to examine crèche imagery. I viewed an exhibition of 120 crèches produced by Form one students of Holy Name Convent.

They made the crèches in their art class. These crèches, along with some 50 wreaths and hampers, they later distributed to cancer patients.

There were a variety of crèche styles. Many utilised Nativity scene cutouts from store-bought Christmas cards, while others featured figurines.

There were nine that stood out in terms of true creativity. Two students presented hand-painted figurines of the Holy Family and animals, which rested on coloured, shredded paper. One student painted her figures onto rectangular bits of styrene. These easily outdid the factory-made figurines.

Dominoes and cotton crèche at Holy Name Convent

Crèche on Frederick Street, POS

Crèche scene at Holy Name Convent

There were four other students who made quite interesting rooftops for their crèches.

One used brown paper balls to create a textured, rock-like manger, quite “ital”, while another roof looked like it was made of sheets of old galvanised iron, board and garbage bags, a sort of “ghetto” look.

Then there was what I called the “bling” manger with mint green and blue kite paper and iridescent paper over a red, glittered palace. I guess it was intended to depict Jesus as the King of kings.

The fourth interesting rooftop comprised painted palette sticks, which were stuck along the front of the crèche for a tropical look.

Another student also used palette sticks to make a crib. This quite minimal composition focused on the coming of the baby Jesus. The empty crib lay on a bed of cocoa moss against a palm-leafed wall. This was truly a mature representation of the event.

My top pick was “Dominos and cotton”. This quite stunning creation featured domino cubes on which figures from the Nativity were drawn.

Joseph and Mary were established and so too the three wise men.

In the corner, there was a box of cotton balls which suggested sheep in the manger, while Baby Jesus was a yellow chess pawn lying on what looked like a miniature mop head.

With regard to store owners, I salute the people at Pop-In in Ellerslie Plaza, Maraval, Optometrists Today on Frederick Street, Port of Spain, and JCA Optical in Starlite Shopping Plaza, Diego Martin, for not swapping the crèche display for Santa or snow flakes.

These business people still allocate a show-window for a crèche and remain true to the season. Well done!