The children from residential groups of the ‘Children’s and Youth welfare home St. Mauritz’, Münster, built a crib under the direction of Sister Hannelore Petri and Mrs.Eva-Louise Naßhan, a Design-Pedagogue. The children called it a ' tipi for Jesus'.
Last year particularly, but still now, many refugees are on the move seeking protection in a foreign land. They have no fixed accommodation, sleep in tents, and have only the bare essentials with them. The News report every day about it and young people are affected by what they see and hear. On this background, the idea was born not to create a solid, safe and steady Manger for the Holy family; but they, too, should only get a temporary home, one as the Indians had with their ‘tipis’.
The idea was born: the children built the tipi, made of wooden slats, with woven plucking and strips of clothes. Christmas-crib figures, made from cartons, wear self stitched clothes from natural fabrics. The Manger should be a ‘tipi for Jesus'.
The figures of this Nativity scene were already produced a few years ago by the children and staff of the children's crisis help, the ‘Children’s and Youth welfare home St. Mauritz’, in Münster, from paper and cartons. Adapted to the size of the figures, the ‘tipi’ was built as well as the landscape around the Manger, also made from different material.
In the process of this unusual design many children, aged from four to twelve years, were involved. Some collected the necessary poles and natural materials at the beginning, others cut fabric strips and braided and wove them into the basic framework of the tipi'.
Also with the design of the landscape around the manger the children helped; they laid paths with fabric and put the different figures into place. The children paid particular attention on the fact that the figures would not stand straight away in the tipi, but only they had to ‘walk’ their way towards it. Thus, the Holy family, the three kings and the shepherds with their sheep advanced gradually forward, until they finally all reached the tipi just before Christmas. So the cribs’ landscape grew gradually and changed steadily during the Advent season in a joint work; by this it became a very active and lively undertaking.
This year, this crib is exhibited and can be admired in the Westphalia Museum of religious culture GmbH, Telgte, 'RELiGIO'.