to think someone should have got Mary a chair and some toast?

[divineinspirations]

Watching my first school nativity I couldn't believe poor Mary had to stand up the whole time and be polite to all the shepherds and wise men that kept turning up.
If there was no room for a bed surely someone could have got her a chair at least? And there must be a Judaean equivalent of postnatal tea and toast?

What did they do with the placenta? Offer it back as a gift to the 3 wise men?

I suppose before there were birthing balls or motorbikes, a bumpy donkey ride was probably just the thing to get it all going. 🤣

I believe Catholic doctrine is just this - that Mary did not suffer labour pains and there was no mess, that he just slipped out like a ray of light.

Don't all babies come out like that/
😂

She did say frankincense was fine but could you please keep the gold and myrr at your house for when baby Jesus visits as the stable is packed to the gunnels already.

🤣🤣🤣 Oh, that's taking the whole miracle thing a LITTLE too far!

@divineinspirations

@Stopsnowing Stopsnowing · Today 05:08
“How silently how silently the wondrous gift is given” so an easy labour.
Oh wow, I’ve sung that so many times without ever relating it to childbirth!

It doesn't relate to the labour. It relates to the blessing of God entering your heart and the silent coming of Christ into your meek soul! This is the full context:

How silently, how silently,
the wondrous gift is giv'n!
So God imparts to human hearts
the blessings of His heav'n.
No ear may hear His coming,
but in this world of sin,
where meek souls will receive Him still,
the dear Christ enters in.

That's fascinating!

Well it took 2 years for the Kings to get there, so I'd imagine she sat down in that time. They were also in a house rather than the stable.

I was imagining the conversation between one of the Kings (Casper) and his page as I drove home. It went something along the lines of:

Page: Are we nearly there yet?
Casper: I think so... at least...
Page: You said that when we went to Herod's palace. And you were wrong. Why should I believe anything you say?
Casper: This time... look there's Melchior... and Balthazar. We can't all three be wrong, surely?
Page: Weren't they at Herod's palace too? I think you're getting old. You're forgetting everything. I'm even having to carry your present because you nearly forgot it at the palace.
Casper: No, I'm sure we're right this time. It's been a nice walk anyway hasn't it?
Page: A nice walk? We've been walking for two years. Do you remember what you said? A nice quick stroll down to see the new King and come home again. I didn't sign up for this. I didn't even want to do my DofE because of the walking, but Mum persuaded me to do this for volunteering
Casper: Never mind. We're here now. And when we've seen the King we can go home.
Page: Great... hang on. Go home! Do you realise it's going to take two years to walk home again. It's so unfair. Can't we get an uber camel this time?

The three kings could have brought something a bit more useful for a baby!

The nativity is a deeply misogynistic story in which a young girl is forced to have a baby and forced by other men to give birth in a stable and then visited by other pointless men.

It sets the narrative for the patriarchal thrust of Christianity and its role in controlling women.

So no, that poor woman is not getting a cuppa.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Probably helped speed things up a little though

Brilliant funny times at that age. Lovely memories 😍

Now I don't claim to be an expert on female anatomy, but how the hell did he get out then? Nothing I recall about the nativity suggested caeserian. 😅

@SarahAndQuack that's fascinating! Have you got any other medieval childbirth tales for us?

In the version of the nativity I saw at my sister's school in about 1980, Mary "fell" of the stage - well she was pushed by a nameless angel, who gallantly stepped in.

This takes me back to being a small child and playing "having a baby". We pretended whoever was the "mummy" was made to go to sleep by doctors and the baby cut out of her stomach. Dunno if someone in the group knew about cesareans or if that was the only way we could think of that a baby could get out!

When I was 5 years old (1968) I played Mary in our school Nativity play. I seem to remember spending the vast majority of the time sitting down!

Speaking as a Reception teacher, although Mary is seen as a plum role, all she usually has to do is sit still and not muck about (no offence 🤣). The roles of innkeeper, lead shepherd, wise men etc require more acting ability. I always had girl and boy angels (always popular) and farm animals and a camel (also quite popular). I used to ask the children what they wanted to be and tried to work round that.

I once made the wriggliest, most mischievous boy the Star of Bethlehem so he had to stand in full view and everyone could see what he was up to. He loved the role.

I was nativity Mary ! Got to sit down with my plastic baby, no cup of tea though.

If they had been sent by Evri they would have turned up in Herod’s wheelie bin.🙁

I expect they undid her belly button. That’s what I worked out happened (aged about 5.) the baby could then slide out a bit like toothpaste.

divineinspirations · Yesterday 03:50
😂 ahhh. Like the NCT said it would be if I just relaxed and kept the room dim. Mary really is an inspiration to us all.

They told me that if I sang Yellow Submarine and breathed then it would be a doddle.
They lied. It wasn’t 🫣

The “stable” is a cave. At least, the alleged stable is a cave under the Church of the Nativity. It is historically correct that caves were often used as stables.

Bethlehem means house of bread, you would have thought they could have rustled up some toast 😂