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While not as common as the regular shepherds in a nativity display, a sleeping shepherd is still a figure often scene. Where does this sleeping shepherd tradition come from?You're probably familiar with the many references of shepherds within the bible. While his sheep were grazing, shepherds would spend weeks living, and sleeping, outdoors while they tended their flock.Also frequent in bible readings are waking angels - the angel waking Elijah in I Kings 19 is the first that springs to min …

While Advent doesn't actually start on December 1st, an Advent calendar always does - at least any we've seen. The first Advent calendars were created in Germany in the mid 1800s. The countdown to Christmas was often signified by lit candles, chalk marks on doors, or homemade paper calendars. In the early 1900s, the first Advent calendar was commercially printed in Germany and contained the small doors now iconic of any traditional Advent calendar. In the US, the …

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING INDEPENDENT RETAILERSIndependent Retailers Week July 16th to 23rd, 2017In today's fast & furious world of big box stores, chains, and mega-retailers, we know you have a myriad of shopping choices. THANK YOU for choosing to shop with YonderStar. For 17 years YonderStar has worked diligently to provide a wide variety of high-quality Nativities, emphasizing excellent personalized customer service, Christian business ethics, and a strong commitment to stewardship o …

Our Josef Lada nativity scene has just come back in stock - what better time than now to talk about the artist behind the scene.Josef Lada was a self-taught illustrator from the Czech Republic and his art was inspired by his surroundings growing up in the village of Hrusice.Above are his depictions of the month of June in his homeland of Hrusice, Czech Republic, and his imagining of the nativity as it would appear had the birth of Jesus taken place in his village.We think his illustrations as vi …

Many traditional nativity sets include a bagpiper, and this may be a little puzzling for folks who don't know the tradition of the zampogna. Why does a nativity set have a bagpiper?My great aunt's nativity scene, which I display every year, includes a bagpiper. My first thoughts on seeing this figure many years ago were - playing bagpipes? For a baby? Doesn't seem like the most soothing of ideas.In Italy, where the nativity display tradition began, shepherds would entertain by playing the zampog …