Following YonderStar

The next stop on our virtual tour of the world is Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA! Yes, we are hopping from one point of the globe to another,  but it's a virtual tour so why not? For the past few years, the Historic Old San Ysidro Church in Corrales, NM (just outside of Albuquerque) has hosted a Festival of the Nativities. This year's Festival of the Nativities is scheduled for the weekend of December 19-20, 2020.  Here at YonderStar, we offer two nativity scenes made in Albu …

ESTONIA in Northern Europe is a country on the eastern coast of the Baltic sea. While there has been a long time push from within Estonia to define themselves as a Nordic country, other Nordic nations (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, etc) do not consider Estonia to be a Nordic nation.Nevertheless, the Nordic influence is easy to see in this wooden Nativity that is handmade in Estonia.While many Christmas customs in Estonia are similar to those in the U.S., there is one Estonian custom in pa …

The next stop on our virtual world tour: Thailand. We have been offering Fair Trade nativity scenes from Thailand for many years now, and they continue to get noticed for their lustrous metalwork and creative designs.Did you know, the area of Thailand has been creating metal works of bronze since 2500 BC. Jewelry and weaponry was created in what is now northern Thailand, and that part of the world is considered to be one of the earliest known bronze cultures.The Ban Chiang region of Thailand is …

We just learned that due to the covid-19 (novel Coronavirus) Kyrgyzstan has closed its borders to keep the virus out. Go figure that Kyrgyzstan was the next stop on our virtual international tour!Orthodox Christians in Kyrgyzstan celebrate Christmas, however Epiphany is a more important religious holiday in their culture. Only 10% of the Kyrgyzstan population are Christian. Most Western Christians celebrate Epiphany as the day the Wisemen visited the infant Jesus. Eastern Christians celebrate th …

In these uncertain times, many, many folks are, with good reason, staying close to home.  If you and yours aren't going out and about, please join us HERE - we're taking a trip AROUND THE WORLD -- and the first stop is PERU!Peru is located in South America and is bordered by Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador and the Pacific Ocean. The country has a large Christian population, so CHRISTMAS is a VERY special time of year !   Like most South American countries, …