The Nativity Scenes or Presepi Another of the most beautiful Christmas traditions is the staging of the birth of Baby Jesus. It doesn't matter how faithful the replica of the humble stable where Mary gave birth is. What matters is the joy of children and adults in contemplating what they have planned with so much love and anticipation. No birth is the same. In some houses the nativity scenes are very simple and the figures are limited to those of Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus, while in other houses purely Mexican characteristics are added. What many don't know is how the tradition began. HistoryIglesias y Cabrera (2009) tells that it was Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of the monastic order of the Franciscans, who created the first nativity scene to represent the arrival of Baby Jesus. After obtaining permission from Pope Honorius III, this saint set up the first living nativity scene in a hermitage located in Greccio, Italy, in the year 1223 (p. 221). Saint Francis built a nativity scene and conceived «a theatrical representation composed of a group of people and animals that reproduced live the scene of the birth of Jesus» (write Montero, 2011, p. 34). that “When this tradition finally established itself in Europe, for a long time it was maintained with live nativity scenes, especially in religious places” (par. 4). However, as time passed, the cold became very uncomfortable for many people and therefore people and animals were replaced by clay figures. It is said that it was in Naples, Italy, at the end of the 14th century, that the first nativity scene with clay figures was set up (Iglesias and Cabrera, 2009, p. 223). Spanish conquest around the 16th century. The friars used this Christmas custom as a further tool for the evangelization of the indigenous populations. Professor Ofelia Pasquel of the Pan American University points out: [the Franciscan missionaries] began to teach the indigenous people about the birth of Jesus through graphic representations, they looked for a language and a form of communication that was clear to the indigenous people and they discovered that staging a birth was useful for teaching the birth of Jesus through symbols and images of animals. (as cited in Montero, 2011, p. 34) As in Italy, this tradition spread throughout Mexico and with the passage of time clay figures also began to be created to represent the Holy Family..