In any case, the shepherd with the lantern will again have a place of honor. Far ahead in the panorama it will light the way to the crib so that you can see the distinctive facial features of the hand-carved figure. Thomas Glashauser takes so much freedom of choice when, like every year, he sets up the large nativity scene in his home parish, the Catholic Church of St. Peter and Paul in Aschheim. But then the autonomy ends again. “It’s like working in the town hall: you can’t decide everything by yourself,” says the Aschheim mayor with a wink. After all, his father Josef has his own ideas about how the figures should be arranged this year, and Glashauer naturally gives him a say.
For almost 30 years, father and son Glashauser have been gathering in church before Christmas Eve to create a landscape from Palestine 2000 years ago on a frame about three by two meters, with shepherds, kings, sheep and of course a nativity scene in who lies the newborn Jesus. Glashauser rediscovered the nativity scene figures, which spend the year well packed in large cardboard boxes, by chance in 1992.
When today’s mayor, at that time still as chief administrator, ran across the granary of the church, a rather dirty box caught his eye. Inside were, covered in pigeon droppings, forgotten nativity scene figures, about 20 centimeters high, hands, feet and head carved out of wood, the bodies covered with fabric. “That was probably an old nativity scene,” says Glashauser. The idea was quickly born to present the crib again in the church. Glashauser’s family cleaned the figures, Glashauser’s mother, a resourceful seamstress, dressed them up again. A carpenter from Aschheim built a stable from the remains of a burned down barn.
For the Christmas holidays, Thomas and Josef Glashauser set up the nativity scene in the church, in the corridor to the weekday chapel. They do it every year to this day. “Setting it up has become a nice ritual for me, a little bit of Christmas reflection,” says Thomas Glashauser. They take two days to get the whole story down. The children from Aschheim and Dornach in particular marvel at the big picture, which is a great motivation for Glashauser to continue this tradition in the future. The chances are good: his son Jonas has also been helping with the installation for some time. As a carpenter, he is already developing ideas about what can be renewed at the crib in the next few years, says Glashauser.
The steady time is a bland time this year. With the series that ends with this article, the SZ has been trying since the beginning of December to bring at least a little bit of light into Advent every day.