Slideshow: The multicultural nativity

The Nativity
A familiar vision of the Nativity in the United States.
MPR Photo/Nikki Tundel

The Bible describes the birth of Jesus Christ. Nativity scenes, also known as creches, depict that account.

In Minnesota, it's common to see creches that portray Jesus with white skin and golden-brown hair. But that's just one version of the Christian Savior. Cultures around the world have their own takes on the Christmas story and they're often quite different from the way the nativity is imagined in the United States or Western Europe.

Reporter Nikki Tundel met up with Rev. Jerry Dvorak, a pastor at St. Peter's Church in Richfield, Minn., and a man who's collected over 250 nativity scenes from around the world. As seen in these images, Dvorak's creches tell the story of Jesus Christ's birth from the perspectives of many different cultures.

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