The wonder of the crèche
Diane Hutchings has long had a fascination with the crèche, something many of you who’ve been around Creemore for a while may be familiar with.
If you’re not, crèche is the European word, of French origin, for the Christmas nativity scene. And Hutchings, of course, was the driving force (along with Dorothy Shropshire) behind the “Creemore Community Crèche,” a moving advent display that took place on the snow-covered lawn of St. Luke’s Church back in 2001 and 2002, ending with a nativity on Christmas Eve.
Her fascination didn’t end there, however. Over the past few years she’s been sculpting figures for a beautiful Inuit-inspired nativity, and on the weekend of November 10 she took her creation to an international convention of “Friends of the Crèche,” a worldwide nonsectarian, nonpolitical, and nonprofit organization for those who collect, exhibit, study, create, or simply treasure nativity scenes.
In the ballroom at the Royal York Hotel, Hutchings displayed her Inuit nativity on a table, and on a screen nearby a Powerpoint demonstration about the building and displaying of the Creemore Community Crèche was shown.
Both received major acclaim, and indeed at the end of the show, when pieces from what was judged the five best crèches on display were auctioned off to raise money for the organization, Diane’s Inuit piece fetched $375, the highest amount raised.
Amazingly, for every comment Hutchings received about her Inuit nativity (and there were many), she received another praising the spirit of Creemore and registering amazement that the village was able to pull of such a beautiful idea when the Community Crèche was displayed.
During the convention, St. James Cathedral in Toronto also set up an exhibit of crèches from across the world. While this is the first time Toronto, or even Canada, has hosted a Friends of the Crèche get-together, St. James has been exhibiting crèches each December since 2000. Interestingly, it was at the church’s inaugural exhibition that Hutchings got the idea for the Creemore Community Crèche.
While rare in Canada, it’s a European tradition for churches to display several elaborate crèches at Christmas time, and Hutchings has long been familiar with it, especially since the tradition is strong in Holland, where her husband Rene Cornelissen grew up.
The couple have many books about the crèche, and have thought long and hard about its meaning.
“To me,” said Diane, “the birth is also the birth of a new year. It’s something to be celebrated, something that we’re all attracted to.”
