Menhir's comments on the Epiphany started me thinking about traditions...
I always remove decs on Epiphany - part of tradition - used to go to Mass on the 6th January in old days when I was Catholic and it was a Holy Day of Obligation.
Weirdly I discovered my lover and I do same thing with the Magi in our cribs - As they traditionally did not turn up until the 6th, we both pedantically stand them away from the actual crib! I have an old family crib set on TV with a huddle around the baby and the kings stage left. I also have a lovely wooden set in my hall and the the magi plus camel are to the side at an 'oasis' in the lee of a small dracona plant!
menhir
Now I understand why all those wooden animals and characters are set up for sale at the Kristkindle fayres I have been to, especially so in mainland Europe. I never thought of them as representations of Epiphany. Is that particularly a Catholic view?
The woodwork is so heavily manufactured it is very hard to talk about art work with the figures. In the commercial mass I have seen, I think the sacrament is lost (not that I ever had it, though I am aware of it)and any special personal input has died with it. I like art to be imprinted with the personal touch, and none of what I have seen is artisanal.
Habits and religious traditions, ingrained from an early age, are not easily thrown off. What you feel, ( a deep trained emotion) is eventually what you respond, to and it is all interlinked.
Did you hear the discussion about whether Magi were kings or wise men? The original interpretation states Magi equates to wise men rather than the increased status accorded to them - if they existed at
all - as the good book was developed. But then, it has all been down to word of mouth and interpretation, layer upon layer of it.
A problem lies with the analyses; there are other problems which would take a critical essay and I do not propose to indulge in that here. For one reason, I am not a student of theology so do not feel fully equipped to ascribe to a treatise on the subject in hand.