The Season of Advent begins this month. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, I will be featuring a new genre of religious art object from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, highly prized by collectors, whether they have any interest or not in "fine" or "sacred" art: Nativity sets and scenes. You can now read a brief history of Christmas creches in the Schools of Sacred Art section with accompanying images of seven manger displays from my collection, created by artists and artisans from around the globe. New Nativity sets will be added each week, as we enter the holiday season. My first selection of creches ranges from a set of blackened clay figurines from Cameroon (left) to hand-painted wood carvings from Guatemala and El Salvador. There is a curious theater proscenium-like set with hand-painted wooden cut-outs from Sri Lanka and a Scandinavian Modern "no frills" manger from Sweden. To round out the group, you can view glazed earthenware Nativity figures from the American Southwest and a light-weight aluminum Christmas triptych from Ohio. Join me now on an art-filled journey to Bethlehem! (John Kohan)