by Redi Maffino Maghenzani
Christmas is a celebration for children. It is also an opportunity for parents to spend more time with them, perhaps reading Christmas stories. The one we propose was written by Redi Maffino Maghenzani and tells the incredible story of a weed discarded from gardens (even that of an emperor!) that becomes the traditional decorative element at the base of the nativity scene.
One day, an emperor decided to surround his castle with an immense garden: it had to be the most beautiful, unrivalled, and he asked his servants to go throughout the kingdom to collect every type of flower and tree. When the servants returned, they showed him the most beautiful creatures they had found, but they forgot to bring moss because they did not understand whether it was a plant or a weed, and so it was excluded from the garden. Logically, the moss suffered greatly and cried that night. Its tears fell on its grassy carpet and, in the moonlight, looked like pearls.
The King of Heaven, seeing those strange lights on earth, became curious and asked two of his angels to go and see what they were.
When they reported that the lights were actually tears and told him the story of the moss excluded from the emperor’s garden, he ordered his angels to go and fetch it and bring it immediately before him.
As soon as he saw it, he liked it very much and was amazed by its beauty. Gathering the angelic hosts, he said: ‘This velvety creature has been excluded from the Emperor’s garden and has suffered in silence without asking or demanding anything; it is as humble as a child’s heart, as silent as the night, as soft as a blanket of snow, and so I order – and here he became solemn – that from now on, at Christmas, moss shall enter every nativity scene forever!’
From that day on, people began to make nativity scenes with moss.
