St Francis of Assisi (pictured left) is said to have created the first Nativity performance in Italy in about 1223. In those days, many people were unable to read or write so they couldn't read the Christmas story in the bible themselves. Also many of the church services were in Latin which they didn't understand.

St Francis decided to change all that. He wanted not only to tell the story of the first Christmas but to show people what it must have been like on that night in Bethlehem when Jesus what born so he set up a nativity scene. He got hold of some live animals, a manger and some hay. Then he asked people from his village to take the parts of Mary and Joseph and the Shepherds.