Nativities beautifully celebrate the biblical scene surrounding Jesus’ birth, with Christ, Mary, Joseph, the wisemen and stable animals typically serving as the central characters depicted within — but now there’s a new twist on those traditional elements.
Enter: the “Hipster Nativity Set,” a re-imagination of what the nativity would look like if Jesus were born in the modern era.
The newfound twist on the nativity features Mary, Joseph and other traditional characters decked out in modern garb, riding Segways — and holding coffee, Amazon boxes and technological devices, all while surrounding a swaddled baby Jesus.
“A lot has changed in the last 2,000 years. For starters, I don’t even think they had iPhones back then, which explains why Joseph didn’t add the birth of Jesus to his Snapchat story,” reads a description by Modern Nativity, the company behind the display. “If you love Amazon Prime, and have no idea what frankincense and myrrh (sp?) are, this is the Nativity set for you.”
It’s a scene that’s currently on sale for $129.99 — and one Relevant called “a pretty irreverent take on nativity scene decorations.” That said, the outlet noted that the concept offers up “interesting commentary about the intersections of modern millennial culture with the ancient holiday.”
Modern Nativity founder Casey Wright told Mashable the idea for the Hipster nativity scene was hatched during happy hour with some friends after the group started pondering how religions would be different if their sacred texts were set in the modern era, rather than in ancient times.
Wright also admitted that the idea has thus far certainly sparked some controversy.
“We have quickly found out that this product is very polarizing,” he said. “It’s usually, ‘This is hilarious, I need one,’ or ‘This is sacrilegious, I hope you burn in hell,’ and almost nothing in between those two extremes.”
Either way, the nativity — complete with gluten-free animal feed — certainly captures where we are, culturally speaking.
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