Putz Sheep

Good morning everyone!  Spring is just around the corner and I thought I would write about one of my favorite things for the season- Putz sheep!  I sell out of these little darlings at Christmas time but they are just as popular at Easter.  

At Christmas, they remind us of the lowly shepherds, keeping watch over their flocks while the baby Jesus was being born in Bethlehem.  At Easter, they remind us of the perfect Lamb of God who was slain for our sins.  

How about a little history lesson on these guys?  These traditions derived from my favorite group- the Moravians (German speaking protestant missionaries who came to America in the 18th century).  Families would construct a nativity scene at Christmas time and each year the scene would grow larger and more elaborate as you can see from the picture.  The central scene is of course the nativity with the Holy Family, wise men, shepherds, sheep and camels.  The village would grow around the nativity scene.  

There are several meanings for the word "Putz". In German, it can mean plaster, finery or adornment.  All of these words apply to a Putz village because most of them are rendered or decorated with fine, plaster figurines.  In the Jewish Yiddish, it means a fool or someone obnoxious, someone who is a "putz!".  Personally, I prefer the German derivation! 

Beautiful little houses and animals are rare and expensive finds if they were made in the Erzgebirge mountains of Germany (think of cuckoo clocks and the Black Forest region).  

The sheep pictured in the first picture are antique ones probably made before WWII.  Today, fine reproductions of those same sheep are for sale right here in my shop and much less expensive than the real things!