Nativity with Two Sheep and Star

About this drawing

The animals in this nativity with two sheep have an ancient bond with people. Sheep were domesticated in the Near East more than ten thousand years ago, in the same part of the world where the Christmas story takes place. They gave wool, milk, and meat, and whole cultures grew around them.

Sheep are flock animals. They feel safer in a group and tend to follow the leader, which protects them from predators. They also have sharper minds than their reputation suggests. Research shows they can recognize individual faces, both of other sheep and of people, and mothers and lambs find each other by voice and scent.

That gentle nature made the sheep a strong symbol. In ancient Israel, lambs were offered at the Temple, and the New Testament calls Jesus the Lamb of God, an image of innocence and sacrifice. The Good Shepherd, who leaves the flock to find one that wandered off, is among the oldest pictures in Christian art. Sheep also played a key role in American history. Merino flocks spread through Vermont in the early 1800s, and huge herds later grazed on Western ranges. Today, children are more likely to meet a lamb at a county fair, or in a live nativity at a local church.

• nativity
• sheep
• lamb
• symbolism