Christmas' Sheep

“For millions of years flowers have been producing thorns. For millions of years sheep have been eating them all the same. And it's not serious, trying to understand why flowers go to such trouble to produce thorns that are good for nothing? It's not important, the war between the sheep and the flowers? It's no more serious and more important than the numbers that fat red gentleman is adding up? Suppose I happen to know a unique flower, one that exists nowhere in the world except on my planet, one that a little sheep can wipe out in a single bite one morning, just like that, without even realizing what he'd doing - that isn't important? If someone loves a flower of which just one example exists among all the millions and millions of stars, that's enough to make him happy when he looks at the stars. He tells himself 'My flower's up there somewhere...' But if the sheep eats the flower, then for him it's as if, suddenly, all the stars went out. And that isn't important?” -Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

Sheep are the most common animals of the middle east.  So, of course, sheep are represented in the Nativity.  Because of their commonness, they hold many meanings.  A lamb is the most defenseless, but all sheep are prey to predators.  When taken from a ewe, a lamb seldom made it in the ancient world.  

Christianity soon likened many things to sheep;  Commonness, humbleness, simplistic, weakness but , as well, they provided wool, meat, and it did not take very long to see it as the sacrificial animal and be used in sacrifices.  It replaced human sacrifices in some instances.  We are often referred to sheep if we follow along with the masses without question.  And, of course, all sheep need shepherds.  

The sheep in the nativity stand for the ultimate sacrifice, the shedding of blood as sacrifice, benevolence, and are significant at Easter for Christian reasons.  

In my page on them, the sheep are more prominent than the shepherds so I gave them more detail.  Again, simple shapes and then the eyes and bend of ears give a bit more character. 

©Carol Desjarlais 12.15.19