ADVENT CALENDAR 2025

December 2

“BLOOD WOOD” NATIVITY FROM ZIMBABWE

Thomas Mrewa
Zimbabwe
“Blood wood” (African teak)
Circa 1970

This Nativity is presented within a traditional East African setting including a thatched-roof hut and Sanga cattle. The blending of Christian iconography with African cultural forms reflects the influence of Protestant missionaries.

Thomas Mrewa, an artist and woodcarver who lived near the Nyadire Mission of the United Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, carved the figures and huts. Mrewa was known to walk from house to house selling his carvings, which he made from a tropical hardwood he called “blood wood” (African teak)—named for the red sap that stained his hands. His signature on the bottom of one of the figures includes the word Rhodesia, the colonial name of Zimbabwe before it achieved independence in 1980. This set was commissioned by Dr. JonnaLynn K. Mandelbaum, an alumna of Lebanon Valley College, while serving as a nurse in Zimbabwe in the 1970s. 

On loan from The Suzanne H. Arnold Art Gallery, Lebanon Valley College, Annville, PA

Glencairn Museum’s World Nativities exhibition runs from November 28, 2025, to January 25, 2026. Visit us at Follow the Star: A 2025 Advent Calendar.