08/17/2026
This nativity is a handmade ornament made with Armenia’s needle felting technique. It is adorned with traditional hand embroidery.
It is 3.3 inches in diameter, made with felt, felt embroidery, a wooden bead and a styrofoam ball.
It has the nativity on one side and a pomegranate tree on the other.
In Armenian culture, the pomegranate is a sacred emblem of life, abundance, fertility, and resilience. It represents national identity, and a bridge between Armenia’s pagan roots and Christian heritage. When I studied Armenian at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute, my teacher said the number of seeds in a pomegranate tell you how many descendants you will have.
I later learned that the many seeds of the pomegranate symbolize generational continuity and unity of the Armenian people.
Ancient Armenians viewed the pomegranate as a divine guardian against the evil eye and a token of good fortune. After Armenia became the world’s first Christian nation in 310 AD, the blood red color of the fleshy fruit around each pomegranate seed came for represent the Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection, and eternal life.
Having worked in Armenia at the U.S. Embassy, I was delighted to find this nativity on the Novica Fair Trade website. www.novica.com. Novica provides a display card with information on every nativity, and has additional information about the nativity and the artist on their website.
This nativity was made in by an Armenian woman artist Maral Shohmahlian. Information about her is here: https://www.novica.com/a/maral-shohmahlian/14532/
Her main focus is preserving, promoting and spreading Armenian culture. She learned stories from Armenia, and embroidery, from her grandmother. Her grandmother migrated from Aintap in Western Armenia to Aleppo, Syria.
Maral Shohmahian also studied felting and other traditional handicraft techniques. Her webpage says her craft “embodies a vital and ancient aspect of Armenian and global culture—embroidery and tapestry.” Her products are handmade with natural raw materials like cotton and wool.
