"Biot village church nativity" Top 5 Page for this destination Biot Things to Do Tip by NiceLife

As a Catholic country in Europe, many French churches feature alcoves with nativity scenes like this. Its a strange mishmash of biblical context and French village folklore and tradition. Costumes anachronistic without irony. Local peasants, farm animals, and the baby Jesus. The little figurines are known as "santons" - "little saint" and are native to Provence

Wiki tells me "a traditional Provençal crèche has 55 individual figures representing various characters from Provençal village life such as the scissors grinder, the fishwife, the blind man, and the chestnut seller. A maker of santons is a santonnier, and the creation of santons today is essentially a family craft, handed down from parents to children"