St. Francis of Assisi is credited with staging the first nativity scene in 1223, when he set up a manger in Grecio in northern Italy and acted out the Christmas story for the illiterate locals. He had only two live animals, an ox and an ass, and baby Jesus was a wax doll. Since then, nativities have evolved into countless different forms and presentations. Mike Zahs of Kalona, who is an accomplished historian and collector, has about 2,500 nativity sets, about 200 of which are currently displayed at the Kalona Historical Village.

For Zahs, the love for nativities started in childhood, when he got his first nativity when he was five years old.

“I have many collections and none of them started out to be collections. After a while, I figured out that I liked them and it became a collection,” Zahs said. “We never had one when I was real young, then my aunt gave me one that’s in the display in Kalona. I still have the original box it came in.”

In the early 1900s, most nativities to be found in the United States came from Italy, some from Germany and a few from Japan. Then, after World War II, most nativities came from Hong Kong and China, who were making nativities for the United States market.

But Zah’s collection is vast — he has nativities from over 100 different countries.

“I try to collect nativities that show different perspectives,” Zahs said. “You go around the world and everybody has a different perspective. [My collection] is over 2,000 ways of telling the same story.”

Many nativities reflect the culture they come from, whether or not they’re historically accurate to the time period and location of the birth of Jesus. For instance, many nativities from Southeast Asia include pigs at the manger, but at a Jewish manger in Israel, there probably would not have been many pigs.

“I have sets that the animals at the manger are elephants. I have one from Panama where an animal at the manger is a dolphin. Or llamas from Peru,” Zahs said. “I love that. If that helps them to relate to the nativity, good. That’s what I like.”

Zahs said the nativity scene includes a lot of opportunity to symbolism that changes according to the culture it comes from.

“Color is extremely important, and we don’t normally think about that. In European sets, usually Mary is in purple. In Latin American countries, Mary is wearing red. Red in Europe says she is a prostitute, but red is an honored color in Hispanic cultures,” Zahs said. “In Europe, Joseph is usually in brown to signify that he was insignificant — if he were wearing purple, that would be considered very, very wrong because that was a loyal color. In sets from Europe, usually everybody but Mary is a man. In some sets form South America, everybody but Joseph is a woman; there are wise women and women shepherds. It’s just a different way of them expressing their culture to tell the same story.”

Zahs was involved with the documentary “Saving Brinton,” about his efforts to preserve antique film reels that he found in the basement. Showing the film all over the world has given Zahs the opportunity to travel many places he otherwise wouldn’t—and he looks for nativities everywhere he goes.

“A year ago in March, I was with the movie in Ethiopia,” Zahs said. “Ethiopia is the oldest Christian country in the world. I had some sets form Ethiopia, but I had never been there, so I had fun looking for nativities from an Ethiopian perspective.”

Zahs said family, friends and former students also bring back nativities from their travels. He’s even been given family heirloom nativities from families who no longer set theirs up.

Zahs has even found a rare nativity at home in Kalona.

“I looked for years and years and years to find a nativity with Joseph holding the baby. Out of the 2,000-plus sets, there are only three with Joseph holding the baby,” Zahs said. “The first one I found after looking for years was in Kalona at Yotty’s.”

“My favorites would be based on how I got them or who gave them to me, more than anything else. There are some sets that I have made, that our kids have made — those are special,” Zahs said. “A couple of years ago, our son was in the Philippines when one the largest hurricanes ever in southern pacific came through and he was stranded there because all the airports were closed. He was bringing back a nativity for me —that one is special because I know the story behind it. My best friend in life was from Ethiopia, so ones from Ethiopia are very special. A number of people have made sets and that makes them special.”

The last time Zahs displayed his entire collection under one roof was in 2014 at the Ainsworth Opera House.

“When we set it up the last time in Ainsworth, there were several people that said they wanted to see what the largest collection was in the world. I never investigated that, but several people independently came up with the largest recognized collection in the world in northern Italy. It had about 700 sets fewer than our collection,” Zahs said. “People have said ‘You should get in the Guinness book of world records,’ but it isn’t important for me to do that… what’s important to me is seeing people enjoy them.”

The Kalona Historical Village will continue displaying about 200 of Zah’s nativities until Feb. 1, along with his exhibit on feed sack quilts, which will also be up until Feb. 1.