The Monk
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The Monk is the symbol of the union between the sacred and the profane which characterised the Neapolitan nativity scene. “O munaciello: a chi arricchisce e a chi appezzentisce” (literally: “the monk makes some people rich and some people poor”). In general, it is important to clarify that the Neapolitan nativity scene is created also as a mixture of the sacred and the profane. The presence of a church, just like that of a crucifix, show the typical anachronism of the Neapolitan nativity scene which, according to tradition, is set in the eighteenth century. Indeed, Cuciniello has observed that “in Naples, the nativity scene is a chapter of the Gospel translated into the Neapolitan dialect”.