East Lyme - What inspired Carmela Venti on Sunday was the variety of material that had been turned into Nativity scenes.

They could be carved from wood, cut from glass, molded in concrete, even made using simple figures placed in a coconut.

Yet it was still immediately recognizable.

"It was very simplistic, but it still conveyed the same meaning," she said of the Nativity in the coconut.

More than 100 Christmas Nativity creches were displayed as part of the Journey to Bethlehem, a display of the art of the Nativity, on Sunday at St. Matthias Church in East Lyme. The program was hosted by the Holy Martyrs Cluster parishes of St. Matthias, St. Agnes in Niantic and St. Paul in Waterford.

"It's just beautiful," said Joan Maliniak, of New York, admiring a hand-painted creche donated by Maggie Prokop for the display.

"It looks like fabric," Maliniak said of the painted figures. "You want to touch it."

She visited East Lyme specifically for the two-hour event, which her friend, Lucine Schiller, got started.

Schiller sought permission from the pastors of the three churches for the display after she experienced seeing a collection of Nativity scenes in New York, and at a museum in New Haven, she said.

Groups from each of the churches then joined together in a committee that found creches for the display and fine-tuned the event.

Parishioners offered their family Nativity scenes for the display, and sometimes descriptions about where it was made, how they found it and how long they'd had it. Creches came from Italy, France, Russia, Taiwan and Mexico, to name a few. They were sewn from cloth, formed from clay, made from metal. They were small enough to fit in one hand, and large enough to stand beside.

Robert and Rita Ambrico displayed the creche from their first Christmas together, 48 years ago. The figures in the Nativity scene cost 29 cents each and were handmade from Italy.

Lucille and Don Frechette donated their Nativity scene carved from pieces of wood about 3 feet tall, screwed together and painted white.

"Don made this from a pattern I ordered," a card explaining the creche said.

Ann Cicchiello put out the Nativity scene that she keeps on display all year long.

Her father gave it to her and he's since passed away.

It's "the one tangible item I have from him," a card with the display said.

Brendan Duhamel, 9, picked up a figure from the creche of papier-mache made by the St. Matthias religious education class.

"I made one of the kings," he said. And a shepherd.

Schiller said the event helped reflect on what the holiday is about.

"The message was simple. Profound but simple," she said of a creche. "It wasn't distracted by materialistic goodies.

"And I understand that to keep our country going, we need materialistic goodies," she said. "But sometimes, we need to step back, and remember what we're really celebrating."

d.straszheim@theday.com

Twitter: @DStraszheim