The more the merrier

Watertown woman treasures all 58 of her Nativity scene, as reflecting the shared values of far-flung cultures

Norma Moreira with a calabash Nativity scene, from her native Ecuador, among the dozens of creches she has collected from around the world. (Yoon S. Byun/Globe Staff)

This Christmas, Norma Moreira and her husband are sharing their home with 45 wise men.

Moreira, who immigrated to the United States from Ecuador in 1996, has been acquiring Nativity scenes for the past two decades. With her collection now standing at 58 (15 of which contain the three wise men), images of a cluttered storefront might come to mind. But when you consider that some figures are not much larger than a fingernail, it's easy to understand how Moreira is able to comfortably share her Watertown home with all those creches.

Moreira's collection hails from around the world, and is made up of such materials as clay, cornhusks, fabric, glass, marble, plastic, straw, wood, wax, seashells, and Amazonian nuts. The largest is the size of a football and the smallest is set inside a box of matches.

"They originate from a variety of locations where Christmas is celebrated in its own style," said Moreira. Among them are Chile and China, Israel and Italy. One Nativity scene that came from France is a nightlight, which glows inside the couple's front-entry bathroom.

Moreira has built her collection from visiting crafts stores, secondhand shops, bookstores, flea markets, and native markets wherever she travels. Over the years, friends and relatives have also contributed.

"I try to keep a reasonable budget for this hobby, so I've never spent more than $10 for any single piece," said Moreira, 51. She started her collection in 1987 while studying economic policy in Chile.

"At the end of our course my classmates and I made a trip to the amazing Puerto Montt in the southern part of Chile," said Moreira. "By chance I found a gorgeous Nativity scene made of seashells that not only had the sacred family, but an angel, a star, the three wise men, two shepherds, a sheep, a donkey, a cow, and a sea snail."

All of them, she said, fit perfectly on the back of a conch shell, a reminder of its maritime origins.

"I was astonished at these handmade works and proud of the creativity of all the craftspeople in my region," said Moreira, referring to her native South America. "I decided to buy it and keep it as a souvenir." But Moreira said that two days later, her collection status became official when she purchased another "nacimiento" made out of a small piece of wood that was covered by the tip of an eggplant.

"Because Nativity scenes are popular with Christians all around the world, every culture has its own talented craftspeople who use unique local materials," said Moreira.

One of her finds, from Ecuador, is made out of a calabash gourd. The top has a large star-shape cutout, which acts as a lid and is secured with tiny leather hinges. Lifting the star reveals the Nativity scene inside.

Another interesting set contains carved wooden figures, approximately 3 inches tall, each with a ponytail down its back. These, says Moreira, are modeled after the indigenous people of South America.

Then there is the Nativity scene made out of molded plastic resin. It looks like stone and has a built-in light. Moreira said she was happy to have found it for $2.99, still in its original box, at a secondhand shop.

One of the smallest scenes in her collection is housed in a red velvet ring box, the kind that would be presented during a marriage proposal. The figures are made of pewter and each is the size of a fingernail. It was a gift from her sister.

Moreira said that neither she nor her husband, Michael Feldman, who is Jewish, actively practice their religions. Instead, they celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah.

Moreira was born in the small Ecuadorian town of Chone, six hours south of Quito, the nation's capital. Her father was an auto mechanic and her mother was a housewife who took care of Moreira and her eight siblings.

After high school, Moreira moved to Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador, to attend the Universidad Catolica de Santiago to be an economist.

After graduation, she worked at the university as an academic administrator, economic analyst, and as the director of a research center, where she also taught macroeconomics.

Moreira also worked for a nonprofit organization that helped small businesses get off the ground. Due to a difficult economy, she held two jobs simultaneously. After leaving the nonprofit agency at 4 p.m., Moreira worked as the registrar at the Universidad Espiritu Santo from 5 to 10 p.m.

It was there that she met Feldman, an American who had been hired to serve as head of the college's English department.

In 1996 Moreira and Feldman, who had graduated from Harvard, moved to Greater Boston, where he took a job at Boston University's Center for English Language and Orientation Programs, a position that he still holds. A year later, the couple married.

Moreira said that when she first moved to the United States, she spoke no English. She started taking four hours of classes a day at the Community Learning Center in Central Square in Cambridge, and then return home to study for an additional four hours by herself. This, she said, went on for a year.

She also took three semesters of classes at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education in Harvard Square, and in 1999 began teaching Spanish in the area. Last spring, she taught 12 courses at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education.

"I've had students from Italy, France, Israel, Romania and Czech Republic - all speak a little bit of English," said Moreira. "I'm always very excited when I find that a student can speak my language."

Kathy Bull, a teacher at Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, was a student of Moreira's at the Cambridge adult-education center eight years ago. She also had Moreira come to her home to give private lessons to her family. As time passed, Bull said, a friendship developed.

"Norma is a person who you can count on to do what she says," said Bull. "My daughter is also from Ecuador, which adds an additional bond."

Moreira said that she recently gained the confidence to look for a job in the field that she worked in when she was in Ecuador. Through a temporary-placement agency, she landed a position with Bank of America. For the past nine months, she's been working in the bank's global wealth management department. After work, however, she still heads to Cambridge to teach adult-education classes.

"Norma is very optimistic and has a great sense of humor," said Carlos Cruz, a colleague at Bank of America and a fellow Spanish teacher at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education. The two met nearly 10 years ago while teaching at the Berlitz Language Center in Boston. Moreira is always warm, he said, "even if she has to discuss a difficult situation."

With the holidays here, Moreira said, she's been busy arranging and enjoying her collection of Nativity scenes. By doing so, she says, she and her family are reminded about the universal message of peace and brotherhood that Christmas celebrates, and the limitless variety and creativity of the artisans who created all of those creche scenes.

Susan Chaityn Lebovits can be reached at Lebovits@globe.com.