The Tiny Clay Revolutionaries

During the French Revolution, the government banned public displays of religion, including large church nativity scenes. In response, families in Provence started secretly making tiny, pocket-sized clay figurines called santons (little saints) to hide in their homes. To disguise them from government inspectors, artisans stopped dressing the figurines like biblical characters and started painting them to look like ordinary local villagers—bakers, fishermen, and farmers.