A manger or trough is a rack for fodder, or a structure or feeder used to hold food for animals. The word comes from the Old French mangier (meaning "to eat"), from Latin mandere (meaning "to chew").[1]
Mangers are mostly used in livestock raising[2] and generally found at stables and farmhouses. They are also used to feed wild animals, e.g., in nature reserves.
A similar trough providing drinking water for domestic or non-domestic animals is a watering trough and may be part of a larger watering structure called abreuvoir.
The manger in Christianity
The manger is associated with nativity scenes where Mary and Joseph, forced by necessity to stay in a room for animals instead of a guest room, used a manger as a makeshift crib for the Baby Jesus.[3] (Greek: φάτνη phatnē; Luke 2:7).[4]
Gallery
Donkey eating apples from a steel trough
Nativity at Night by Geertgen tot Sint Jans, c. 1490.
See also
- Away in a Manger, a Christmas carol
- Bird feeder
- The Dog in the Manger, a metaphor
References
External links
Media related to Feeding troughs at Wikimedia Commons
The dictionary definition of manger at Wiktionary
