Jesus was more than likely not born on December 25 and we celebrate that day mainly because it coincided with a Roman pagan holiday.
Vermont Christmas Company
On December 25, more than two billion people across the globe celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. It’s estimated that 90 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas, including non-Christians.
Believers gather for the midnight mass at their local church, families travel long distances for large feasts and children eagerly await the arrival of gifts under the tree.
But despite all of the excitement and the focus on December 25, it is actually highly unlikely that Mary gave birth to Jesus on this day. If we’re talking percentages, historians might put the odds at 1 in 365. It’s also historically unlikely that Jesus’ birth coincides with the year 1 A. D.
What are the clues that indicate Jesus’ actual birthday? And why do we celebrate at the end of December?
Here’s what you need to know.
Pope Francis kisses a figurine of baby Jesus during a mass on Christmas eve on December 24,2018 at St Peter’s basilica in the Vatican.
The Bible tells the story of Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem in order to participate in an empire-wide census. Mary was pregnant and there was no room at the inn. The innkeeper allowed them to stay in the barn with the animals. That is where Mary gave birth to Jesus and put him in the manger.
The next part of the story gives us a clue as to the time of year this may have happened. The Gospel of Luke, as written in the King James Bible, explains: “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.”
It’s more likely that shepherds would have been performing this task in the spring. That was the time of year that shepherds would have been keeping an eye on newborn lambs.
A bust of King Herod, the biblical Roman-Jewish king who ruled Jerusalem from 37 to 4 BC, in the Israel Museum on February 13,2013 in Jerusalem. The Israel Museum, premieres the world’s first exhibition on the life and legacy of Herod the Great, one of the most influential and controversial figures in ancient Roman and Jewish history.
Anyone who has ever attended Bible school or been told the Christmas story as a child knows the name King Herod the Great. He was the Jewish King of Judea, which was part of the Roman empire.
The Biblical account says that when the Magi were following the star to find Jesus, they visited Herod along the way. As explained in the Gospel of Matthew, they told Herod that a King of the Jews had been born in Bethlehem. Herod instructed the Magi to return so as to inform him where he could also find the child. However, the Magi were told in a dream not to return to Herod, as the story goes.
