Spotlight: An After Christmas Story

On December 25th, Christians around the world celebrated Jesus’ birth. The New International Version Bible, in the Book of Luke Chapter 2, recounts the event as follows: In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. . . . And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. 

While hard evidence from the First Century is understandably sparse, history has confirmed several aspects of the Biblical account of Jesus’s birth. Caesar Augustus, also known as Octavian, was the first Roman Emperor. He came to power in 27 B.C. after a period of political upheaval and civil war following the fall of the Roman Republic. Octavian was the great-nephew of Julius Caesar, who was stabbed to death in the Roman Senate on March 15, 44 B.C. by a large group of conspirators, whose goal was to end the dictatorship and preserve the Roman Republic. The assassination did not have the desired impact; in fact, Caesar’s death marked the end of the Roman Republic. Octavian reigned as Emperor Caesar Augustus from 27 B.C. until his death in 14 A.D. Under his rule, the Roman Empire expanded in size as a result of military conquests. According to scholars at Martin Luther College, Caesar Augustus issued several census decrees during his reign, and census decrees were a common Roman practice relating to taxation and government administration.

Nazareth is a town in the Galilee region of northern Israel. It is approximately 90 miles north of Bethlehem of Judea, which is located in the West Bank, about 6 miles south of Jerusalem. Both Nazareth and Bethlehem were inhabited at the time Israel came under Roman rule in 63 B.C. Traveling by foot or donkey, it would have taken Mary and Joseph four to seven days to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

There is no evidence that Jesus was actually born on December 25th. It is likely that early Christians aligned their Christmas celebration with the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia. Romans celebrated Saturnalia each year during the Winter Solstice, honoring Saturn, the god of time and agriculture, with feasts and gift giving. The festival lasted a week.

Epiphany, celebrated each year on January 6th, marks the visit of the Magi or wisemen to the Christ Child; however, it is unlikely that they arrived on that date. In fact, some scholars believe Jesus was 2 years old when the Magi arrived. In Spain and Latin America, Epiphany rivals Christmas Day in significance. Since Elizabethan England, the Twelfth Night, January 5th, marks the end of the Christmas season and correlates with the eve of Epiphany. Twelfth Night, the last of the 12 days of Christmas, is celebrated with feasts, caroling, and often a king cake (similar to a Fat Tuesday celebration) with a bean and a pea hidden inside the cake. The king for the night is the man who finds the bean and the queen is the woman who finds the pea.