Things We Know About the Birth of Jesus

Not exactly off-topic, but related... Should I? Sure, why not? Probably willowed by now, anyway.

Things we know.

Jesus was not born in a lonely, isolated medieval-European-style wooden barn on Dec 25 in the year 1AD.

The year was more like 8 to 4 BC (Christ born Before Christ always strikes me as funny), and the place was probably a kind of cave-barn close up to the inn. (Apparently, the Euro barn was St. Francis of Assisi's invention, says Milady.) And some guesstimate it was possibly in the early Spring or late Summer - early Autumn, if there were really shepherds around town instead of up in the hills.

And think about it. If Bethlehem was so crowded, because of the tax ruling, that the barn was set up for guests (not that uncommon for folks to sleep with their animals at "inns" of the day), it's also unlikely Joseph & Mary were lonely and isolated. If there were other women travelers around, Mary was very likely assisted in the birth, wouldn'cha think? Women being like that through the ages.

I've known since I was a kid about the parallax effect, you know, where the moon follows you, and how that kind-of debunks how the Wise Men were led, whether star, comet, or meteor. Unless they had some shiny special angel leading them, following the Star is probably a conflation of the visit of the wise guys, whyever they showed up, with memories of spectacular planetary conjunctions which, in recent decades, have been computer-confirmed, such as happened three times in 7BC.

None of which to me detracts at all from Christmas, in all its stars and glories and angels singing. Because. Joy to the world, the Lord is born! Let earth receive her king!

The front-lawn creches with Santa and Rudolph and Frosty and Snoopy kneeling at the manger - now, those are disturbing!

Merry Christmas!