And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the Highest and on Earth peace, goodwill towards men.”

St Luke, II, vv. 13-14

Christmas

As a single event, Christmas, or the twelve days of Christmastide, or the birth of Christ, is surely celebrated by more people worldwide, both Christians and non-Christians, in both a sacred and a secular way, than any other single event. 

The foundations of the story, as we have come to know it, are surprisingly flimsy. Neither St John nor St Mark makes any mention of the Immaculate Conception, or of the birth of Jesus in any way, both choosing to begin their biographical gospel narratives with the baptism of the young adult Jesus by John the Baptist in the River Jordan.

The end of the first chapter of St Matthew, and the first 12 verses of Chapter 2, make passing reference to the immaculate conception, assume the Nativity to have happened without actually mentioning it, and tell of the journey and subsequent adoration of the Magi, and the anxiousness and actions of King Herod, before jumping a couple of decades or so to the baptism of Jesus.

It is in the first 21 verses of the second chapter of St Luke, and there alone, that we find an account of the nativity story as we recognise it, complete with the decree of taxation from Cæsar Augustus, the journey to Bethlehem of the unmarried and expectant couple, the overcrowded inn, the stable, the appearance of angels to shepherds on the hillside and the virgin birth itself. (There are 3,779 verses in the four gospels combined; as an aside it is interesting to consider that the entire multi-billion pound annual occurrence which we call Christmas is based entirely on just 33 short verses of historic scripture.) The liturgical colour of Christmastide is red. 

The actual birth of Christ is thought by modern historians to have been between 7 and 2 BC, although by the 4th century the western Christian church had settled on December 25th as the day on which to celebrate the event. This was possibly because of its proximity to the winter solstice, and possibly because of the calculation of exactly nine months since the accepted date that early Christians believe Christ to have been conceived. (Since the time of Saint Iranaeus (130 – 202) the Feast of the Annunciation has been celebrated on March 25th.) The way in which modern celebrations of Christmas have evolved include a mixture of pagan, pre-Christian, Christian and secular features.