Everyone knows that Christians typically celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on December 25th—Christmas Day. But did you know that most historians agree that JC wasn't actually born on that day? Or, in fact, in the year A.D. 1 at all?
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00:00Everyone knows that the birth of Jesus Christ was on December 25th, Christmas Day. But was it?
00:05Was it even 1 A.D.? The short version is, no one knows for sure when exactly Jesus was born.
00:11But we have clues and hints that might guide us to the date. Making things more confusing,
00:15some Orthodox Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus on January 7th,
00:19while Armenian Christians choose January 6th. That has to do with the Epiphany,
00:23when Jesus was revealed as the Son of God. The 7th of January has to do with the old Julian calendar.
00:29The Epiphany is a reasonable religious explanation for the birth date,
00:32but we think we can get a little more precise.
00:35The Gospel of Luke says that Jesus was around 30 years of age when he began his ministry.
00:40Historians have some evidence pointing to when Jesus died, the first Friday of April,
00:44in either A.D. 30 or A.D. 33. That's based on three of the four Gospels.
00:49John puts the Last Supper on a Wednesday, so that just makes things even more confusing.
00:53As to why there isn't some 2,000-year-old birth certificate marking his birth in the first place?
00:58Well, that's because back then, it was viewed as a total lowbrow pagan move to record the
01:02date of a birth, or celebrate so-called birth anniversaries in the first place.
01:07And just a note, historians don't use B.C. before Christ or A.D. Anno Domini,
01:12which translates to In the Year of Our Lord anymore. They use B.C.E. before the Common
01:17Era and C.E. Common Era. Anyway, early on, the main focus was on Jesus' teachings and
01:22the miracles attributed to him, including his resurrection. His birthday was largely
01:26irrelevant to the rest of the narrative. In the end, there's a ton of people who think
01:30his birthday was likely chosen by early Christians to coincide with Saturnalia,
01:34a Roman gift-giving festival celebrated near the winter solstice.
01:38Before we nail down the day, let's take a shot at the actual year Jesus was born.
01:42Today, historians and religious scholars believe that the historical Jesus was
01:46likely born in Bethlehem sometime between 6 and 4 B.C. That's because the biblical
01:52account of his birth is closely associated with the Judean king Herod, who died in 4 B.C.,
01:57and looked like this in Jesus Christ Superstar, in case you haven't seen it.
02:01Jesus, I am overjoyed.
02:05This means that Jesus died in his mid-30s, which also fits with the description in the Gospel of
02:09Luke that Jesus began his brief ministry at about 30 years old that we mentioned earlier.
02:144 B.C. to 33 A.D. would put Jesus at 37 years of age at his crucifixion.
02:19The exact day of Jesus' birth is a greater mystery. In fact, the Bible doesn't even
02:24mention the nativity scene that has become so integral to our mental images of Jesus' birth.
02:28Some biblical scholars believe Jesus was likely born in the summer or fall,
02:32since Luke mentions that shepherds were watching their flocks in the fields at the time.
02:36This might not be as big a clue as it seems. Yes, generally speaking,
02:41flocks were sheltered starting around October back then, but it's Israel we're talking about,
02:45not Siberia. Sheep did and do graze in December in that area, so it might be a bit of a red herring.
02:52Bigger clue might come right from the biblical text. Luke also says Mary was visited by an
02:56angel in the sixth month of her relative Elizabeth's pregnancy with John the Baptist.
03:00Since John was conceived in June, that place is Jesus' birth in September,
03:05which could make him a Virgo. If you've ever seen any of the buzz around Jesus
03:08being born on September 11, 3 B.C., now you know where that all came from.
03:13As people learned more about Jesus' life and death, it was natural that they would be curious
03:17about his origins. Around 8,200 different Christian sects began to throw out dates,
03:22but none stuck. It took 200 more years for the December date to be settled on.
03:27Another theory is that Roman Emperor Constantine made December 25 the official date of Christmas
03:32in 336 A.D. to overshadow the pagans' winter rituals and ultimately make the celebration
03:37of Jesus' birth the high holy holiday that it's become today. Want one more theory?
03:42Jupiter appeared in retrograde. That basically means it seemed to stop and then move in the
03:47opposite direction in 2 B.C. right over Bethlehem. Guess what day that was? Correct. December 25.
03:54But if you want to know the real reason December 25 is celebrated as Jesus' birthday,
03:58it's likely our old friend math. The Feast of the Annunciation is a holy day among Christians.
04:03This is the day that the angel appeared to Mary and told her she was with child.
04:07You know what day that is celebrated? March 25.
04:10Add nine months to March 25, and guess what you have? That's right. December 25.