The Gospels of Matthew and Luke provide well-known but quite different accounts of the event-although neither specifies a date.
The earliest writings-Paul and Mark-make no mention of Jesus’ birth. We can begin to see this shift already in the New Testament. But over time, Jesus’ origins would become of increasing concern. Jesus’ ministry, miracles, Passion and Resurrection were often of most interest to first- and early-second-century C.E. Therefore let us celebrate the festival…”) it was certainly a distinctively Christian feast by the mid-second century C.E., when the apocryphal text known as the Epistle to the Apostles has Jesus instruct his disciples to “make commemoration of death, that is, the Passover.” Its observance could even be implied in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 5:7–8: “Our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. aĮaster, a much earlier development than Christmas, was simply the gradual Christian reinterpretation of Passover in terms of Jesus’ Passion. Jesus is crucified the next morning-still, the 15th. In Matthew, Mark and Luke, however, the Last Supper is held after sundown, on the beginning of the 15th. This would have occurred on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Nisan, just before the Jewish holiday began at sundown (considered the beginning of the 15th day because in the Hebrew calendar, days begin at sundown). According to John, Jesus is crucified just as the Passover lambs are being sacrificed. Each of the Four Gospels provides detailed information about the time of Jesus’ death. This stands in sharp contrast to the very early traditions surrounding Jesus’ last days. 1 As far as we can tell, Christmas was not celebrated at all at this point. 165–264) goes so far as to mock Roman celebrations of birth anniversaries, dismissing them as “pagan” practices-a strong indication that Jesus’ birth was not marked with similar festivities at that place and time. The extrabiblical evidence from the first and second century is equally spare: There is no mention of birth celebrations in the writings of early Christian writers such as Irenaeus (c. Yet most scholars would urge caution about extracting such a precise but incidental detail from a narrative whose focus is theological rather than calendrical. The biblical reference to shepherds tending their flocks at night when they hear the news of Jesus’ birth (Luke 2:8) might suggest the spring lambing season in the cold month of December, on the other hand, sheep might well have been corralled.
The Bible offers few clues: Celebrations of Jesus’ Nativity are not mentioned in the Gospels or Acts the date is not given, not even the time of year. Although Jesus’ birth is celebrated every year on December 25, Luke and the other gospel writers offer no hint about the specific time of year he was born. A blanket of snow covers the little town of Bethlehem, in Pieter Bruegel’s oil painting from 1566.
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