By Martinus Ariya Seta /The Conversation Many people, including Christians, believe the origin of the date of Christmas is related to the pagan feasts to worship the solar god Sol Invictus , Saturn’s...
About 5,000 years ago an artist in Egypt painted an apparent nativity scene onto the rocks of a small cave—a tableau similar to crèche scenes that depict Jesus being laid in a manager in a cave or...
Believe it or not, the Christmas holiday season is fast approaching, when homes will be adorned with twinkling lights and the spirit of giving fills the air. A timeless narrative unfolds—one that has...
Rodolfo Galvan Estrada III / The Conversation Every year on Christmas, Christians celebrate the birth of their religion’s founder, Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. Part of this celebration includes...
The ‘Star of Bethlehem’ described in the Gospel of Matthew remains one of astronomy’s greatest mysteries. Matthew 2:1-12 explains how magi or astrologer-priests observed the rising of a certain star...
An ancient stone token depicting a deeply religious scene, the Nativity, was discovered in the Holy Land. It’s being described as being “unlike all others,” because it doesn’t feature Mary and Joseph...
From nativity plays to crèche sets to Christmas cards, animals are ubiquitous in our vision of the birth of Christ – but according to the Bible, not a single animal was there. Where did all these...
British experts investigating a 400-year-old damaged painting have made an amazing discovery. Beneath the artwork they found a painting that apparently dates to the medieval period. It is of a...
In just twelve short verses the Gospel of Matthew records the visit of the mysterious Magi to pay homage to the baby Jesus. The allure of mystical wizards from exotic lands captured the imagination...
To paint the canvas around the time of the birth of Jesus, one needs to examine the unfolding political landscape of Judea a generation before Jesus’ birth. By 40 BC, Judea was under Parthian rule...
Picturesque and exotic, with their crowns and camels, the three kings regularly appear on Christmas cards and in nativity scenes. But how much is original, and how much is later addition for the sake...
Rooted in the cyclical pagan year, Christmas can be linked back to the celebration of the Winter Solstice around December 21st, a time when the night was at its longest, and the coming of the “light...
