The notion of honouring Jesus’ birth was born in response to pagan festivities observed in Rome during the Winter Solstice. Christmas celebrations would be more popular, according to church officials, if they coincided with the Winter Solstice’s traditional feasts and revelry.
Even though some Christmas celebrations are secular, the religious aspect of the occasion is still important. This may be observed in church activities such as Midnight Mass and, more importantly, in the many varied interpretations of the Nativity, or Christmas Story, that are performed wherever people celebrate the holiday.
That storey began in Nazareth, Galilee, some two thousand years ago.
Joseph, a carpenter, was engaged to Mary, a young woman. An angel appeared to her one day and informed her that she was having a child. She couldn’t understand how that could have happened because, due to her careful nature, she hadn’t slept with Joseph. The angel, on the other hand, said the child would be special because he would be God’s Son, and his name would be Jesus. Mary and Joseph married when the angel appeared to them. However, about the time Mary was scheduled to give birth, the couple had to travel a long distance to Joseph’s hometown of Bethlehem to pay a special tax.
Finding a place to stay in Bethlehem was challenging due to the large number of individuals in town to pay their taxes. After several denials, one innkeeper agreed to let them spend the night in his barn. Jesus, the Holy Child and Son of God, was born there in a cradle known as a manger, wrapped in linens.
During the same hours that Mary was giving delivery, shepherds in a meadow overlooking Bethlehem noticed an extraordinarily bright star over the sky in Bethlehem. They were both intrigued and afraid because they had never seen anything like it before. An angel informed them of the ‘good news’ that the Son of God had been born in Bethlehem.
Shepherds abandoned their flocks to search Bethlehem for the infant. They were pleased to see Jesus when they arrived at the stable. They knelt in front of Him to adore Him. They also told Mary and Joseph about the bright star and the angel who appeared to proclaim Jesus as the world’s Savior.
The dazzling star was also spotted by wise men in the east. When the Wise Men looked at the stars, they noticed that whenever a very bright star appeared in the sky, a new and powerful monarch appeared. As a result, three of them embarked on a quest to find the next ruler. They first travelled to King Herod’s palace in Jerusalem, where they expected the infant to be born. However, King Herod was terrified that he might be removed from the throne if people asked to see the child who would become the future king. King Herod wanted the Wise Men to return and tell him about the newborn so that he could adore him as well.
The Wise Men followed the star to Bethlehem, where they lavished presents of gold, frankincense, and myrrh on Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus. On January 6, known as the Epiphany, several Christmas customs honour the Wise Men, who discovered Jesus on that day. Later that night, the three Wise Men had a dream in which an angel told them that King Herod planned to murder Baby Jesus. They fled Bethlehem for the East, failing to return to Jerusalem to alert King Herod of the child’s whereabouts. Soon after the Wise Men left, Joseph had a dream in which an angel told him that Herod had ordered Jesus’ execution and that he should take Mary and Jesus to Egypt. After the Wise Men failed to return to notify him of the baby’s whereabouts, Herod ordered the death of all infant boys in Bethlehem in an attempt to slay Jesus. Mary and Joseph, on the other hand, had already left with Baby Jesus.
