A: When asked what he considered to be the most important date in history, Ignazio Silone said December 25, the year zero. Because of calendar revisions by Pope Gregory XIII, we now know, Jesus was probably born in the year we call 4 B.C. Nevertheless, the date is established. Around his birth, time in the West divides into A.D. and B.C. (or C.E. and B.C.E.). In truth, the year is about as close as we can get to the date for we know neither the season nor the month when Jesus was born.

We do know it was an age heavy with expectancy. Scripture says that a star appeared announcing Jesus’ birth. This too was not all that unusual. The birth of Moses, the lawgiver, had many motifs in common with Jesus’ birth. A star, according to tradition, had also appeared when Moses was born. In the Nile delta of Egypt, Pharaoh, to keep down the burgeoning population of the Hebrews, orders the slaughter of the innocents, just as Herod did in an attempt to locate and destroy the infant Jesus. Jesus was miraculously born of a virgin, and Moses’ life was miraculously spared by Pharaoh’s court.

But perhaps the most spectacular event of Jesus’ coming was the adoration of various people. First the shepherds, then the Magi (the Kings), then old Anna and Simeon. From the very first, the infant Jesus was recognized by some as the Son of God, by others as the Messiah, and by still others as a king. In the biblical account, Jesus is born, and his birth is celebrated by angels and human beings.

His birth seems to have become connected quite early with the Roman holiday of Saturnalia, a festival of merriments set near the year’s end. The holiday honored Saturn, the God of time. Christmas (a term growing out of the Christian year from two words, Christ and masse) became the day the church chose to celebrate the birth of Christ. In the following centuries, the season of Advent became built around Christmas itself. As the name implies, Advent is a time of high anticipation of Christ's Second Coming, based on the glorious celebration of his first. The Christmas season comes to an official end on January 6 (the twelfth day of Christmas) with the celebration of Epiphany, or the manifestation. On this day Jesus was manifested to the world as God’s Son, the Messiah and Savior of the world.