The Catholic Defender: Was Bethlehem Dec. 25, 2 B.C. too Cold?
- Donald Hartley
- 53 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Was Bethlehem Dec. 25, 2 B.C. too Cold? No
It is not too cold in Bethlehem during December, as average temperatures are mild, ranging from a low of about
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(
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) to a high of
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(
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While the weather can be cool and rainy, sustained periods of freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall are rare, making it much milder than a typical North American winter.
Sometimes artists through their expression and profession can influence thought and belief based on the perception of the artist.
Christmas is a great example as many of our beloved music and art portrays Christmas in Bethlehem as being winter with snow. Consider the song "The First Noel",
One of my personal favorites. Has a line, "On a cold winter's night that was so deep Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Born is the King of Israel!"
Notice the feeling you have singing this stanza?
It's cold outside and you can really feel for those shepherds. Paintings and art work often depicts a Nativity scene with snow flakes and snow on the ground.
Is this art and music that is so entrenched in our imagination of the Christmas story a true representation of the actual Nativity scene?
This statement was posed to challenge my position that truly the Shepherds were in fact out in the fields tending their sheep:
"We don't know when Our Lord was born. In winter, yes, because the shepherds were out in their fields that time of year.
Why not appropriate a beloved pagan season to celebrate the Nativity? There's even a neat play on words. The Romans called the winter solstice Natatalia Solis Invicti, the Birth of the Unconquered Sun (Son!)."
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