Here's a thought for the harried among us who are unready for the arrival of another Christmas season: There was a time when some scholars argued that the holiday should be observed in the spring. Just imagine three more months of shopping!
It seems to us a matter of course that Christmas should come on Dec. 25. But over the past 2,000 years or so, the timing of Jesus' birth—which, as the bumper stickers like to remind us, is the original reason for the season—has generated considerable controversy. In fact, there has been enough uncertainty about when to celebrate Jesus' birthday that some Christians have chosen not to celebrate it at all.
The Bible offers little help in resolving the question: No dates are offered in the Gospel stories. There isn't even a reference to the season of the year. Some readers have thought they detected a clue in the evangelist Luke's mention of shepherds tending their flocks at night as they hear the news of Jesus' birth. To some, this suggests not a December birth, but one during the spring lambing season, when the animals would be free to roam out of their corrals. But wait: Advocates for a December Nativity answer that sheep reserved for temple sacrifices would have grazed unfettered even in deepest winter.
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