Christmas

Today we celebrate the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. The date doesn’t come from the Gospels, which never give it. The earliest evidence for December 25 comes from fourth-century Rome, and there were probably two reasons it was chosen, which don’t rule each other out. The first: in Rome, December 25 was the feast of the *Dies Natalis Solis Invicti*, the birth of the sun that starts to grow again after the solstice, and Christians laid over it the birth of the one their texts call “the rising sun from on high.” The second: an ancient calculation that placed the conception on March 25, and so the birth nine months later. The Gospels tell of the census, the manger, the shepherds alerted in the night, and the Magi who came from the East. The Italian word Natale comes from the Latin *natalis*, relating to birth. The Nativity scene as we know it was invented by Francis of Assisi at Greccio, in 1223. The decorated tree came from Germany much later. Midnight Mass, the dinner, the gifts: every country has added something of its own, and in Italy every region has its own. In Naples the Nativity scene is a world apart: Via San Gregorio Armeno works all year long for this day, and at home it goes up on December 8 and doesn’t come down before Epiphany. The Smorfia puts Christmas at number twenty-five.