TITLE:
Dating the Birth of Jesus Christ on Hanukkah
AUTHORS:
Liberato De Caro, Fernando La Greca, Emilio Matricciani
KEYWORDS:
Hanukkah, Jesus of Nazareth, Nativity Day, Epiphany, Julian Calendar, Jewish Luni-Solar Calendar, Astronomical Calculations
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.10 No.10,
September
26,
2022
ABSTRACT: The still controversial date of the birth of Jesus Christ (Nativity Day)
is investigated by using multidisciplinary elements: historical tradition, ancient
calendars (Julian and luni-solar) and astronomical calculations. The Nativity Day dates of Western—December 25—and Eastern
traditions—January 6—have been compared with Kislev 25, the initial day
of the Jewish feast Hanukkah, reported in an ancient source of the IV century
as the Nativity Day. The same source sets the Epiphany on Tevet 6. Astronomical
calculations allow us to reconstruct moon
phases and ancient luni-solar calendars, and to verify whether Hanukkah
can be associated to the Nativity Day of the Christian tradition. By
considering the leap years wrongly introduced in the first decades of the
Julian calendar, and the flexibility of the Jewish luni-solar calendar of 2000
years ago—regarding the beginning of months and embolismic years—our astronomical
calculations show that the Nativity Day set on Kislev 25 is compatible with the
Eastern tradition, 6 January 1 after Christ, in agreement with the year
calculated by Dionysius Exiguus. Moreover, also the Epiphany is compatible with
the Eastern tradition of January 6, if it is set on Tevet 6 of a year later,
just in the day indicated by an ancient source of the IV century.