And So This Is Christmas

Authors, Tieh-Hee Koh, Neonatologist at the Townsville Hospital and Marion Koh, Mother, both experienced in looking after sick newborn babies, were motivated by depictions of the nativity scene to undertake a study to determine whether or not the newborn Jesus was clothed for warmth after birth.

"Temperatures at Christmas time in the northern hemisphere at any distance from the Equator are cold. Indeed, the temperature in Bethlehem at the time of the birth of Jesus Christ has been argued to be about 7 degrees celsius," said Dr Koh.

The National Gallery in London houses one of the world's great collections of European paintings. The authors identified 25 depictions on the nativity on its website. Twenty paintings depicted Jesus as a newborn.

Jesus was either naked or lightly clad in 90 per cent of the Old Master paintings of the nativity, was large for gestational age in 55 per cent of the paintings, and placed on the floor in 60 per cent of the paintings. Mary and Joseph were thickly clothed in all paintings in which they were depicted.

"We postulate that Jesus would have been hypothermic at birth, and very much so if also premature, had he been born on 25 December in a place with a temperature of 7 degrees celsius," Dr Koh said.

The authors' explanations include the thought that the painters may have got it wrong and that it was warmer than they were assuming. However all onlookers were in winter clothing or were moderately clothed.

The confusing evidence led the authors to suggest that Jesus was not born in winter, not born on 25 December.

The authors quote from Luke 2:8, which says shepherds were in the fields keeping watch over their flocks by night, possible from April to September but highly unlikely in cold December when flocks were sheltered and cared for at home.

The authors also argue that the Emperor, Caesar Augustus, would not have ordered a census in the middle of winter when roads were impassable. It was more likely that the census would have been held after the harvest in September or October when the weather was good and the roads dry for travel.

"Finally, 25 December as the date for Christmas was decreed in the 4^th century AD by Pope Liberius, possibly to compete with pagan festivals celebrating the winter solstice," Dr Koh said, adding further weight to his argument that the birth of Christ was perhaps a few months earlier than we have been led to believe.

CONTACT Dr Tieh-Hee KOH 0419 796 992 / 07 4796 2985

Judith TOKLEY, AMA Public Affairs, 0408 824 306 / 02 6270 5471