Bethlehem: Moments prior to the Blessed Event that reset all time to zero*.
*Which is slightly confusing as he was born on December 25th, which makes me wonder if Year 1 A.D. was only 6 days long or if we just blew off those 1st 6 days and started Year 1 on January 1st? Seems then December 25th should be the actual New Year’s Day, doesn’t it? Who fucked with the Calendar? How’d the observed federal holiday get sloughed-off to January 1st? Was it a Marketing Ploy? I need some answers, dammit darn it.
EARL OF TAINT 
Just be thankful New Year’s Day wasn’t tied to Easter.
That there’s a whole other conundrum.
Since Christmas displays are banned in Bethlehem this year, I think we can really appreciate Joseph’s point here! LOLOL, Earl!
That’s like Bethlehem Pennsylvania or something…not THE Bethlehem, right?
New York.
http://dailycaller.com/2015/12/24/town-of-bethlehem-bans-merry-christmas-signs/
But according to the Christian families we’ve talked to from Bethlehem in the Holy Land, it’s a pretty hostile place for them. True story.
Hostile, no doubt. I’d urge them to get out of there.
December 25th was selected by the church to be a celebration of Christ’s birth, primarily to distract the heathen who were celebrating things like Saturnalia. The fact that shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks by night suggests that it was actually springtime in Bethlehem.
And don’t get me started on calendars!
I’ll bet Saturnalia parties were the bomb.
Still not as good as Curmudgeon’s parties. ;)
Truly? Wasn’t Saturnalia a drunken hedonistic orgy of debauchery and gluttonous self indulgence?
Yeah, but they didn’t have guns. :) Truth is, though, Curmudge does still have too many rules about the guns. :(
Technically I think the calendar resets on his death, not birth. So he was actually born in 32 BC and died at 0 BC. The Julian calendar wasn’t created until many years later, thus the minor discrepancies? Also, early Christians didn’t celebrate birthdays like we do, thus the celebration of Christ’s birth didn’t start until much later. The date is probably not correct, but who’s going change it now?
You know Don, it’s that kind of defeatist attitude that has created a plethora of problems for mankind through the millennia……..if people thought like you where would we be today? No #blacklivesmatter, no “hands up don’t shoot, no wookie in the White House, ad infinitum.
Shame on you! 💩
Informative, thanks.I still see no reason we can’t bring back Saturnalia. Concur?
I’m a Druid…I rest my case…..