Re: Where do Christmas presents go?

In article <ddfr-053D0F.14170411122005@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
David Friedman <ddfr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>In article <IrCpAz.343@xxxxxxxxxxx>,
> djheydt@xxxxxxxxxxx (Dorothy J Heydt) wrote:
>
>> >The reference in Luke 2:8 to shepherds staying out all night in the
>> >fields with their flocks suggests a warm-weather date for Jesus'
>> >birth. From what I have read, the practice in the winter was to bring
>> >the sheep into an enclosed fold each night, so that they could more
>> >easily share body heat and the shepherd could get in out of the cold.
>>
>> Actually, what it really points to is lambing time, in the early
>> spring. Ewes that will quietly sit around on the hillside,
>> surrounded by other sheep plus shepherds and sheepdogs, for the
>> rest of the year will suddenly decide, when they go into labor,
>> to go off somewhere into the boonies where they can give birth
>> privately ... till the wolf gets them. So that's the season when
>> you keep watch over your flocks by night, so they don't do something
>> stupid.
>
>Which raises a simple but interesting question.
>
>If you get the length of the year a little off, as calendars sometimes
>do, the seasons gradually shift around the year--still true for the
>Muslim calendar. Do we know if the Roman months at the time of Jesus'
>birth occurred at the season as the corresponding months--where there
>are corresponding ones--do now? Or might December 25th have been in
>early spring?

IIRC, the Muslim calendar is pure Lunar, giving an average year of about
354 days. To be distinguished from the Jewish calendar, which is Lunar-Solar
and adjusts to the Solar year by throwing in extra months on a periodic basis.

The Roman calendar, up until the Julian reforms, was a political football.

--
Hal Heydt
Albany, CA

My dime, my opinions.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Julian calendar or Gregorian calender
    ... David Laskin asked about whether a relative born in Rakov, located in Russia ... Gregorian calendar. ... Europe were more familiar with the Hebrew calendar rather than the Russian ... needed her date of birth for the marriage license. ...
    (soc.genealogy.jewish)
  • Re: Age in years, months, days, hours, minutes, seconds?
    ... >> Given a person's birth date, down to minutes, as year xxxx, month yy, hour>> hh and minute mm, ... I mean the birthdate as a real number, as either years, months, days, hours, minutes or seconds, since the birth of Christ on 0=. ... Verify whether the assumptions about the underlying> calendar are correct, in particular which date for the calendar switch> from Julian to Gregorian is correct for that country ... Ioannis --- http://ioannis.virtualcomposer2000.com/. ...
    (sci.math)
  • Re: Julian calendar or Gregorian calender
    ... David Laskin asked about whether a relative born in Rakov, located in Russia ... Gregorian calendar. ... needed her date of birth for the marriage license. ... birth in connection with a Jewish holiday, i.e., the second night of ...
    (soc.genealogy.jewish)
  • Re: ...and the pigs are still sick
    ... a problem for farmers wives and daughters as well. ... I wonder what the historical patterns of birth dates are, ... maybe the birth data isn't there. ... certainly our land was once sheep walk for Furness Abbey. ...
    (uk.business.agriculture)
  • Re: Last Login Time - question about Script I have
    ... >initial epoch of the Christian calendar, did he at that time declare the ... AD 100 was a leap year, in accordance with the decree of Julius Caesar ... >records of birth dated February 30th. ...
    (microsoft.public.scripting.wsh)