Christmas: The Truth!

It has been so much fun watching carol services online from across the region over the past few weeks. Seeing Church of England curates dressed as Christingles, a variety of farm animals attempt to be controlled and some fresh arrangements of classic carols has probably been a highlight of my Christmas this year!

In the last part on our series on Christmas Carol myths, here are a few quick facts to see you into the festive weekend:

Little Donkey? Scripture doesn’t actually say that Mary travelled on a donkey. If a donkey was present, it was more likely to be carrying the luggage while Mary rode horseback.

No room at the inn? Some scholars have argued that the word we translate as ‘inn’ should in fact be ‘guest room’, so maybe there wasn’t even an innkeeper!

Born in a stable? The lower dwelling rooms of low income households would often be shared by animals so that they could share warmth. This would explain why there was a manger, but doesn’t necessarily mean that Jesus was born in a stable.

Jingle Bells is not about Christmas! If you look at the lyrics of this famously festive song, it’s actually about Thanksgiving and not Christmas. But hey, who says it can’t be both!

And finally, in case you were wondering where the X comes from in Xmas, it’s the Greek letter that represents Christ. Xmas has been used by Christians for around 900 years!!!

The entire team at Pursue Network wish everyone a blessed Christmas.