O Holy Night! The Stars Are Brightly Shining Quiz

Answer: The type of fruit is never mentioned in the Bible story of Adam and Eve.

The book of Genesis records that Adam and Eve were allowed to eat from any tree except that of the tree in the middle of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). No details concerning the nature of its fruit are given.

Answer: It is the date of a pagan festival taken over by the early church.

In the absence of a biblical basis for the timing of Christmas, the church seems to have "adopted" the pagan practice of a festival around the time of the Winter Solstice. This had the double advantage of being an existing time for celebration that took place when agricultural work was at a minimum.

It is not known whether Archbishop Usher had an opinion on Christmas Day but he did calculate that the first full day of creation was October 23rd 4004 BC.

Answer: The Apocrypha

The idea comes from the book of Wisdom, found in the Apocrypha: "For while gentle silence enveloped all things, and night in its swift course was now half gone, your all-powerful word leaped from heaven, from the royal throne" (Wisdom 18 v. 14-15).

Answer: The presence of shepherds in the fields watching their flocks

The chance of snow at Jesus' birth is doubly unlikely. Firstly, whilst it can snow in Bethlehem, this is very rare. Secondly, shepherds out in the fields (Luke 2 v. 8) would ordinarily be an indicator of a warmer time of year. During the winter months, the animals would be kept closer to home. But then, to dispel another misguided notion, there was probably more chance of the ground being white than of Jesus being white!

Christina Rossetti is following an older tradition that the snow was to cover up the sinfulness of the world. This is exemplified by the following verses from John Milton's "Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity".

"It was the Winter wilde,
While the Heav'n-born-childe,
All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies;
Nature in aw to him
Had doff't her gawdy trim,
With her great Master so to sympathize:
It was no season then for her
To wanton with the Sun her lusty Paramour.

Only with speeches fair
She woos the gentle Air
To hide her guilty front with innocent Snow,
And on her naked shame,
Pollute with sinfull blame,
The Saintly Vail of Maiden white to throw,
Confounded, that her Maker's eyes
Should look so neer upon her foul deformities."

Answer: From the description of Jesus laid in a manger

This is probably the most prevalent myth about the birth of Jesus and stems from readers trying to flesh out a story that has very little detail. The cue is taken from Luke who states that Mary wrapped Jesus "in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn" (Luke 2 v. 7).

This is probably meant to suggest no more than that she had to improvise and use an emergency form of crib for their new baby.

Answer: The presence of a donkey is very probable.

The distance between Nazareth and Bethlehem is approximately 70 miles and the journey would have required overnight stops. It is probable, therefore, that the couple would have used a donkey to carry Mary and their possessions.

Answer: The Bible says that they only followed the star for a very limited time.

The journey of the wise men has three stages as recorded in the second chapter of Matthew's gospel.

Stage 1: They see a star appear in the sky and recognise it as announcing the birth of "the king of the Jews". They do not follow the star at this point but travel to the royal palace in Jerusalem because they assume this is where the birth will take place.

Stage 2: Herod and his advisors interpret the wise men to mean the Christ (or Messiah) and send them to Bethlehem on the basis of Old Testament prophecy.

Stage 3: Whilst the wise men are on the short journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, the star reappears and directs them to "the place where the child was". This is the only point at which they are described as following the star.

Answer: Herod died in 4 BC.

The birth of Jesus is meant to define year zero in the Christian calendar but is notoriously difficult to date with reference to external events. Not only did Herod die four years too early but Quirinius, whom Luke names as governor of Syria, did not take up this post until 6 AD!

Answer: There are no waterways on which to sail into Bethlehem.

The only time that the Bible mentions Bethlehem and water at the same time is when David longs for a drink from the local well (2 Samuel 23 v. 15).

Answer: It is never directly referred to in the whole of the rest of the New Testament.

The virgin birth has long caused controversy largely because there is so little information to go on. In its favour is the fact that Matthew and Luke give differing accounts suggesting that they were both, independently, aware of the tradition. On the other hand, the silence of the rest of the New Testament is ominous. One would have expected the early evangelists, as they bore witness to the life of Jesus, to make use of such a miraculous beginning.