Once upon a star…..
Sunitha Srinivasan
Christmas is coming….it’s that wonderful time of the year when the world seems filled with laughter and merriment…..families come together to ring out the old year and welcome the new one…there’s the sparkly excitement of unpacking surprise gifts…..the air is redolent with the aromas of festive cooking and baking……the night skies are clear. The stars seem so much closer to us…..there is music and dancing and so much fun…..the sound of Christmas carols peals from churches and choral groups visiting homes singing the old favorites like “we three kings of Orient are……” – the lovely old tale about the three kings from the East who followed a star to the birthplace of Christ where they honored him with the gifts traditionally given to kings – gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
The story was first told in one of the Gospels – the Gospel according to Mathew where he says: “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea, behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem. When they saw the star, they rejoiced, and when they saw the young child with Mary his mother, they fell and worshipped him and they presented unto him gifts of gold and frankincense, and myrrh.”
Interestingly, in several historical documents, the three men are not called kings but Magi or wise men. The word Magi is the plural of the Latin Magus, borrowed from the Greek Magos. Magos is derived from the ancient Persian word Maguŝ, referring to the Iranian priestly caste of Zoroastrianism. And this is where our story becomes fascinating……the Zoroastrian priests were skilled astronomers and astrologers. They closely observed the patterns of stars and planets, so it is not surprising that they interpreted an unusual planetary alignment as a sign that an ancient prophecy had come to pass—a great king had been born in Bethlehem.
The star of Bethlehem is said to have led the Magi to Jesus’s birthplace, but what more do we know about it? Was it a single star as the fables tell? Was it a conjunction of planets? And when did it occur? The year of Jesus’ birth is uncertain. Still, it can be narrowed down to probably between 6 and 4 BC. Several striking planetary conjunctions took place within ten years of the chronological point now taken as the beginning of the Christian era (The Christian Era, or Common Era (CE), began on January 1, 754 AUC (ab urbe condita). While the traditional view is that Jesus was born in the year one, most modern scholars believe he was born between 6 BC and 4 BC).
Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were observed to form the shape of a triangle in the 6th century BC. Perhaps this was what the Magi alluded to when they spoke of the star of Bethlehem? For eight months in 7 BC, Jupiter and Saturn were within three degrees of each other, and three times within that period passed within one degree of each other. Yet another cause for marvel and the heralding of extraordinary events. Several years later, on the 17th of June in 2 BC, Venus and Jupiter would have appeared to have merged just before setting in the general direction of Bethlehem to the West. Perhaps this is what led the Magi to the manger where Christ was born? So much unusual celestial activity ……is it any wonder that the astronomers of the time believed that the ancient prophesies about the birth of the Messiah had come to be?
So, do we know anything more about the Magi?
Who they were, where they came from, or even how many of them there were? Much information about these gentlemen has been pieced together over the centuries. For instance, the number of wise men who came to Bethlehem has largely been determined by the belief that the newborn was given three gifts – gold as a symbol of royalty, frankincense to perfume his life, and myrrh for embalming his body on his death. Historical legends have it that the Magi were Melchior from Persia, Gaspar from India, and Balthazar from Arabia. Perhaps there is an element of truth to this because in the ancient world, the phrase “from the East” implied that these men traveled from the Parthian Empire, which was centered in Iran (Persia) and stretched from Eastern Syria to the fringes of India. Some records suggest that they saw the baby Jesus, not at birth, but when he was around two years old….
We will never know for sure, and in the larger scheme of things, does it matter? It’s a lovely story that brought us the English word magic – that’s right – magic derives from Magus or Magi, and with the old year drawing to a close and a new one just around the corner who couldn’t do with a large dose of magic?
