According to the records from the Vatican, the date of HaMoshiach’s birth is unknown to His Church, so the Church set the date of HaMoshiach’s birth on December 25th saying the reason for doing this was Biblical. This she says she based upon the words and recommendations of a Biblical theologian she appointed long ago to find the date. The problem is his notes are lost, but we believe his theological reasoning for this date seems easy enough to figure out. Passages from Is.9.2, Jn.1.4, 3.19-21 immediately come to mind. This supposition as to the date is confirmed by the reasoning that the light began to return to the world and since HaMoshiach’s birth brought the Light into the world, this would most likely be the day of HaMoshiach’s birth. This is a good logical approach, the only flaw we see is based upon what we have found in the Word that this date was more likely His conception day and not His birthday.
What we are proposing is not that this good theologian was wrong, for much of the hand of HaShem has both a literal and spiritual meaning. And to think of the spiritual sense of the Light coming into the world has to point you near the winter solstice. But recently, there has been a small clue (usually overlooked) that has been found in Luke’s Gospel that may yield the way to the actual date of Yeshua’s birth (see Can we know when HaMoshiach was Born for details). This was a recent find because it was an outgrowth of the return of Jewish believers to their heritage (a prophetic event of the late Messianic Age) through their particular “study habits”. So we really can’t blame the theologian for possibly missing the real date, but nonetheless what he found was still important and highly significant.
Ironically, in Miriam, the Holy Mother, we find the very lesson that Catholics need to learn right now in our walk: to trust in G-d despite the risks, the mockery, and the suffering as we take up our crosses and follow Him. This is what Miriam did when the angel came before her. She had no other proof of his words except the promise made to Av’raham and the prophets and to accept would put her in risk of being stoned or even put away. Yet knowing these risks she still said “Behold, I am the handmaid of the L-rd; let it be to me according to Your Word.” Lk.1.38. She trusted in G-d with her very life and was rewarded as to be forever called “blessed” by His abiding Church! Isaiah devotes a entire prophecy to this humble and simple faith: “Therefore the L-rd Himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin (almah, meaning virgin or young woman) shall conceive and bear a son and shall call His Name Imman’u-el” Is.7.14. Miriam’s faith is the “take up your cross” faith, “the sacrifice your life” faith, “the give everything you have” faith and we are all called to this very faith in G-d as explained previously.
This lesson also exactly matches the lessons of Chanukah. Antiochus (he was forcing Secularism upon them) sent a great army against a handful of Zionist farmers and priests with pitchforks and plows, and the little guys won. When they went to clean the Temple (removed a false god or two), they found that they did not have enough pure oil to light the Menorah for more than one day and to get more would take about a week. They had trusted G-d in the war and found victory, so they trusted Him now with the oil. And G-d seeing this trust blessed them and the menorah burned eight days until fresh oil could be supplied. They trusted G-d against enormous odds, based upon a promise alone and this trust and faith foreshadowed Miriam’s, His most humble servant among women. And just as the lights of Chanukah grows as the week goes on, so too did that tiny precious life grow inside her until all was fulfilled within her womb and heart.
And if Christmas was truly the conception of HaMoshiach and not His birth, then when was He born? If you have already gone to the link on His birth you know already that we believe the evidence shows He was probably born on or around Succoth, which is why we brought it up here. If correct, His actual birth would have fallen after 40 weeks (of gestation) or 280 days after Dec. 25th, that is either the 24th of September (based on the weeks) or September 11th (based on days). However, according to our modern Jewish calendar, when Chanukah has fallen on Dec. 25th in a given year, Succoth has fallen on Oct. 18th. So what gives?
We suspect the answer lies in the modifications Judah made to the Jewish calendar over the years. At the time of HaMoshiach’s birth the Sanhedrin figured the calendar yearly and they alone knew how (this was a way they held onto power). We do know some things though; that this date was based on the spotting of the crescent of the new moon by witnesses after the sheaves of barley had begun to green (as explained above in “The Feast of Ingathering”). They also used “calculations”, although what they were and why they were used is unclear (they might have been to fix the Jewish calendars to the Roman civil calendars, Jews have frequently lived under two calendars after all).
Later, Hillel II devised the modern Jewish calendar and it was adopted by 359 CE/AD. Hillel created this because as years passed, the Romans started to interfere with the way the Jews told those not living in Israel that the new calendar was beginning. When the Jews lit bonfires from hillside to hillside to tell of the new year, the Romans would light other fires on these same hills on other days just to thwart them. Another reason is that Sanhedrin were wiped out and with them their knowledge on figuring the date. So Hillel’s calendar was adopted based solely on a formula and not the spotting of a single witness of the phases of the moon or the barley grain.
Thus the modern calendar isn’t exactly the same as the one Miriam, Yosif and Yeshua had, and for this reason it is impossible to know exactly when Succoth landed that year. So even if we are right, there is still no way to know exactly when the date of the next year’s Succoth (when she might have had Yeshua) would be because the actual date would not be fixed until the barley turned green in the following spring. We can’t ask the Sanhedrin (Rome took care of that) and Judah hasn’t a clue (the rabbis were not in the Sanhedrin’s loop). Fortunately, HaMoshiach knew this was going to happen so He gave us the Magisterium, who replaced the Sanhedrin in authority. It’s these guys who work out those tough questions like what day in September would be the most likely time for a little babe to be born in a stall/booth (or succah).
And just as Chanukah fits Yeshua’s conception perfectly (as well as Marium’s obedient heart), so too does Succoth fit His birth (by no strange coincidence). Everyone knows that He was laid in a manger because there was no room for Him in the Inn. What they might not know is that the Greek word for manger, “phatne” also can mean “stall” or “booth”. Therefore, when all doors were closed to them Yosif may have built a Succah, a booth, or temporary home for his wife to bear their first-born child! At Succoth, the succah or booth represents our total dependency on G-d for everything. Yosif and Miriam were by all means dependant on Him for everything from the moment Yeshua was conceived and even for their Son’s life after He was born. And the succah also represents temporary housing and the place HaMoshiach was born was anything but permanent (they fled to Egypt). Still more, we are called to celebrate with His full presence, fellowship with brethren, and free ourselves of distractions. The succah took care of the last requirement, the shepherds and kings provided the brethren and how much more of His presence can you get when He was clearly there? Lastly, it’s about providence, and this Holy family had a group of friendly magi from Persia bearing the cost of the trip to Egypt in one night, just before they had to flee.
On another note, this writing isn’t the first succah to come before our Church. Saint Francis filled a “succah” with his vision of the Nativity in his 13th century dramatizations. His idea of the nativity was not a tiny store bought version to place above a mantle to collect dust over twelve days, but a full sized stable/booth in the town square full of real farm animals and actors! So the Catholic version of the succah had a few more props than the Jewish ones and was already “invented” or “revived” by a Saint. It never took off though (save the tiny comfortable mantle version) because we had His birthday in December when sleeping outside is a wee bit too cold for {most} succot and shepherds, even for those of us under grace. Saint Francis knew that there was no better way to dwell upon HaMoshiach’s own birth than to get inside His “manger” and stretch out in it for a week. This is another theme of Succoth that fits in as well.
Lastly, this day points to the future where we are told:
“Then every one who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the L-rd of host, and to keep the feast of tabernacles (Succoth). And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the L-rd of hosts, there will be no rain upon them . . . this is the punishment to all the nations that do not keep the feast of tabernacles.” Zech.14.16-19Why is the feast of tabernacles (Succoth) so important to HaMoshiach that even all the G-dless will come before Him in homage on this day? The only explanation we can find is that this is His birthday and Kings come unto their kingdoms on their Birthday! No, we do not know the day nor the hour, but we can know the time of year He will come and would it be so strange to have the same time frame He came the last time? And on the “time of the seasons” is this not still true? The exact days of the seasons are lost with the Sanhedrin and will not be revived until HaMoshiach returns. Until then He put Peter, the Church, in charge and the Church has felt called to fix the day of the Christian Chanukah on the very date we strongly suspect it occurred two thousand years ago! Peter can also fix the day of His birthday if Peter so chooses and this we hope they will seriously consider for it would deepen the meaning of both holidays and also bring into them important lessons in faith now lost in materialism and paganism of the modern Christmas celebration.
Here’s another awesome point. We desperately need a strong pro-life holiday message to combat the cult of death and we see HaShem even may have even provided one. This pro-life holiday in and of itself seems impervious to the materialistic underpinnings of our modern Christmas and the polluted symbols of a Yule tree as well as (what we call) Secular Claus. This can only be improved by moving them far away from the Yuletide. And by moving His birth we can also cleanse the symbols of His birth in their new place and connect them to a full sized “nativity” in which mom and dad become Yosif and Miriam and the kids and visitors becomes their guests. And then the Spirit of Saint Nicholas will return to December 6th, to teach just before the Light forms within the gentle virgin womb. It is our hope ands prayer that these lessons form our forefathers and foremother will help us all to reach beyond our comfort zone to touch the lives of those around us, especially the poor, the widow and homeless. Pray to HaShem to guide your heart to do His will and trust Him with all you have!
Shalom. C & C
Information on building a wigwam can be found at
We had the opportunity to build the wigwam and found it much harder than the instructions showed it. Not easily disuaded, we decided to do our best with what we had and learn from the experience. Well, that led us to seriously look at tents, but the same problem existed with most of them- they were too small, cold for our climate and not accomodating to inside cooking. However, we did find a tent (actually more like a tipi) that seemed to fit the need. So when the opportunity came, we purchased it and it worked pretty well for our first attempt. Since then we have found more tents that would suit our climate as well as accomodating cooking. So please keep this in mind as you seek to "build" your dwelling.
Also how to season and cook with a Dutch oven and other unconventional cooking methods see . We put this up because these methods are excellent for cooking in a succah or outside a succah and we will also add recipes for a Dutch oven to the recipe section as soon as we test them out.
1. Much of the historical information on the history came from “Succoth”, AMF International (c) 1996
2. Celebrate! The Complete Jewish Holidays Handbook by Lesli Koppelman Ross, see Drash bibliographic info.
