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MORE THAN A SIMPLE SHEPHERD

Monday, December 25, 2023

In today’s holiday newsletter, we examine the real Jesus, find out how his parents got together, discover the poinsettia’s unexpected holiday reign ... and learn where Santas go to blow off steam.

A small Coptic Orthodox chapel in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

PHOTOGRAPH BY SIMON NORFOLK

Believers call him the Son of God. Skeptics dismiss him as legend. In recent years, researchers digging in the Holy Land have been sifting fact from fiction.

Both believers and skeptics claim archaeology as their ally. What have we learned of the historical Jesus? (Above, a scene inside Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre.) Archaeologist and Nat Geo journalist Kristin Romey finds out.

READ THE FULL STORY

A woman blows her nose

PAINTING VIA ART IMAGES, GETTY IMAGES

What about Joesph and Mary? Where did the parents of Jesus meet? It was likely Mary was still living at home when she became pregnant. How did that pregnancy, certainly unconventional, become venerated as the defining moment of the planet’s most popular faith? (Above, “The Nativity at Night” by Guido Reni, an Italian baroque painter.)

STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

How Christmas has evolved over centuries

Why do we have Christmas trees? The surprising story behind this holiday tradition.

After Christmas, where do Santas go to blow off steam?

The strangely sordid history of Germany’s Christmas markets

The oldest map in the Holy Land is actually an extraordinary mosaic

Why some people celebrate Christmas in January

Best winter escapes in the United States

PHOTO OF THE DAY

A picture of people riding a sleigh pulled by reindeer

PHOTOGRAPH BY EVGENIA ARBUGAEVA

The real reindeer: The tales of Santa’s sleigh make it sound like a sweet Yuletide ride—powered seamlessly by knowing reindeer. For Siberia’s reindeer, (some pushing these sleighs, shown above), the annual 800-mile migration to and from the Arctic has become more complicated in recent years, Nat Geo Explorer Evgenia Arbugaeva discovered.

LAST GLIMPSE

PHOTOGRAPH BY CARRIE THOMPSON, ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

Long before a clever marketer turned poinsettias (above) into a Christmas staple, the Aztec and Maya celebrated the colorful shrub for its medicinal value. So how did the rugged poinsettia become a favorite holiday flower?

Franciscan missionaries, who arrived in Mexico in the 16th century, eventually began setting up elaborate manger scenes at Christmastime. By the time Joel Poinsett, an American diplomat and amateur botanist, arrived in Mexico in the 1820s, the plants were a common holiday sight. He sent some home to Charleston ... and a star was born.

Today’s soundtrack: River, Herbie Hancock, Corinne Bailey Rae

Thanks for reading today’s newsletter! It was curated and edited by Jen Tse, Nishita Naga, Nancy San Martín, and David Beard. To those who celebrate, have a Merry Christmas.

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