It tells the story, through the Gospel according to Matthew, that when Jesus was born a star announced his birth and guided the three wise men from the west to the place where the Baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
This star was called the Star of Bethlehem and its intense brightness was a way of representing that Jesus would be the light of the world.
Ancient astrologers used to believe that some phenomena happened because of birth of a king, which is why they would have considered the appearance of the star as an announcement of birth Of Jesus.
This fact is registered in the bible, characterizing well this passage, where the very speech of these is quoted: “where is he who is born King of the Jews? For from the East we saw his star and came to worship him" (Matthew 2: 1-2).
The three Magi were Belchior, Balthazar and Gaspar, who brought incense, gold and myrrh to present Jesus, as each one of them would have an important meaning for his life.
Incense was given to keep the baby safe, representing faith, prayer that reaches God through smoke.
Gold was offered to represent royalty, to bring them riches, providence and divine protection.
Myrrh, an oil extracted from a tree with the same name, considered antiseptic, was given to Jesus as a gift to clean his body and at the same time protect him from disease.
16th century astronomers explained that if the Star of Bethlehem was a comet, more precisely the Halley comet. However, this comet appeared long before the birth of Jesus, in the year 12 a. Ç. Also, other comets could have been confused with the star of Bethlehem, but astronomical records prove that none of them passed through Judea, being able to be seen with the naked eye, at the time of Jesus' birth.
Today the star of Bethlehem is characterized as an important symbol of Christmas, having a tail much larger than its size.
By Jussara de Barros
Graduated in Pedagogy
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