Super Stars
In the side pocket of my handbag I carry a small paper star, the kind that usually finds its way to the top of a Christmas tree at this time of the year. It occurred to me that it’s been there for at least the past 5 years that I can recall. It’s five points are a little battered these days but it’s done remarkably well to have survived that long.
Each star face (there are four) has a different design on it, each meticulously hand drawn. You can tell a child made it. My son did actually, when he was round about 6 or 7 years old. He’s 19 now. I forget exactly how it came to find its way into my handbag, one of those Mum-things you do to have your children close when they’re living away in another part of the country.
The other star I have is made from two and a half wooden clothes pegs and painted gold with 11 round red baubles that highlight its Christmas significance. The clear PVC glue has keep it all intact although I’ve lost 2 of the original red baubles somewhere throughout the passages of time. My eldest son made it when he was about 5 or 6 years old. Needless to say, I haven’t carried that one around in my handbag for years!
“The Christmas star has traditionally been associated with the spirit of the celebration and the significance of the star may be found in the story related among Christians to the birth of Christ. It’s said to symbolise high hopes and high ideals.
The star appears in Bible in the Book of Matthew. There its appearance is seen as spurring the wise men on to seek out King Herod in Jerusalem and then guiding them to Bethlehem. Some astronomers have taken the reign of Herod as a time parameter and scanned the ancient skies for likely candidates using software that reconstructs the locations of celestial objects thousands of years in the past or projects their locations thousands of years in the future.
One popular explanation is a conjunction of the two brightest planets, Jupiter and Venus, that appears to have occurred in June of the year 2 B.C. Those two planets, drawing close to one another, would have appeared as a single point of intense light in the night sky though many estimates for the death of Herod peg the king as having perished by that time.
Another candidate for the legendary star is a nova, or brightly flaring star, that Chinese astronomers recorded in 5 B.C., a theory discussed in depth by Mark Kidger in his 1999 book The Star of Bethlehem: An Astronomer’s View. Nick Strobel, also an astronomer acknowledges that there may be no literal, historical basis for the star’s appearance as described in the Bible, but he believes that an earlier planetary conjunction, in 6 or 7 B.C., is a better fit, as is Jupiter in retrograde motion, during which it would have appeared frozen in the sky for a number of days.”
Of course, I should just like to say, any attempt to scientifically validate or invalidate pieces of scripture is sure to rankle the feathers of many and however the star of Bethlehem existed, the tools of astronomy may never be sufficient to point out what it was.”
As for my more humbler stars, made with love and great care, I’ll hang them on the tree on Christmas Eve to remind me that, as a mother, I have high hopes and realistic ideals for my two terrific boys, Josh and Dan. Ngā mihi nui mō te Kirihimete. Wishing you both a very happy Christmas, you’re my super stars, speak soon. Oh and in case some of you think I’d forgotten Mede, she never made a star but she still does shine.
