It’s official it’s the silly season, where we celebrate Christmas, the birth of Christ, in some circles the arrival of Santa in others amongst the red cherries, white snowflakes, and green pine trees alight with ornaments and flashing led colours, writes Ruta Mave.

We’ve had the parade, tropical Santa (still overdressed for our season) golf carting around throwing lollies and the shops are ringing, cha-ching-ing the swipe and beep of credit cards, for an array of ‘stuff’ we probably don’t need or want all in the spirit of ‘gift giving’ at Xmas. And for all those parents overwhelmed by the pressure and expectation to pay out at this time of year, blame the three wise men because they started it!

The nativity story, atheists would call it the ‘naivety story’ after all depending on which Gospel you follow, Mary is very young some say 12 -14 years old, a virgin who is pregnant and married to Joseph who is sometimes 18 – 21 years old and others’ as old as 80. Still, she’s pregnant from the Holy spirit and shunned to a stable with the animals (who does that to a girl in her condition?). Then either has lowly shepherds visit after the birth of Jesus, who were shown the good news by an angel, or visited by the wealthy and educated gentile upper class three wise men with the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

If you decide to take the shepherds visited route and follow their lead, they were tending to flocks of sheep and lambs, Jesus was called the lamb of God, and then lambs were used as the sacrifice to God in addition to or instead of one’s first born.  So perhaps this is why their presence did not win the popularity stakes in modern times, didn’t even win the dish of the day.  Probably much wiser to avoid, I find the idea of red for blood of lambs, white for their fluffy wool and green the grass they ate not a winning vision for the hallmark cards.

On the other hand, the three wise men arriving on camels, which you know are not found in the tropics and certainly very few outside the deserts which have miles and miles of sand and very little snow – just saying. They arrive bearing gifts that we can now relate to, and hence every mother has for centuries been ‘swaddled’ with gold – trinkets, or “I didn’t know what to give you so here’s $20”. Frankincense – perfume sometimes, ‘smellies’ – the cheaper version more often and myrrh lotions and potions generally hand cream or coconut oil. I’d much rather the gifts, despite the visual contradictions of snowmen, donkey’s and flying reindeer on the hallmark cards.

What’s with the three wise men? The Bible says they arrived late. Mathew 2:11 states “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother…” not into a manger, a house. What took the wise men so long to get to baby Jesus? Honestly, they had one job, probably got lost and wouldn’t ask for directions, while following some vague star. Actually, they did stop and ask Herod – you know the evil guy in the story who wants to kill Jesus, what’s with that? Were they actually spies leaving a trail for the soldiers to follow? What happened to them afterwards? They make this grand entry go down in history as the great gift givers then disappear, no sign or sight of them ever again in the Bible or elsewhere. Makes you wonder if they were abducted by aliens, a Hollywood addition to the immaculate conception storyline.

Looks like typical male behaviour, another traditional trait adopted over the centuries, turn up, get credit then don’t stay and support during the hard yards. If it was three wise women who arrived…. They would have asked for directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby – hard to do if you arrive a few years late; brought practical gifts - maybe some toys, blankets or nappies would have been handy; cleaned the stable and made a casserole. They also would have stayed in touch, for play dates and sleepovers. I mean this is the son of God the saviour of the people, why wouldn’t you keep tabs on him?

More importantly if it was three wise women the lessons drawn down over the centuries would have had such a significance on the world, it’s more likely there would be peace on earth … except for every 28 days when they would have severe negotiations or a spa sabbatical.

However, when celebrating Christmas, remember what’s important – buying presents or being present? Sending gifts or sending love? Shopping for food or donating food? Making cakes or making memories? Seeing the lights or being the light? Merri Kirritimitti.