# How long was Mary pregnant? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 10, 2002, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-was-mary-pregnant/141658 "2002-12-10T01:01:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TheeGrumpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheeGrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheeGrumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-was-mary-pregnant/141658/21 "2002-12-10T22:45:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **BobT** : > The dates in the calendar are all figured out after the fact. Indeed, I turned up a [reference](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03724b.htm) to the earliest celebration of Jesus’ birth occurring around A.D. 200 – in May. Which would have meant God boinked Mary around August, for those who are counting. It’s also possible that Mary was not pregnant for a full 9 months. Since Jesus’ Y-chromosome materialized _ex nihilo_ (assuming he had one), then the Incarnation could just have easily involved Mary being implanted with a more mature embryo. ---
**Author:** ![TheeGrumpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheeGrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheeGrumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-was-mary-pregnant/141658/22 "2002-12-10T22:50:06Z")
Actually, I think I misunderstood. The Encyclopedia entry says the first celebrations may have been in January. Or maybe March or April. Suffice to say, they’re all over the map. Which is perhaps why (as the article notes) early church father Origen dismissed birthdays as things for sinners. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-was-mary-pregnant/141658/23 "2002-12-11T00:14:34Z")
Wait, Slipster. . re.: the LDS dating of Christ’s birth. This wasn’t something I learned in Sunday School or young women’s group. . . not that I doubt you, but cite? Or anyone else want to corroborate this? Interesting. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-was-mary-pregnant/141658/24 "2002-12-11T00:18:39Z")
Ah, I found some info on it. Very interesting. Sort of like how Venice was “founded” on Annunciation day, as were any number of other cities. . . In case anyone’s interested [here](http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/basic/christ/birth/april6_eom.htm) is some discussion of it by church uppity-ups. ---
**Author:** ![Jerevan\_Somerville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@Jerevan\_Somerville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jerevan_Somerville)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-was-mary-pregnant/141658/25 "2002-12-11T15:22:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Larry Mudd \* > \*\*You still haven’t heard that. A common, um, misconception, is that the term refers to conception without sex. The idea is that Mary was conceived without _original sin_, and was thus a worthy vessel to carry divine offspring. \*\* Well, thanks to you and **Walloon** I now understand the difference between the Annunciation and the Immaculate Conception – which, as a life-long Catholic, was never made especially clear to me before. The Church does not do a good job of drawing the distinction (in my experience), and celebrating the IC during the Christmas season only adds to the confusion. As others have noted, the current date for Christmas was based on the Winter Solstice, and two other events back-calculated from there: the Annunciation nine months earlier; and the Nativity of John the Baptist six months earlier, since the Gospel of Luke indicates that Elizabeth was in her sixth month at the time of the Annunciation. IN the past the Annunciation and Nativity of JtB coincided with the Vernal Equinox (also New Year’s Day) and Summer Solstice, respectively; but due to shifts in the Julian calendar, and later corrections introduced by the Gregorian calendar, all of three holidays are now about four days off the equinox/solstices. ---
**Author:** ![slipster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@slipster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slipster)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-was-mary-pregnant/141658/26 "2002-12-23T23:41:11Z")
Capybara: a quick Internet search shows that it is asserted that Jesus was born on April 6 in Doctrine & Covenants 20.1. As you probably know better than I (I’m not a member of the denomination), April 6th has other points of significance for the LDS, among them being April 6, 1830, the date on which Joseph Smith incorporated the church. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-was-mary-pregnant/141658.md?page=1)