# What did the Christ family do with all the magi swag? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 13, 2006, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-christ-family-do-with-all-the-magi-swag/384025 "2006-12-13T21:41:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-christ-family-do-with-all-the-magi-swag/384025/41 "2006-12-14T20:01:38Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > I one king of Orient are When I heard a version of that on Prairie Home Companion a few years ago, the words were " I, a king of Orient is . . ." and the final verse was “Former kings of Orient are” I don’t remember the details, but something about “I, a king of Orient is” gave me the giggles so bad . . . ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-christ-family-do-with-all-the-magi-swag/384025/42 "2006-12-14T20:49:25Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] What did the rubber cigar symbolize? It was loaded; it exploded. [/QUOTE] The plight of a celibate young man. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-christ-family-do-with-all-the-magi-swag/384025/43 "2006-12-15T00:40:15Z")
Since there is no answerable General Question here, let’s try MPSIMS. **samclem** ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-christ-family-do-with-all-the-magi-swag/384025/44 "2006-12-15T00:50:06Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] Since there is no answerable General Question here, let’s try MPSIMS. **samclem** [/QUOTE] So, you’re saying the son of God is mundane and pointless? You heathen! What about the Pit, I mean we’re told that he was in hell for 3 days after being crucified…fine fine, I’ll quit digging my hole now… ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-christ-family-do-with-all-the-magi-swag/384025/45 "2006-12-15T14:19:14Z")
This far and nobody’s recited anything from the opening lines of The Life of Brian? Shame! “Myrrh? What is that stuff anyways?” ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-christ-family-do-with-all-the-magi-swag/384025/46 "2006-12-15T14:22:25Z")
Sold them on ebay. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-christ-family-do-with-all-the-magi-swag/384025/47 "2006-12-15T15:42:52Z")
[QUOTE=don’t ask] Sold them on ebay. [/QUOTE] Yes, and bought Malt Liquor & Lottery Tickets, like I said. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-christ-family-do-with-all-the-magi-swag/384025/48 "2006-12-15T17:18:37Z")
[QUOTE=jimmmy] IMO if you absolutely need to read the story literally, there is no reason for the gifts to be “swag” they are clearly meant, even in the story, to be symbolic (even if we have lost the exact meaning of this symbolism) and the wise men can be thought of as more less Steven Hawking, Richard Dawkins and The Amazing Randi showing up at an Atheist’s Baby birth and noting him as a great learned man and leaving gifts: cool & symbolic but I would hardly expect them to be valuable enough to set the kid up for life or even to finance a big trip (IOW it is not like Buffet, Gates & The Sultan of Brunei were the gift givers). There is no reason that the three mentioned gifts need to be extraorinarily valuable, life changing or thier disposition notable in a notable life. [/QUOTE] I was visited by the Magi and all I got was this lousy t-shirt. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-christ-family-do-with-all-the-magi-swag/384025/49 "2006-12-15T17:26:58Z")
[QUOTE=Jodi] The plight of a celibate young man. 😉 [/QUOTE] Curses! You stole my joke! _shakes fist_ ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-christ-family-do-with-all-the-magi-swag/384025/50 "2006-12-15T21:33:28Z")
A lot of Chirstmas Myrrhth in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-christ-family-do-with-all-the-magi-swag/384025/51 "2006-12-15T22:21:25Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] [hijack] When I was little, I thought there was a country called “Orientar.” I also assumed St. Mary was really fat. “Round yon virgin . . .” [/hijack] [/QUOTE] My mother told me that when she was young, she thought her next door neighbor, John Burges, was Santa Claus. He looked the part, and he was in that Christmas carole ('round John Burges…") but he clearly wasn’t Jesus. Who else could he be? ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2006, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-christ-family-do-with-all-the-magi-swag/384025/52 "2006-12-16T03:54:09Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] What did the rubber cigar symbolize?. [/QUOTE] Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2006, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-christ-family-do-with-all-the-magi-swag/384025/53 "2006-12-16T17:59:15Z")
I _raises hand_ am the one who hadn’t heard the rubber cigar version; I LOLed. The version I always heard was “We three kings of Orient are/Trying to sell some cheap underwear/So fantastic, no elastic/Just $3.99 a pair.” Now would a family of carpenters be prosperous or not? I would have thought they would sell the GF&M and live high off the hog (well, not the hog) for a while. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-christ-family-do-with-all-the-magi-swag/384025/54 "2006-12-16T18:06:49Z")
Oh here’s something interesting from [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Wise_Men#Gifts_of_the_magi): > [@](#): > > What subsequently happened to these gifts is never mentioned in the scripture, but several traditions have developed. One story has the gold being stolen by the two thieves who were later crucified alongside Jesus. Another tale has it being entrusted to and then misappropriated by Judas. Another story is that the family quickly pawned or sold them and later used the money to finance their flight to Egypt. > > In the Monastery of St. Paul of Mount Athos there is a 15th century golden case containing purportedly the Gift of the Magi. It was donated to the monastery in the 15th century by Maro, daughter of the King of Serbia George Vragovitch, wife to the Ottoman Sultan Murat II and godmother to Mehmet II the Conqueror (of Constantinople). Apparently they were part of the relics of the Holy Palace of Constantinople and it is claimed they were displayed there since the 4th century AD. After the Athens earthquake of September 9, 1999 they were temporarily displayed in Athens in order to strengthen faith and raise money for earthquake victims. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2006, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-christ-family-do-with-all-the-magi-swag/384025/55 "2006-12-16T18:12:56Z")
[QUOTE=42Geek] actually that’s inaccurate. There’s a whole bunch of Gospels that weren’t included in the canon. A comitte decided which stories would be put into the offical 'church sanctioned" Bible. I remember reading an excerpt from when Jesus was a little boy…it was almost exactly like that Twillight Zone episode about that little boy who nobody can cross, and who does all this naughty stuff! :eek: [/QUOTE] Meh. Historians agree that these later “gospels” – including the infancy gospels – [have little or no historical value](http://www.iamnext.com/spirituality/prioryofsion.html). The only one that might have signficant historical merit is the so-called Gospel of Thomas (not to be confused with the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, which is the text that you described). ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-christ-family-do-with-all-the-magi-swag/384025/56 "2006-12-16T18:57:51Z")
[QUOTE=JThunder] Meh. Historians agree that these later “gospels” – including the infancy gospels – [have little or no historical value](http://www.iamnext.com/spirituality/prioryofsion.html). The only one that might have signficant historical merit is the so-called Gospel of Thomas (not to be confused with the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, which is the text that you described). [/QUOTE] That depends on how you define “historical value.” The non-canonical Gospels are perceive as having a great deal of historical value in the kind of information it gives us about the development and diversity of christianity in the first three centuries. It is true that historians do not regard the narratives themselves as being historical but they don’t think much of the Canonical narratives are historically accurate either. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2006, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-christ-family-do-with-all-the-magi-swag/384025/57 "2006-12-16T19:46:34Z")
[QUOTE=42Geek] actually that’s inaccurate. There’s a whole bunch of Gospels that weren’t included in the canon. [/QUOTE] Indeed. Here’s a link to an [excerpt from the Gospel of John\*](http://www.risa.co.uk/sla/song.php?songid=17173). > [@](#): > > . . . “Whatcha gonna be when you grow up?” > Jesus said “God” - John Prine, that is [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-christ-family-do-with-all-the-magi-swag/384025.md?page=2)