History Main / StarOfBethlehem

* In ''The Boy Jesus'' (1984), an educational UsefulNotes/AppleII game in ''The Baker Street Kids'' series based on ''Literature/TheBible'', the titular kids enact [[https://i.imgur.com/vM3cwIQ.png the magi locating a (cardboard) star at its rising]], followed by [[https://i.imgur.com/rMCK2G9.png the same magi finding the child Jesus with his mother Mary (Amy) and adoring him by offering him gifts]].

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/StarOfBethlehem https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/starofbethlehemposter_cropped.png]]]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pic-2-xmas-star-crscriptoriusrex_4501.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:We three kings have traveled far, [[WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}} how we wish we had a car]].]]

* SciFi short stories sometimes like this star for a TomatoSurprise. For instance, in Creator/ArthurCClarke's ''The Star'', a Jesuit astronomer is a member of the crew which finds the remains of a peaceful, near-utopian society on a planet that had a [[ApocalypseHow total extinction]] when its sun went supernova. His faith is shaken when he realizes that supernova was the Star of Bethelehem.

* The Star of Bethlehem appears in ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' Volume 22 [[spoiler:as an OminousFloatingCastle summoned by Fiamma of the Right.]]

* In the Christmas story ''The Littlest Angel'', the littlest angel's gift to the Child Jesus (a box he had on Earth, containing the sort of small things that are treasures to a very young boy -- a butterfly, a bird's egg, two stones, and the collar that had been his dog's) is turned into the Star of Bethlehem. [[http://www.jdhooperman.com/merrychristmas/LittlestAngel.html You can read it here.]][[note]]Warning music plays loudly and automatically[[/note]]

Parodied in the ''Series/TopGear'' during the Middle East Special. Jeremy, richard, and James take cars and try and follow the route the Wise Men took to Bethlehem. They follow a bright light to a manger... where they discover a baby Stig.

* In a pre-Crisis Superboy/[[ComicBook/{{Legion Of Super-Heroes}} Legion]] story, the Teen Of Steel wants to use his pals' advanced tech to finally locate the Star. Skeptical Brainiac 5 nonetheless aids the search, but all his efforts reveal is a planet full of a species of alien in desperate need of help. Though they never find the Star, Superboy decides that a planet in need of aid that they would never have found but for the search is the same thing as a star that seemingly never existed.

Many scholars question the historicity of the story and argue that the star was a [[{{Fanon}} fiction created]] by the author of the Gospel of Matthew. While its historicity is in dispute, the tradition of a star has given rise to other Christmas traditions, like topping the Christmas tree with a star. In the Philippines, the bamboo ''parol'' ("pah-role"), or star lantern, is the symbol of Christmas.

* One Marvel Comic featuring Ghost Rider seemed to have this occurring in modern times, on Christmas Eve, no less, accompanied by several familiar scenes right out of the Bible. Turns out it was just the Miracle Man messing around with his powers.

** The story was adapted into a ''Series/TwilightZone'' episode, but it had a happier ending.

* In the Christmas story ''The Littlest Angel'', the littlest angel's gift to the Child Jesus (a box he had on Earth, containing the sort of small things that are treasures to a very young boy -- a butterfly, a bird's egg, two stones, and the collar that had been his dog's) is turned into the Star of Bethlehem. [[http://www.jdhooperman.com/merrychristmas/LittlestAngel.html You can read it here]]. [[note]]Warning music plays loudly and automatically[[/note]]

* In ''Film/StarOfTheNight'', a SettingUpdate of the Nativity story to 1945, the star is the electronic star atop the Star Auto Court. It lures three cowboys who just happen to be bearing gifts to the auto court, where a young man named Jose and his pregnant wife Maria have arrived...

* SciFi short stories sometimes like this star for a TomatoSurprise. For instance, in ArthurCClarke's ''The Star'', a Jesuit astronomer is a member of the crew which finds the remains of a peaceful, near-utopian society on a planet that had a [[ApocalypseHow total extinction]] when its sun went supernova. His faith is shaken when he realizes that supernova was the Star of Bethelehem.

The Star of Bethlehem, also called the Christmas Star, is a star in [[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} Christian]] tradition that revealed the birth of Jesus to the magi (or "wise men") and later led them to Bethlehem. According to the Gospel of Matthew, [[TheThreeWiseMen the magi]] were men "from the east" who were inspired by the appearance of the star to travel to Jerusalem. There they met King Herod of Judea, and asked where the king of the Jews had been born. Herod then asked his advisers where a messiah could be born. They replied Bethlehem, a nearby village, and quoted a prophecy by Micah. While the magi were on their way to Bethlehem, the star appeared again. As they followed the star, it stopped this time above the place where Jesus was born. The magi found Jesus with his mother, paid him homage, worshipped him and gave gifts. They then returned to their "own country".

* Appears in ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian''. The magi come to the stable where Brian was born, rather than the one {{Jesus}} was born in (the one next to it.)

[[caption-width-right:350:We three kings have travelled far, [[WesternAnimation/Animaniacs how we wish we had a car]].]]

[[caption-width-right:350:We three kings have travelled far, how we wish we had a car.]]

* Appears in ''LifeOfBrian''. The magi come to the stable where Brian was born, rather than the one {{Jesus}} was born in (the one next to it.)

* In the ChrisDeBurgh song ''A Spaceman Came Travelling'', the star turns out to be the spacecraft of the alien spaceman, parked over Bethlehem.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pic-2-xmas-star-crscriptoriusrex_4501.jpg
[[caption-width:350:We three kings have travelled far, how we wish we had a car.]]