The Annunciation is the biblical story of the Archangel Gabriel’s announcement to the Virgin Mary that she would give birth to the son of God and should name him Jesus.
The Feast of the Annunciation
The Annunciation is celebrated in the Catholic church on March 25. That is nine months before Christmas, the ceremonial birth of Jesus.
The date also approximates the March equinox which falls between March 19th and 21st. On the equinox night and day are the same length.
The Tradition
In the Bible, Luke 1:26-38 provides the main story. The Archangel Gabriel appears to Mary who is promised to Joseph, but not yet married. He tells her she will give birth to a son and to call him Jesus. She asks how that could be since she is a virgin. He answers that the Holy Spirit will come to her.
Matthew 1:18-23 tells Joseph’s side of the story. After discovering that Mary is already pregnant, he decides to divorce her. But an angel appears to Joseph in a dream and tells him that the child was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
The Quran also tells of the Annunciation in Surah 003:045.
Broader Meanings
One of Christianity’s core beliefs is that the death and resurrection of Christ is proof of his divinity and the Christian promise of eternal life.
It’s actually a mirror of Mother Earth’s natural cycles. In fall and winter, much of the natural world goes through a metaphorical death. In spring and summer, it comes back to life.
The seasons are caused by the Earth’s tilt on its axis as it makes its annual journey around the sun. Where the tilt points towards the sun, it is spring and summer. Where the tilt points away from the sun, it is fall and winter.
In human time scales, the seasonal cycle seems eternal. Hence, the Christian promise of eternal life. Every year the natural world dies (sort of) and is born again. Beyond human time scales, it hasn’t always been this way, and won’t always be this way. We’ve been living in a lucky moment.
Some fish and and amphibians are capable of virgin birth, but humans are not. But the story mirrors nature which gives birth every spring even though nobody does anything to cause it. It’s just the miracle of nature.