Joseph was from Bethlehem and Mary was from Nazareth. Therein lies a convenient excuse for Joseph to take his just married bride Mary, already six months pregnant away from Nazareth so she wasn’t accussed of premarital sex. So off to Bethlehem they go as it was time for the census. Folks in that time had to be counted where they were born. At the same time they were also to pay their taxes. So obviosly since Mary gave birth upon arrival in Bethlehem it must have been around April 15th ;o)
Cute nonsense.
“Folks in that time had to be counted where they were born. At the same time they were also to pay their taxes.”
Roman censuses (censii?) were for tax purposes. Not when you paid taxes but so that an area could be assessed for taxation for the next few years. It makes no sense to send people away from their homes to do that. The Roman IRS didn’t care where you came from, only what you were worth and how much they could take.