Gregory was an incredible marketing genius for Jesus, his birthday and his brit-day. Of course, Pope Gregory XIII was the creator of the current secular calendar, officially known as the Gregorian Calendar, which replaced the prior Julian calendar for most earthlings. If we look at the five most famous historic Jews chronologically: (Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Freud and Einstein), Jesus is the only one whose symbolic birthday is universally known by everyone, even by atheists, agnostics and other non-Christians: December 25. Almost nobody knows the birthdays of the other four famous individuals without looking them up. There are ≈2.38 billion Christians on planet Earth who celebrate Jesus’s symbolic birthday on December 25th.

However, 2.38 billion is a tiny number compared to the estimated 8 billion people who celebrate his symbolic brit-day every year on January 1st, even though many of them don’t know exactly what they are actually celebrating that day. Whether we are aware of it or not, what we all celebrate on January 1st is the symbolic anniversary of Jesus’s brit or brit milah (known as bris by ultra-traditional Ashkenazis), which was his ceremonial circumcision, as documented in the Christian Bible in Luke 2:21. The King James version of that verse was translated to English as:

And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

A common question is: «Why does it say 8 days instead of 7, when it appears to be 7 days on the calendar?». The answer (in this and other biblical references) is because the count includes the birth day within the calculation. For our Orthodox Christian readers, my research indicates that the chapter and verse Luke 2:21 is identical in this particular case (even though in many other cases, they differ). Orthodox Christians also celebrate Jesus’s symbolic brit-day on January 1st, except for those who still prefer to follow the Julian calendar for religious holidays and therefore celebrate his birthday on January 7th and the brit-day/New Years Day on January 14th, although the majority have adopted the Gregorian Calendar, per my research.

As indicated in my recent article I agree with Pope Leo XIV about AI, despite other disagreements and later with CapicúaFM episode 98, I am not a Catholic or any other type of a Christian, Muslim or other type of follower of Jesus. However, I strongly applaud Gregory for his amazing marketing success which has endured centuries, with no end in sight.

The purpose of this article is not to promote or condone the brit milah. It is to appreciate the incomparable, multi-century marketing success and (especially for men who already had it done by their parents’ request 7-8 days after birth), to consider the brit-day anniversary as an alternative or additional celebration to the birthday, especially if they are planning to celebrate their birthday in one location and their brit-day in a different one.

For example, if a guy whose birthday is on June 18th and will be in one place that day and another on his brit-day on June 25th, he can celebrate each one in its respective location, perhaps with a different group of friends or relatives in each one.

Saturday Night Live 1977 parody commercial spot

Royal Deluxe II – a classic and well-remembered fake ad from the original "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" era. (S3 E1)
byu/James_2584 inLiveFromNewYork

In 1977, Saturday Night Live produced an amazing parody commercial spot including this exact topic (the brit milah), while promoting the shock absorbers quality of a particular car, as you’ll see above. It featured Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter and producer Dan Ackroyd as the on-camera announcer. The original commercial had a diamond cutter perform a similar feat in the back seat of a similar vehicle. SNL did such a remarkable job with the parody commercial that I had to include it in this article.

Image credits

Gregory’s image is in the public domain and was performed by Italian painter Bartolomeo Passarotti. The two calendars were designed by Andreína Ascanio Toro for this article and the corresponding Castilian one. The bar chart was created by Allan Tépper using Apple Numbers.

Billion scale used in this article

For the English version of this article, I have used the short-scale billion (with only nine zeros) used in the United States and in the United Kingdom since 1974. Before 1974, the United Kingdom used the long-scale billion (with twelve zeros), as persists in many other languages, including Castilian.

Lee este artículo en buen castellano

El cumplebrit le gana al cumpleaños: ¡Gregorio fue un genio del mercadeo para Jesús!

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FTC disclosure

This article is not being paid for by Dan Ackroyd, the JCC (Jewish Community Center), NBC (National Broadcasting Company), Pope Gregory XIII, Pope Leo XIV, Saturday Night Live, the Vatican, the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association), the YMHA (Young Men’s Hebrew Association, a prior name of the current JCC), the YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association), the YWHA (Young Women’s Hebrew Association, a prior name of the current JCC). Some of the manufacturers listed above have contracted Tépper and/or TecnoTur LLC to carry out consulting and/or translations/localizations/transcreations. So far, none of the manufacturers listed above is/are sponsors of the TecnoTur, BeyondPodcasting, CapicúaFM or TuSaludSecreta programs, although they are welcome to do so, and some are, may be (or may have been) sponsors of ProVideo Coalition magazine. Some links to third parties listed in this article and/or on this web page may indirectly benefit TecnoTur LLC via affiliate programs. Allan Tépper’s opinions are his own. Allan Tépper is not liable for misuse or misunderstanding of information he shares.