The Nativity of Jesus, also called simply The Nativity, refers to the accounts of the birth of Jesus in the gospels of Luke and Matthew, and secondarily on some apocryphal texts.The canonical gospels of Luke and Matthew both describe Jesus as born in Bethlehem in Judea, to a virgin mother. In the Gospel of Luke account, Joseph and Mary travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census, and Jesus is born there and laid in a manger.