EPIPHANY, THE VISIT OF THE MAGI OR THREE KINGS' DAY

The Three Wise Men

Today is Epiphany, a special day for millions of children around the world because they have received presents from the Three Wise Men, three mysterious men who arrive at homes the night of 5th of January to leave illusion, presents and accomplished wishes to these little people.

Epiphany is a Christian feast day but it is also celebrated farther than the beliefs because it has been established as a popular festivity. It is celebrated in different ways around the world and The Grandma wants to talk about this festivity and about how it is celebrated in four special places for her: Catalonia, England, Flandes and Occitania. She wants to send her best wishes to her friends who are living now in these lands with a big hope of seeing them soon free and at home.

Epiphany is a Christian feast day that celebrates the revelation of God incarnate as Jesus Christ.

In Western Christianity, the feast commemorates principally but not solely the visit of the Magi to the Christ Child, and thus Jesus' physical manifestation to the Gentiles. It is sometimes called Three Kings' Day, and in some traditions celebrated as Little Christmas. Moreover, the feast of the Epiphany, in some denominations, also initiates the liturgical season of Epiphanytide.

Eastern Christians, on the other hand, commemorate the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River, seen as his manifestation to the world as the Son of God. The spot marked by Qasr el Yahud in the West Bank, and Al-Maghtas in Jordan on the east bank, is considered to be the original site of the baptism of Jesus and the ministry of John the Baptist.

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The traditional date for the feast is January 6. However, since 1970, the celebration is held in some countries on the Sunday after January 1. Those Eastern Churches which are still following the Julian calendar observe the feast on what, according to the internationally used Gregorian calendar, is January 19, because of the current 13-day difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars.

In many Western Christian Churches, the eve of the feast is celebrated as Twelfth Night (Epiphany Eve). The Monday after Epiphany is known as Plough Monday.

Popular Epiphany customs include Epiphany singing, chalking the door, having one's house blessed, consuming Three Kings Cake, winter swimming, as well as attending church services. It is customary for Christians in many localities to remove their Christmas decorations on Epiphany Eve (Twelfth Night), although those in other Christian countries historically remove them on Candlemas, the conclusion of Epiphanytide. According to the first tradition, those who fail to remember to remove their Christmas decorations on Epiphany Eve must leave them untouched until Candlemas, the second opportunity to remove them; failure to observe this custom is considered inauspicious.

The Three Wise Men

The word Epiphany is from Koine Greek ἐπιφάνεια, epipháneia, meaning manifestation or appearance. It is derived from the verb φαίνειν, phainein, meaning to appear. In classical Greek it was used for the appearance of dawn, of an enemy in war, but especially of a manifestation of a deity to a worshiper a theophany.

In the Septuagint the word is used of a manifestation of the God of Israel (2 Maccabees 15:27). In the New Testament the word is used in 2 Timothy 1:10 to refer either to the birth of Christ or to his appearance after his resurrection, and five times to refer to his Second Coming.

Alternative names for the feast in Greek include τα Θεοφάνια, ta Theopháneia Theophany (a neuter plural rather than feminine singular), η Ημέρα των Φώτων, i Iméra ton Fóton (modern Greek pronunciation), hē Hēméra tōn Phṓtōn (restored classical pronunciation), The Day of the Lights, and τα Φώτα, ta Fóta, The Lights.

Epiphany may have originated in the Greek-speaking eastern half of the Roman Empire as a feast to honor the baptism of Jesus. Around 200, Clement of Alexandria wrote that, But the followers of the early Christian Gnostic religious teacher Basilides celebrate the day of His Baptism too, spending the previous night in readings. And they say that it was the 15th of the month Tybi of the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar. And some say that it was observed the 11th of the same month." The Egyptian dates given correspond to January 6 and 10. The Basilides were a Gnostic sect.

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The reference to readings suggests that the Basilides were reading the Gospels. In ancient gospel manuscripts, the text is arranged to indicate passages for liturgical readings. If a congregation began reading Mark at the beginning of the year, it might arrive at the story of the Baptism on January 6, thus explaining the date of the feast. If Christians read Mark in the same format the Basilides did, the two groups could have arrived at the January 6 date independently.

The earliest reference to Epiphany as a Christian feast was in A.D. 361, by Ammianus Marcellinus. The holiday is listed twice, which suggests a double feast of baptism and birth. The baptism of Jesus was originally assigned to the same date as the birth because Luke 3:23 was misread to mean that Jesus was exactly 30 when he was baptized.

Epiphanius of Salamis says that January 6 is Christ's Birthday; that is, His Epiphany, hemera genethlion toutestin epiphanion. He also asserts that the Miracle at Cana occurred on the same calendar day. Epiphanius assigns the Baptism to November 6.

The Three Wise Men

The scope to Epiphany expanded to include the commemoration of his birth; the visit of the magi, all of Jesus' childhood events, up to and including the Baptism by John the Baptist; and even the miracle at the wedding at Cana in Galilee.

In the Latin-speaking West, the holiday emphasized the visit of the magi. The magi represented the non-Jewish peoples of the world, so this was considered a revelation to the gentiles. In this event, Christian writers also inferred a revelation to the Children of Israel. John Chrysostom identified the significance of the meeting between the magi and Herod's court: The star had been hidden from them so that, on finding themselves without their guide, they would have no alternative but to consult the Jews. In this way the birth of Jesus would be made known to all.

In 385, the pilgrim Egeria, also known as Silvia, described a celebration in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, which she called Epiphany that commemorated the Nativity. Even at this early date, there was an octave associated with the feast.
 

In a sermon delivered on 25 December 380, St. Gregory of Nazianzus referred to the day as the Theophany, ta theophania, saying expressly that it is a day commemorating the holy nativity of Christ and told his listeners that they would soon be celebrating the baptism of Christ. Then, on January 6 and 7, he preached two more sermons, wherein he declared that the celebration of the birth of Christ and the visitation of the Magi had already taken place, and that they would now commemorate his Baptism. At this time, celebration of the two events was beginning to be observed on separate occasions, at least in Cappadocia.

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Saint John Cassian says that even in his time, beginning of the 5th century, Egyptian monasteries celebrated the Nativity and the Baptism together on January 6. The Armenian Apostolic Church continues to celebrate January 6 as the only commemoration of the Nativity.

The Dutch and Flemish call this day Driekoningen, while German speakers call it Dreikönigstag, Three Kings' Day.

In the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and neighboring Germany, children in groups of three, symbolizing the three kings, proceed in costume from house to house while singing songs typical for the occasion, and receiving a coin or some sweets at each door. They may each carry a paper lantern symbolizing the star.

In some places, especially Holland, these troupes gather for competitions and present their skits/songs for an audience. As in Belgium, Koningentaart -Kings' tart-, puff pastry with almond filling, is prepared with a black bean hidden inside. Whoever finds the bean in his or her piece is king or queen for the day. A more typically Dutch version is Koningenbrood, or Kings' bread. Another Low Countries tradition on Epiphany is to open up doors and windows to let good luck in for the coming year.

The Three Wise Men

In England, the celebration of the Night before Epiphany, Epiphany Eve, is known as Twelfth Night, The first night of Christmas is December 25–26, and Twelfth Night is January 5–6, and was a traditional time for mumming and the wassail.

The yule log was left burning until this day, and the charcoal left was kept until the next Christmas to kindle next year's yule log, as well as to protect the house from fire and lightning. In the past, Epiphany was also a day for playing practical jokes, similar to April Fool's Day.

Today in England, Twelfth Night is still as popular a day for plays as when Shakespeare's Twelfth Night was first performed in 1601, and annual celebrations involving the Holly Man are held in London. A traditional dish for Epiphany was Twelfth Cake, a rich, dense, typically English fruitcake. As in Europe, whoever found the baked-in bean was king for a day, but unique to English tradition other items were sometimes included in the cake. Whoever found the clove was the villain, the twig, the fool, and the rag, the tart. Anything spicy or hot, like ginger snaps and spiced ale, was considered proper Twelfth Night fare, recalling the costly spices brought by the Wise Men.

Another English Epiphany sweetmeat was the traditional jam tart, made appropriate to the occasion by being fashioned in the form of a six-pointed star symbolising the Star of Bethlehem, and thus called Epiphany tart. The discerning English cook sometimes tried to use thirteen different colored jams on the tart on this day for luck, creating a pastry resembling stained glass.

In Catalonia and Occitania, people eat Tortell (in Catalan) or Reiaume or Corona dels Reis (in Occitan). It is a Catalan and Occitan pastry typically O-shaped, usually stuffed with marzipan or whipped cream, that on some special occasions is topped with glazed fruit. It is traditionally eaten on January 6 (Epiphany), at the conclusion of the Twelve Days of Christmas. This is also known as the day of the Three Wise Men according to the Catholic liturgical calendar.

The Tortell de Reis contains two hidden surprises: a dried field bean, and a tiny figurine of one of the three kings. The person who gets the figurine in their cut gets to wear the paper crown. The person who gets the dried fava -bean- in their cut has to pay for the tortell.

In Provence, the one who gets the dried field bean gets to wear the paper crown and is the king for the day.

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I don't think Christmas is necessarily about things.

It's about being good to one another,

it's about the Christian ethic,

it's about kindness.

Carrie Fisher