[soc.religion.christian] Epiphany Traditions Summary

rkp@druwa.att.com (Russell Pierce) (01/24/91)

I recently put out a request for how people celebrate Epiphany and the
traditions of Epiphany.  Here is a long summary of what I received.  I suggest
you save this file and read it later for your enjoyment and amusement.  I
have deleted submitters' names to protect the innocent.   :-)

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Well, this might need to be taken with a pinch of salt... (but it's true).
I was brought up in England in a family not claiming to be Christian. Agnostic
is I think the correct term. Now, I'm not sure whether it was the parents' or
the kids' idea but every 6th of Jan we kids would make a silly hat for our dad
to wear and he was supposed to wear it all day long. As I said before, I have
absolutely no idea where this tradition originated or actually how old it is
but given that many seemingly 19th century nursery rhymes do in fact have much
older and nobler origins than the first sight suggests (and deeper meanings).
The festival we called "Daddy's hat day" and it was real popular with us.
I tend to think that my dad heard of the tradition from one of his many friends
and decided it would be fun to implement it in our family, but there are maybe
not many others celebrating the day in quite this manner. This could be some
vestige of an older tradition, all but died out in modern society. There are
certainly plenty of other weird customs that have survived through many ages
and often lost their original meaning.


   .....And later, this same person sent me this:


Regarding my previous letter just a thought,
Silly hats = party hats = crowns (???)
Some mundane things have unusual significance.
Folk customs may preserve a truth older than pious censorship.

Iceland is a remarkable place where at least three major religious / spiritual
cultures have existed (rarely more than two at a time until the recent influx
of mysticism / eastern esotericism etc.).
It is sometimes difficult to see where customs and traditions originate. A 19th
century Icelander (who was a fairy-teller) is the main traceable source for the
story of the "Yule-Lads" when he immortalized them in graphic poetry. The modern
folklore has the following scenario for Yule-tide:

Starting on the night before the 12th of December the Yule-Lads come down from
the mountains, one for each successive day until the eve of the 24th. The 23rd
of December is a feast held sacred to the Bishop Thorlak (one of two or three
Icelandic saints recognized by the rest of Christendom). The feast was probably
originally some kind of solstice celebration, incorporated as were many others
into the Roman Catholic (and later other) church traditions. For most Icelanders
today the only significance of this day is that shops are generally open until
11.30 in the evening (and banks in order to take in the days proceeds just
before midnight. People can sell whatever the law permits in the streets without
requiring a special license, and the shopping streets are literally thronging
with people. I have also seen street musicians and other artists at this time.

The Yule-Lads are descended from ogres and trolls and are a thieving bunch, each
with their own special preference. However, well-behaved children who put a shoe
out on the windowsill can expect to find some goodies hidden there on each of
the 13 mornings. Many people attend church on the 24th of December (early
evening) and I think the exchange / sharing of Christmas presents is usually the
same evening. Christmas itself is a family time. Starting with the evening
following the 25th of December and for 13 such evenings the Yule-Lads depart
one per day until the evening of January the 6th. As night draws on the 13th
Yule-Lad will have already left and it is a time of great celebration (good
riddance to the motley bunch of them). It is customary for people to light large
fires and stay up late singing and dancing, for this is also when all the elves
celebrate the departure of the unbidden guests and have such a good time of it
that they can sometimes be noticed by normal mortal men on just such a night.

Other way-farers that might show up over the Christmas month include:
Gryla, the "mother" of the Yule-Lads may be wandering near men if it is a very
bad winter. She eats little children who haven't been good enough, though it is
more usual for her husband to go afoot and collect the bad children in a sack.
The Yule-Cat (probably Gryla's pet) also eats children, and goes roaming on cold
winter nights. This is no ordinary cat by size, and is probably a memory of the
now extinct European lion (Gryla is commonly believed to live somewhere in
Russia). BTW, modern-day Santa-Claus has also been adopted into the "shopping
culture" and is referred to as *The* Yule-Lad. (!!??).

Since the Roman (Gregorian) calendar was introduced at the turn of last century
the Icelanders have also celebrated "new years eve/day" in much the same way and
the same times as the rest of the "civilized" west. Before then the calendar had
a more agricultural basis and was more or less synchronized with the other old
calendars which we know of, in that the months line up with the seasons such
that equinoxes and solstices fall between different months.

Now, I'm sorry if I have deviated from what I intended to say, but let's get
back to the point. Epiphany is held as one of the major Christian feasts. The
choice of the date is no accident, as it was expressly selected to replace an
older feast of great importance, just as Christmas itself was chosen to replace
the Roman Saturnalia feast. Some of the Christmas story as portrayed by the
modern Christianized world is just as much story-telling as the more obvious
caricatures in the surviving Icelandic folk tradition.
As one conjecture, there's a possibility of the story of the Yule-lads going
back to the time when most of Europe was under Roman occupation under the
Caesars. Let's paint a scenario of Roman officials seizing consumables from
the peasants (sometimes by taxes, and otherwise by force) so that there is
plenty for the Roman gentry to enjoy at the feast of Saturnalia. After the feast
things are (relatively) back in order, so the time of celebration for righteous
people when the oppressor's hand lies lighter on their backs. Maybe it doesn't
hold water but let's try another one: Saturnalia was offensive to the people of
faith and the celebration which became Epiphany was a "Thank God it's over" one.

The giving of gifts to secure service is a favorite trick of oppressor types.
The modern day Santa Claus has more in common with Herod the child-killer than
any St. Niklaus who may have loved children. Entice the children with goodies
and lead them away with intent to kill (physically in history, spiritually in
our day and age). "Here children, would you like some sweets, will you come and
ride with me in my sleigh". Sorry, I digress again.

There was nothing inherently evil about the old feasts which used to be 
celebrated more widely. Some may have become corrupted or misunderstood by the
time Christianity did what it could to eradicate what was left of their true
meaning (not necessarily intentionally, but then by ignorance of these matters).
I believe it can be productive to one's faith to reflect on these true meanings
which have mostly become obscure (as with the original teachings and their
purpose for mankind - I mean with deep inner meditation / contemplation), for
the church of this world has done much to alter the public view of the truth.
Jesus Christ was not born into our world to bring any new religion or teaching.
He came into the world to put us back in touch who had become exiles and
outcasts. He worked to reestablish the 'one true faith' (I shall not attempt to
qualify this statement further, for I am aware of its connotations) which had
existed pretty universally prior to the control of this world being usurped by
an imposter, and continued to exist in fairly isolated pockets ever since.

I hope I have not bored you by my fumblings with words.
"Epiphany" is passed once again. Myself, I'm inclined to believe that Jesus was
born to Mary in September or October, and the wise men of ancient Persia would
have arrived close to the time of birth as recorded.

May you prosper and continue to grow in the coming year,


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In the West (I don't know about the East), Epiphany is always on
January 6, and the Baptism of the Lord is the first Sunday after
Epiphany.  This year, Epiphany falls on a Sunday, and Baptism is on
the next Sunday (the 13th).  

In my old congregation in New Mexico, we celebrated Epiphany with an
evening service as long as I can remember.  I don't know what they are
doing this year.  I imagine they will not have a separate service,
since Epiphany falls on a Sunday.  Epiphany also celebrates the
availability of the Gospel to the Gentiles (like me :-)).  The word
means "appearance".  Epiphany is when we celebrate the revelation of
the divine Christ to the Gentiles (represented by the magi).  That was
usually the sermon topic.

In my new church in Boston, there doesn't seem to be any tradition of
a separate Epiphany service.  (Obviously, we will have one this year,
so its kind of tough to know.)


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Here's my $.02 (haven't read this group for a while, too late for this year!):
I've heard that many cultures (Latin, in particular) refer to Jan. 6 as
"King's Day", and many kids get some if not all of their Christmas gifts on
that day.  I just saw on the news that the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates
Christmas on Jan 6.

Although we do exchange gifts on Christmas day out of (beloved) family 
tradition, we keep one gift hidden, to be given on Epiphany.  When our daughter
is old enough we'll explain to her that we're honoring her as the kings honored
the Christ child --- to me, Christmas is all about the love we have for the 
children in our lives.  Since we also take the tree down and put away the
Christmas decorations on that day, the gift is also called a 'tree present',
as it is often found hidden somewhere in the tree.  


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On the night of Jan. 6th some friends and I always present each other with
one small gift, after the three kings.  We've done this for the past 7 or so 
years as a remembrance.


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Russell,
     Naturally I'm getting around to answering your query on
Epiphany long after the fact (though there is always next year).
In the Orthodox Church, Epiphany (which we often call Theophany,
the showing forth of God) is purely devoted to Christ's baptism,
which is seen as a central revelation of the Trinity.  The
principal hymn of the day shows how we think of it:
         When thou, O Lord, wast baptized in the Jordan,
	 The worship of the Trinity was made manifest.
	 For the voice of the Father bare witness to Thee,
	 And called Thee His beloved Son.
	 And the Spirit in the form of a dove,
	 Confirmed the truthfulness of Thy Word.
	 O Christ, our God who hast revealed Thyself
	 And hast enlightened the world, Glory to Thee!
The main custom associated with the day is the blessing of
water, in which a series of prayers recalling the various
revelatory meanings of water in the Bible are said over water to
bless it.  In the following days, this water is then used to
bless the homes of the faithful.  It's a rather busy season for
a priest, who ends up visiting the homes of the people in his
parish.  In each home, a brief prayer service is conducted and
the people walk from room to room singing the hymn above,
sprinkling holy water.  In an Orthodox village, there may be a
big procession through everybody's house; here there is more
commonly a series of small parties in people's homes one evening
after another.  In Greece, the holy water is usually shaken from
bunches of fresh basil (whose name comes from the Greek word
basileus, meaning king).  The Slavic countries, whose fresh
basil was under 3 feet of snow in January, never developed this
custom.
     So what about the 3 kings, you may ask?  They have already
played a major role at Christmas.  Indeed, the central hymn of
our Christmas liturgy centers almost entirely on the magi.  This
hymn, which is sung many times during the liturgy, says
	 Thy nativity, O Christ our God
	 Has shown to the world the Light of Wisdom.
	 For by it those who worshiped the stars
	 Were taught by a star
	 To adore Thee, the Sun of Righteousness,
	 And the know Thee the Orient from on high.
	 O Lord, glory to Thee!
When you first read this, it seems an odd thing to center on.  I
haven't actually chased down the history of this hymn, but I
would guess that it is pretty early (not surprising; a lot of
our music is 1500 years old; some is older; some is newer).
It's got to be, since it really is an anti-pagan polemic.
The great pagan intellectuals, the magi, who set out to
follow a mere star, have been led (by a star, for God turns
the wisdom of the nations to His own Wisdom) to find instead
a Sun.  And this Sun is not the physical sun celebrated by the
pagans on Dec. 25, their Feast of the Invincible Sun.  It is the
Sun from on high, not the sun appearing in the east.  So, the
Church says to the pagans, even your own wise men have shown
that we've got it right.
	 Well, there it is.  I don't know exactly how this all looks
from a Lutheran perspective (do I remember that you're
Lutheran?).  Most of it goes back not only well before the
Reformation, though, but also well before the East-West split;
so I suppose it is part of the common heritage of the Church.


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And finally, traditions we celebrated on Epiphany.

Before the service began, we met outside and burned some of the greens from
our church decorations and sang several Christmas Carols.  We then went into
the church for the service.  On the altar were the letters M B C to represent
the three kings, Melchoir, Balthasar, and Caspar.  Incense was burned during
one part of the service to bless the sanctuary (this is the only time of the
year we ever cense the church).  During communion, all children received
communion bread.  In the bread were three beans.  The three children that got
the beans came up for the recessional hymn and were crowned our "Three Kings".

The following Epiphany Traditions were distributed at our Epiphany
service.  You might get a kick out of some of these.


St. Stephen's Bread -- Loaves of bread, baked in the shape of
horseshoes, are brought to the tables.  The Feast of St. Stephen is
celebrated the day after Christmas, December 26.  Stephen, the first
Christian martyr, met his death by stoning.  An old English custom was
to go "Stephening" on this day - to call on the minister unexpectedly
and then eat all his bread and cheese and drink all his wine.  Since
the parishioners were uninvited guests, many ministers wanted to have
this custom discontinued.

Because St. Stephen is the patron saint of horses, St. Stephen's day
is the day to decorate your horse, ride it to the church and have it
blessed by the minister, and then ride three times around the church.
Horses' food - mostly hay and oats - is also blessed on this day.  The
kernels of the blessed oats are then thrown at each other.  Water and
salt may also be blessed on this day and kept by farmers to be fed to
their horses in case of sickness.  The bread is baked in horseshoe
shape to honor St. Stephen.

Drinking the Toast of St. John the Evangelist -- You may serve
waissail or other fruit punch, and may include the explanation that
follows:  December 27th is the feast of St. John the Evangelist.  St.
John is known, in legend, as the apostle "whom Jesus loved".  One
story about St. John is that he was cast into boiling oil and escaped
unharmed.  He was then banished to work in the mines, where he was
inspired to write the Book of Revelation.  Another legend says he was
challenged by a pagan priest to drink a cup of poison.  After making
the sign of the cross, he drank the cup and suffered no ill effects.

On this third day of Christmas, Scandinavians devote time to visiting
friends, drinking their wine and eating little cakes.  In Norway,
wine casks and cider kegs are brought to the church to be blessed, and
everyone drinks to the grace of St. John for strength and good health
in the coming year.

The head of each table should raise his or her mug of punch to the
person seated at his or her left, saluting with "I drink you the
love of St. John".  That person responds with "I thank you for the love
of St. John" and passes the toast along to the next person.

The Feast of the Holy Innocents -- December 28th is the Feast of the
Holy Innocents and is the unluckiest day of the whole year.  You may
recall that when the wise men visited King Herod in search of a
newborn king, Herod tried to deceive the wise men by asking them to
return to him when they found this infant king so that he too could
pay homage.  However, after presenting their gifts to the Christ
child, the wise men avoided another encounter with Herod.  He was so
threatened that, in a rage, Herod ordered all of the children two years
old or younger to be killed.  He hoped to kill this infant king, but
Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt with their son, Jesus.

Holy Innocents Day is celebrated so that no one will forget Herod's
terrible deed.  One tradition of this day is to whip all the children
while they are still in bed to insure their good health for the coming
year.  Because this is such an unlucky day, no one should begin a new
task or make any promises.  Above all, no one should be married on this
day!  To recall the lack of joy on this day, bland foods such as
gelatin or pudding are eaten in silence.

First Footing Feast -- Meat and vegetables are served.  On New Year's
Eve, families would set their table with bread and salt and silently
wait for the "first-footer", the first guest of the evening to set
foot in their house.  If this guest was tall and dark, the family
would be blessed with good luck for the year; but if the
"first-footer" had read hair or flat feet, he/she could only be a sign
of misfortune.  After this mysterious visitor arrived, he or she would
eat the bread in silence and then wish the family a good year.  Upon
receiving these tidings, the family would sit down to a hearty meal of
beef, baked potatoes, and vegetables, to begin the New Year.

Twelfth-Night Cake -- Serve one piece to each person.  Twelfth-night,
or Epiphany, marks the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of
the carnival season which lasts until Lent.  The word Epiphany means to
"show forth" or "make manifest".  It is on this day that we recall the
visit of the wise men from the East, their adoration of the Christ
Child, and the disclosure of the Good News to the waiting world.
The twelfth-night dinner would include all the foods mentioned
previously: bread, wine, gelatin salad, and meat and potatoes.

The most popular tradition with twelfth-night is the twelfth-night
cake in which are hidden special prizes.  If you find a bean in your
cake, you will be one of the three kings who will reign over the
twelfth-night contests (three beans are hidden).  If you find a coin
in your cake, you will make your fortune in the coming year.  If you
find a ring in the cake, you will be married before the year is out.
If you find a paper clip, you will be successful in business.

Twelfth-Night Contests -- To add levity to the evening, simple
contests are held, with the three kings acting as judges.  Before
announcing the name of the event, ask for one volunteer from each
table.  Some suggestions are:  biggest smile, best whistle, biggest
wind-bag (blowing up a balloon the fastest), biggest yawn, etc.

Epiphany House Blessing -- The head of the family leads all in
prayer:  "O heavenly Father, of whom the whole family in heaven and
earth is named, be present in this house that all who live here, being
kindly affectioned to one another, may find it a haven of blessing and
peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen."  This prayer is followed
by the Lord's Prayer.

The lintel above the front door of the house may be marked with the
year's date bracketing the initials of the three kings, Caspar,
Balthazar, and Melchoir.  Crosses between each letter of the first
initial of the names and the dates insures God's protection for the
house in the year ahead.  The inscription would look like this
(! represents the cross):

                     19 ! C ! B ! M ! 91


The Festival of Tree Burning -- may conclude the evening.  Twelve
persons are appointed as apostles and given burning candles.  They put
their candles to the Christmas tree (situated for a bonfire), saying
individually, "I am (Matthew, James, John, Jude, Nathanial,
Bartholomew, James, Peter, Andrew, Thomas, Simon, Phillip)", and then
together, "The peace of the Lord be yours this year."  As the tree
burns, the group sings such Christmas songs as "Go Tell it On the
Mountain", "The First Noel", "We Three Kings", "Joy to the World",
etc.

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That is all.  I hope you enjoyed these.

--

Russell Pierce  	1200 W. 120th Ave.      	...!att!druwa!rkp
AT&T    		Westminster, CO 80234-2795	(303) 538-2023

djohnson@ucsd.edu (Darin Johnson) (01/26/91)

>I hope I have not bored you by my fumblings with words.
>"Epiphany" is passed once again. Myself, I'm inclined to believe that Jesus
>was born to Mary in September or October, and the wise men of ancient Persia
>would have arrived close to the time of birth as recorded.

>On the night of Jan. 6th some friends and I always present each other with
>one small gift, after the three kings.  We've done this for the past 7 or so 
>years as a remembrance.

---

These are two items that may be myths.  That is, the common creche scene
of three wise-men around the manger.

First, there is no mention of the number of magi who visited, only
that there were three gifts.  I remember sermons that suggested Herod
became fearful/jealous of the messiah, not because three men came to
seek him, but because MANY came, most likely with servants, etc.

Second, it is most likely that the magi arrived long after the birth.
There are two things that indicate this.  The family was visited in a
house, and Herod ordered the deaths of more than just newborns.  If
the star had appeared at the moment of birth, then the travel time
itself would be enormous.

Of course, neither of these have terribly great theological implications,
but may be useful for coffee chat material :-)
-- 
Darin Johnson
djohnson@ucsd.edu
  - Political correctness is Turing undecidable.