Jump to content

Menu

S/O Christmas--tell me about Epiphany and 12 days of Christmas


ExcitedMama
 Share

Recommended Posts

I'd never heard of Epiphany until my DS was born on Jan. 6 and we were told it was a special day. I still have no idea about it but seeing the other posts about it has me curious. It might be fun to add that tradition in and be extra fun countdown for DS to his birthday. What do you do for the 12 days of Christmas? And Epiphany?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We save some of our Christmas activities for the 12 days of Christmas...baking, watching Christmas movies, caroling, etc. It's a little different every year. We also have a set of 12 days of Christmas ornaments that we add to our Jesse Tree, which is fun, and lets us keep that going for a little while longer. My in-laws always visit after Christmas Day, too, so we save our fancy Christmas dinner for when they're with us. Mainly, we just spend time together and enjoy the season!

 

On Epiphany, we do stockings (again), and read the story of La Befana. It's also my husband's birthday, so we have a special meal and birthday cake. And we go to church that evening. It's a fun day!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Epiphany is a day (Jan 6 for those in Western liturgical traditons) and a whole liturgical season. It contains the stories in the Bible of God's revelations of Jesus Christ. So, you get the wonderful stories like the presentation of Jesus in the Temple, Jesus' baptism, the wedding at Cana ("first" miracle), the calling of Peter and Andrew, and it ends with the Transfiguration. It varies in length, depending on the date of Easter, which moves each year. You start with Easter, then back up 6 weeks for Lent, and then go to Wednesday (Lent starts on Ash Wednesday) and the time between Ash Wednesday and Jan 6 is the Epiphany season. (Hope that made sense.)

 

It's one of my favorite liturgical seasons!

 

You could do something with candles, or make a display on a green backround (it's considered Ordinary time, which is green liturgically), or think about the readings and how you might apply them (how will you make Christ "visible" this year?).

 

For the day itself, we move our "3 kings" to the manger scene, but we take the manger out, because we believe they were in a house by then. Our 3 kings are 3 beany baby forest animals (chipmunk, squirrel and one other) with little crowns and gifts...but that's beside the point. :laugh:  You could have Kings Cake, too--it's a fun tradition, and the symbols baked in it are fun to find!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the ancient eastern tradition of the Church, Jan. 6 is "Theophany" -- the feast commemorating the baptism of Christ, one of the 12 major feast days of the church liturgical calendar. It's actually considered to be a greater feast day than Christmas, theologically/liturgically. Just more info. as you look into this!  We do the 12 Days of Christmas also, with Christmas at the start, the feast commemorating the circumcision/naming of Jesus on January 1 (eighth day), and the feast of Theophany at the end. 

 

What a great day to have for a birthday!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Part of "doing" the 12 Days of Christmas is "doing" Advent before Christmas.  So in the East, we start 40 days out, and in the West, 4 Sundays out before Christmas, moving into "anticipatory mode"--instead of singing Christmas carols and so on, we are either fasting (East) or reading prophetic scriptures (East and West) and looking toward the birth of Christ.  Then Christmas Day is the Feast and there are 12 days to celebrate the Big Day.  

 

Maybe if one doesn't "do" Advent, the 12 days could be a time of relaxing into what Christmas actually is about, now that all the frenzy is over.  

 

Some people put their Christmas tree up on Christmas Eve and then take it down on Epiphany/Theophany.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Part of "doing" the 12 Days of Christmas is "doing" Advent before Christmas.  So in the East, we start 40 days out, and in the West, 4 Sundays out before Christmas, moving into "anticipatory mode"--instead of singing Christmas carols and so on, we are either fasting (East) or reading prophetic scriptures (East and West) and looking toward the birth of Christ.  Then Christmas Day is the Feast and there are 12 days to celebrate the Big Day.  

 

Maybe if one doesn't "do" Advent, the 12 days could be a time of relaxing into what Christmas actually is about, now that all the frenzy is over.  

 

Some people put their Christmas tree up on Christmas Eve and then take it down on Epiphany/Theophany.  

 

This is us. We put of the tree a day or two before Christmas (often on Christmas Eve itself) and leave it up through Epiphany.  I have many friends that put their tree up the day after Thanksgiving and take it down the day after Christmas. I tell them 'I have a Christmas tree, you have an Advent tree"  :)

 

As far as Epiphany goes, I was told it marked the three Kings, but recently I have read that it celebrates Christ's baptism by John the Baptist and the appearance of the dove. 

 

Either way, my family has always observed Advent (lighting the candles each week) and Lent (special study or giving something up) as major components of Christmas and Easter. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We aren't religious, so we have never celebrated Advent or Epiphany, but this season we read "The Thirteen Days of Christmas" together as a read-aloud and it made me wish we did celebrate! It is a novel that tells a courtship story involving gifts over twelve days after Christmas. It is fiction, but the setting is a charming small town that celebrates a different special day each of those twelve days (St Stephen's Day, St John the Evangelist's Day, Holy Innocents' Day, St Thomas of Canterbury's Day, etc.). I loved reading about what they did to celebrate each day and the different hymns they sang. It would be lovely to read it a chapter a day over the twelve days.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Thirteen-Days-Christmas-Jenny-Overton/dp/0192735438/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Part of "doing" the 12 Days of Christmas is "doing" Advent before Christmas.  So in the East, we start 40 days out, and in the West, 4 Sundays out before Christmas, moving into "anticipatory mode"--instead of singing Christmas carols and so on, we are either fasting (East) or reading prophetic scriptures (East and West) and looking toward the birth of Christ.  Then Christmas Day is the Feast and there are 12 days to celebrate the Big Day.  

 

Maybe if one doesn't "do" Advent, the 12 days could be a time of relaxing into what Christmas actually is about, now that all the frenzy is over.  

 

Some people put their Christmas tree up on Christmas Eve and then take it down on Epiphany/Theophany.  

 

Or on the Presentation of Christ in the Temple.  :D  That's kinda my goal this year, although I'm doubtful we'll make it that long.  It's 40 days after Christmas, and is seeming to me more and more (personally, not theologically) to be the end of the nativity season. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Or on the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. :D That's kinda my goal this year, although I'm doubtful we'll make it that long. It's 40 days after Christmas, and is seeming to me more and more (personally, not theologically) to be the end of the nativity season.

 

If I tried to keep my tree up through then I'd be celebrating the Mass of Light by means of spontaneous arboreal combustion in my living room. ;)

 

Traditionally in the west also, the Feast of the Purification (aka Presentation, aka Candlemas) is the end of Christmastide. Really I've never understood why the western Church has been so eager to dismiss feasts and customs that unite us to the east.

 

Candlemas (Candelaria in Spanish; Lichtmess in German) is when candles are blessed for use the following year, because of the propchecy of St Simeon at the Presentation, revealing Our Lord as the Light of the revelation to the Gentiles. There are a lot of light and weather related customs in Europe for Candlemas (Feb. 2), including an American one involving a groundhog. Fortunately we don't have to keep going to Mass over and over and over.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If I tried to keep my tree up through then I'd be celebrating the Mass of Light by means of spontaneous arboreal combustion in my living room. ;)

 

Traditionally in the west also, the Feast of the Purification (aka Presentation, aka Candlemas) is the end of Christmastide. Really I've never understood why the western Church has been so eager to dismiss feasts and customs that unite us to the east.

 

Candlemas (Candelaria in Spanish; Lichtmess in German) is when candles are blessed for use the following year, because of the propchecy of St Simeon at the Presentation, revealing Our Lord as the Light of the revelation to the Gentiles. There are a lot of light and weather related customs in Europe for Candlemas (Feb. 2), including an American one involving a groundhog. Fortunately we don't have to keep going to Mass over and over and over.

 

I have no recollection of Candlemas but I do remember having my throat blessed by a priest holding crossed candles in February.  I thought it was on February 2 but Google tells me that was February 3, the feast day of Saint Blaise.  Nothing to do with Epiphany, of course.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have no recollection of Candlemas but I do remember having my throat blessed by a priest holding crossed candles in February. I thought it was on February 2 but Google tells me that was February 3, the feast day of Saint Blaise. Nothing to do with Epiphany, of course.

 

True. And much appreciated by poor church singers coming off of Advent/Christmastide and headed into Lent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our tradition is to do family Christmas until the weekend after Christmas. We go see lights, movies, play family games, bake, etc. We celebrate New Years Eve and crush the gingerbread house on New Years Day. We read lots of Christmas books. On Epiphany we chalk the door, have a cake and the kids get a small gift I hold back. Our tree comes down before Epiphany because it's crunchy but the creches stay out until Candlemas ( my oldest son's b-day). I was taught to put them away by that day or they need to stay out all year. I do have several small ones I leave out because I like them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...