I have just learned about Epiphany...

[Julpost]

I just learned about it, just now, from this board actually. I googled it to find out about it and I LOVE IT! I've wanted ideas on how to make Christmas more meaningful for my family and this sounds like one way to do just that.

 

SO...I need ideas on what people do during this time. What do you do?

[HappyGrace]

:lurk5:

[LN in WI]

We celebrate with a Three King's Cake -- the Hispanic version so there is a baby Jesus hidden inside.

 

We also follow the tradition of putting shoes filled with straw out on the eve. In the morning, the Wise Man have left chocolate coins and a small toy in the shoe.

 

If you have a nativity scene, you can make a small crown to go on the infant Jesus.

 

There is also the tradition of writing the initials of the three Kings above the doorways of your home as a means of asking for a blessing from God (for this year, it would be written: 20 + C + M + B + 09). The following prayer can be said:

 

"Bless, O Lord, Almighty God, this home, that in it there may be health, chastity, strength of victory, humility, goodness, and industry, a fullness of law and the action of graces through God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that this blessing may remain on this home and on those who frequent it. Through Christ our Lord. Amen."

 

We also do the tradition of lighting a large white candle each evening from Christmas till Twelth Night and praying for loved ones. We begin with the following: "Then be ye glad, good people, This night of all the year, And light ye up your candles: His Star is shining near."

 

Hope your family is blessed during this Christmas season:)

 

ellen

[seanda]

Well, I am relatively new to the whole Epiphany and 12 days of Christmas thing myself... my church does not follow these traditions but I find many of the historical traditions to be wonderful. Traditions help us remember. God knew we were forgetful when He put in place the Feasts because they help us remember to look to Him.

 

Another that I have just learned about is the Feast of St. Stephen which is celebrated today on Dec 26 and is the origin of the holiday Boxing Day and is mentioned in the Carol Good King Wenselas. I blogged about it today. For our family it will now mean a new tradition. We will use this day as a day to give to the poor. And in studying about Stephen we can be motivated to live in the Spirit... to speak boldly, to live a life of service as he did giving to the widows and orphans, and to be willing to follow Christ without compromise even unto death.

 

After talking about it with hubby, we will use this day to box up many things we no longer need, to give to charity, and in future years we will also volunteer. (We learned about it too late this year.) But of course, the lesson is not for one day. Restudying about this hero of the faith will hopefully be carried out in more acts of service and charity, and in strength of faith, throughout the year.

 

You can read about Stephen and be inspired in Acts 6-7.

[Nicole M]

We celebrate with a Three King's Cake -- the Hispanic version so there is a baby Jesus hidden inside.

 

We also follow the tradition of putting shoes filled with straw out on the eve. In the morning, the Wise Man have left chocolate coins and a small toy in the shoe.

 

If you have a nativity scene, you can make a small crown to go on the infant Jesus.

 

There is also the tradition of writing the initials of the three Kings above the doorways of your home as a means of asking for a blessing from God (for this year, it would be written: 20 + C + M + B + 09). The following prayer can be said:

 

"Bless, O Lord, Almighty God, this home, that in it there may be health, chastity, strength of victory, humility, goodness, and industry, a fullness of law and the action of graces through God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that this blessing may remain on this home and on those who frequent it. Through Christ our Lord. Amen."

 

We also do the tradition of lighting a large white candle each evening from Christmas till Twelth Night and praying for loved ones. We begin with the following: "Then be ye glad, good people, This night of all the year, And light ye up your candles: His Star is shining near."

 

Hope your family is blessed during this Christmas season:)

 

ellen

 

We do these. My husband is from New Orleans, and the tradition there is to hide a bean or a baby Jesus in a braided ring King's Cake. I find the traditional king's cakes to taste utterly vile, so I've come up with my own version. Whoever gets the baby gets to be the King. But usually my husband and two boys are the three kings.

 

We don't put a crown on baby Jesus, but through the 12 days, the three kings from our creche scene travel through the house (from the east) and on 12th night arrive at the manger.

 

After the cake, the menfolk put on their royal bathrobes and crowns and we turn off all the lights in the house. We light our lanterns from the light of the white Christ candle, then go outside and sing the Apple Tree Wassail to bring a good harvest next year. (Never hurts to throw in some pagan revelry.) We also sprinkle cider around the roots of the tree. We "decorate" the apple trees with wool for the birds to take for their nests. Then we bring the light into the house, lighting candles in each room, writing over the lintels the year, as described above, and remembering good things that happened in each room that year, or previous years. ("Little Seth was born in this room.")

 

These traditions are very old. Except for the apple tree ritual, you can read about these in a book called To Dance with God by Gertrud Mueller Nelson.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Dance-God-Family-Community-Celebration/dp/0809128128/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230311613&sr=8-1

 

We made paper mache lanterns similar to these:

 

http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf70920310.tip.html

 

I feel like I'm "coming out" as a somewhat crazy person by posting this. But these rituals have been a wonderful thing for our family, giving us closure to the Christmas season. My boys enjoy this almost more than Christmas day. Almost.

[Matryoshka]

When the kids were little I did a bit more to emphasize the 12 days of Christmas - I've gotten lazier as time goes on.

 

I used to hang twelve little heart-shaped paper purses on the tree filled with a chocolate for each girl ("Santa" would hang them on Christmas Eve and they'd be there when they awoke). Then each day they'd be able to take one down and have a chocolate each.

 

We have two nativities - one is put up complete at the beginning of Advent, the other is the kids'. We used to always do a Waldorf-style thing where the first week it's just stones, crystal, the stall and Mary. Every day she walks along a star path - the one she's passed gets put up in the sky, so every day the sky has more stars. We light a candle and sing a song as we do this.

 

Every Sunday in Advent, more gets added - the second Sunday you add the plants, the third the animals, and the fourth the people. Then we'd add the Kings on Epiphany.

 

We also get together with family and friends and have a dinner with Epiphany bread, and the kids put on a little skit where one plays Mary and the others play Kings or the Star, and they give her gifts while we sing "We Three Kings".

 

Actually, most of this stuff was adapted in some form from a book called All Year Round by Druitt, Fynes-Clinton and Rowling. It also has ideas for celebrating lots of other festivals through the year, many of which are not typically celebrated in the US (and only some of which we do) - Pentecost, Ascension, St. Michael's, St. Martin's. I think they're mostly traditions from Germany (this being a Waldorf book and Steiner being German).

[AnnetteB]

We were married on Epiphany Sunday 1980 :001_smile: I would like to exchange gifts on Epiphany, but could never get the rest of the family to go along with it.

[love2read]

We do the blessing with chalk (you can read about it here along with other ideas here http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=995 and here http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2009-01-04 ), go to church, have a special celebration and we give the children one small religious gift each. It's a little Christmas in our home.

Edited December 26, 2008 by love2read

[Nicole M]

Actually, most of this stuff was adapted in some form from a book called All Year Round by Druitt, Fynes-Clinton and Rowling. It also has ideas for celebrating lots of other festivals through the year, many of which are not typically celebrated in the US (and only some of which we do) - Pentecost, Ascension, St. Michael's, St. Martin's. I think they're mostly traditions from Germany (this being a Waldorf book and Steiner being German).

 

This is a lovely book. I highly recommend it.