Epiphany (holiday)

• 1. Introduction

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  Epiphany, a Christian feast day, brings drums and bagpipes into the freezing Tundzha river at Kalofer in Bulgaria. Musicians play a traditional horo in the icy water before the priest throws the cross and young men race to retrieve it.

  The Tundzha is only one stage for this feast, and the rituals elsewhere look nothing like it. Some communities mark the day with processions, some with pastry, some with songs sung from door to door.

  This documentary asks what the name actually means and what the earliest Christians were celebrating. It asks whether the day honors a birth, a baptism, a royal visit or all three. It asks why two great branches of the church disagree about the answer, and why their calendars put the feast on different dates. And it asks how one holiday grew a family of customs this wide.

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• 2. A Word For Appearing

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  The Koine Greek word epipháneia gives the feast its English name, and it means a manifestation or an appearance. It comes from the verb phainein, which means 'to appear.' Classical Greek used it for the dawn, for an enemy turning up in war, and especially for a god revealing himself to a worshipper. Such a divine showing is called a theophany, and that is the name Eastern Christian tradition prefers. In the Septuagint, the word describes a manifestation of the God of Israel. In the New Testament it refers either to the birth of Christ or to his appearance after the resurrection. Five times it refers to his Second Coming.

  Greek speakers have several names for the day. Ta Theophánia is the Theophany. I Iméra ton Fóton means the Day of the Lights, and ta Fóta shortens it to simply the Lights. Egyptians call the feast Eid al-Ghitas. English speakers sometimes say Three Kings' Day, and in some traditions Little Christmas. In certain denominations the feast also opens a liturgical season known as Epiphanytide.

  Hungarian speakers took a different route and call the day Vízkereszt, a word that recalls their terms for water and for baptism.

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• 3. Earliest Traces

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  Around the year 200, the theologian Clement of Alexandria described a baptism celebration kept by the followers of Basilides, a Gnostic teacher. They observed the day, he wrote, "spending the previous night in readings." They placed it on the 15th of the month Tybi in the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar, and some said the 11th. Those Egyptian dates correspond to the 6th and the 10th of January.

  The nightly readings probably came from the Gospels. Ancient gospel manuscripts mark passages for liturgical reading. A congregation that began Mark at the start of the year might reach the baptism story on the 6th of January. If so, the Basilides and other Christians could have arrived at that date independently.

  The earliest reference to Epiphany as a Christian feast dates to AD 361, when Ammianus Marcellinus mentioned it. He lists the holiday twice, which suggests a double feast of baptism and birth. The two events shared a date because Jesus was read as being exactly 30 at his baptism, and many Church Fathers took him to be about that age. Epiphanius of Salamis called the 6th of January Christ's "Birthday; that is, His Epiphany." He placed the wedding at Cana on the same day and assigned the baptism to the 6th of November.

  The Western Church had split off the Nativity as Christmas on the 25th of December even before 354. It kept the 6th of January for the manifestation of Christ, above all to the Magi. In 380, Gregory of Nazianzus preached on the 25th of December and called that day the Theophany, a name once used for a pagan festival at Delphi. On the 6th and the 7th of January he preached again, saying the birth and the visit of the Magi were already celebrated and the baptism came next. In 385, the pilgrim Egeria, also known as Silvia, described an Epiphany celebration in Jerusalem and Bethlehem that commemorated the Nativity. Even then it carried an octave, a celebration lasting eight days.

  The old combined feast lingered in places. John Cassian said that around the start of the 5th century, Egyptian monasteries still celebrated the Nativity and the Baptism together on the 6th of January. The Armenian Apostolic Church still treats that date as its only commemoration of the Nativity.

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• 4. Two Meanings

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  John Chrysostom saw a lesson in the meeting between the Magi and Herod's court. He wrote: "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." Writers like him read the visit as a revelation to the gentiles and, through the Magi's detour, to the Israelites as well.

  That reading shaped the Latin-speaking West. The Magi stood for the non-Jewish peoples of the world, so Western Christians made their visit the heart of the feast. The baptism and the wedding at Cana received only a minor mention.

  Eastern churches look instead to the River Jordan. The traditional site of John the Baptist's ministry is Al-Maghtas in Jordan. In Byzantine times a cross in the middle of the river marked the baptism, between that site and Qasr al-Yahud in the West Bank. Al-Maghtas is now a World Heritage site, and it drew approximately 81,000 visitors in 2016.

  Both traditions share one essence. Each celebrates the manifestation of Christ to the world, whether as an infant or in the Jordan, and the Mystery of the Incarnation. The miracle at Cana is also remembered as a first manifestation of his public life.

  In parts of central Europe, a priest in white vestments blesses Epiphany water, frankincense, gold and chalk on the feast. The chalk marks the initials of the three Magi, traditionally Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, over church and house doors. The same letters can also be read as the Latin phrase Christus mansionem benedicat, meaning may Christ bless the house. German Lutherans like to note, lightly, that the Bible never says the Magi were men or that there were three.

  In Lebanon, the Maronite Church follows the older tradition. For Maronites the day announces the start of Jesus' mission at his baptism, even though the Roman Church marks the visit of the Wise Men.

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• 5. Waters And Crosses

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  Orthodox churches call the feast Theophany and rank it third among the Great Feasts, behind only Paskha and Pentecost. Tradition holds that at the baptism all three Persons of the Trinity appeared to humanity at once. The Father spoke through the clouds, the Son was baptized in the river, and the Holy Spirit descended as a dove. The only other such occasion was the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor. The Orthodox also see the baptism as the first step toward the Crucifixion, and some hymns echo those of Good Friday.

  The forefeast begins on the 2nd of January and ends on the 5th with Paramony, the eve. Paramony is a strict fast day. The faithful who are able refrain from food until the first star appears, then take a meal with wine and oil. During the Vespers, fifteen Old Testament readings that foreshadow the baptism are read.

  The Great Blessing of Waters happens twice. It is held once on the eve, usually at a font inside the church, and again on the feast day outdoors. After the liturgy, clergy and people process to the nearest water. That might be a beach, harbor, quay, river, lake, swimming pool or even a water depot.

  In the Greek practice, the priest casts a cross into the water. Volunteers dive for it, and the swimmer who reaches it first returns it and receives a special blessing for the household. One such ceremony at Tarpon Springs, Florida, has become especially prominent. In Russia, where winters are severe, a hole is cut in the ice and the priest dips the cross into it three times.

  Greek belief adds goblins. The kalikántzaroi are said to torment the faithful through the festive season, and the blessing cleanses the stormy winter seas of them and ends the traditional ban on sailing. Many Greeks also wash icons in the blessed water. Writers connect this with the ancient Athenian Plynteria, when the statue of Athena was carried to the coast at Phaleron and washed in seawater. At Plaka on Mytilene, women gather water from 40 waves, clean icons with it in silence, and pour it into a receptacle of the church.

  The faithful carry the blessed water home, sprinkle it on themselves and their houses, and drink it. Priests then visit each home with a short prayer service, and the round should finish before Great Lent. An eight-day afterfeast follows, during which normal fasting laws are suspended.

  The Oriental Orthodox churches keep their own versions. In the Ethiopian Orthodox Church the feast is Timkat. A priest carries the sacred tabot to a body of water, where it stays overnight, and the next morning the water is blessed while four Gospel accounts of the baptism are read. UNESCO has included Timkat in its heritage list of festivals. Syriac Christians call the feast denho, meaning 'up-going.' The Armenian Apostolic Church precedes it with a seven-day fast and a lamp-lighting liturgy, then immerses a cross in water and pours holy myron into it. The Coptic Orthodox Church counts Eid al-Ghitas among its seven great feasts and keeps it as a day of strict fasting.

  Assyrian Christians in Iraq have the most playful version. On Etha de Denha, people of all ages splash one another with buckets or hoses to recall the baptism.

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• 6. Moving Dates

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  The traditional date is the 6th of January, but since 1970 some countries have held the feast on the Sunday after the 1st of January. Eastern Churches that still follow the Julian calendar observe it on what the Gregorian calendar calls the 19th of January. That is because the two calendars now differ by 13 days. The Alawites and Middle Eastern Christians also keep the 19th. Timkat falls on the 19th too, or on the 20th in years when the Ethiopian New Year lands on the 12th of September, which happens before a Gregorian leap-year February.

  In the Catholic Church, the feast is either kept on the fixed the 6th of January or moved to the Sunday between the 2nd and the 8th. Most dioceses in the United States use the Sunday. The choice ripples outward. Where the date is fixed, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord falls on the following Sunday. Where the date moves later, the baptism feast can be pushed to the Monday.

  From 1893 until 1955, the Sunday inside the Latin Church's octave of the 6th to the 13th of January was the feast of the Holy Family. In 1955, Pope Pius XII abolished all but three liturgical octaves, and Epiphany's disappeared. A separate Feast of the Baptism of the Lord was instituted the same year, which loosened the Western link between Epiphany and baptism. The 1969 revision of the General Roman Calendar made the date variable and placed Epiphany inside Christmastide. Anglican churches kept their own octave until 1976.

  National calendars have shifted as well. From 1973 to 1991, Finland observed Epiphany on a Saturday between the 6th and the 12th of January, then restored the 6th as a public holiday. Malta kept the 6th as a public holiday until the 1980s and now marks the feast on the first Sunday of the year.

  In many Western Churches, the eve on the 5th of January is Twelfth Night, and the Monday after Epiphany is known as Plough Monday. Many Christians take down Christmas decorations on Epiphany Eve, while others wait for Candlemas on the 2nd of February. One seventeenth-century tradition called it inauspicious to remove them before Epiphany Eve.

  An ancient custom gave the day another job. Before calendars were common, the priest announced the date of Easter on the feast of Epiphany. The Roman Missal still provides a chant, in the tone of the Exsultet, for announcing the dates of Ash Wednesday, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, the Body and Blood of Christ and the First Sunday of Advent.

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• 7. Cakes And Beans

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  In Belgium, a puff pastry tart with almond filling called Koningentaart hides a black bean. Whoever finds the bean in a slice is king or queen for the day. The Dutch have a version called Koningenbrood, or Kings' bread.

  France splits the tradition in two. In the northern half of the country, and in Belgium, the galette des Rois is a round, flat, golden cake of flake pastry, often filled with frangipane, fruit or chocolate. In Provence and the south-west, the gâteau des Rois is a crown-shaped brioche filled with fruit. Both hide a charm called a fève, which is the French word for a broad bean, and today it is usually a porcelain or plastic figurine. The youngest person at the table cuts the cake, because that child is considered innocent and the draw stays random. The finder wears a paper crown and may have to pour sparkling wine for everyone or host the next cake, which can stretch the festivities through January.

  English Twelfth Cake was a rich, dense fruitcake with a bean for the king. Other charms gave other roles: a clove made the finder the villain, a twig the fool and a rag the tart. Spiced ale and ginger snaps were proper Twelfth Night fare, recalling the costly spices the Wise Men brought. The English also baked an Epiphany tart shaped like a six-pointed star. A discerning cook might use thirteen differently colored jams on it for luck, so the pastry resembled stained glass.

  Swiss bakers arrange seven large buns in a round pan to form a crown, studded with citron or flavored with cardamom and pearl sugar. The trinket or whole almond inside decides the king or queen. In Latvia, people eat three-cornered apple cakes. Malta serves honey rings called qagħaq tal-għasel. In North Macedonia, a jelly of pork and beef called pacha is prepared the day before Vodici and served the day after, with warm rakija.

  German households add a twist called plündern. On Epiphany, children and adults plunder the Christmas tree of its cookies and sweets and devour the gingerbread houses left over from December.

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• 8. Kings, Stars And Witches

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  On the night of the 5th of January in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, children leave their shoes by the door with grass and water for the camels. The Reyes, according to tradition, skip the houses of children who are awake, so the children rise early to find their gifts. In Mexico, the figurines of the three Magi are added to the nativity scene that evening, and the Magi rather than Santa Claus bring the presents.

  In Italy the gift bringer is the Befana, whose name is a corruption of the word Epifania. She is a witch-like old woman who arrives on the night of the 5th. The legend says she missed her chance to bring a gift to the Christ Child with the Magi, so she now visits other children. Good children receive sweets or toys, and bad ones receive coal. She is covered in soot from the chimney, and children both love her and fear her.

  Scholars disagree about where she came from. John B. Smith thought she was a medieval Christian personification of the feast day, like her High German counterpart Perchta. Jacob Grimm found it hard to believe that two cultures would invent a supernatural being from a calendar name. He judged both far more likely to be pre-Christian figures who blended with the feast. In Sardinia, by contrast, the Magi themselves bring the gifts.

  In German-speaking Europe, groups of young people called Sternsinger go door to door dressed as the Magi. A leader carries a star, often of painted wood on a broom handle. Groups of four often sing in four-part harmony and collect donations for causes such as ending hunger in Africa. The German Chancellor and Parliament receive a visit from them too. In Belgium, Luxembourg and parts of the Netherlands, children in groups of three carry paper lanterns for the star and receive a coin or sweets at each door.

  In Goa, the village of Chandor chooses three young boys to ride down the hill of Our Lady of Mercy as the Kings. They come from the three hamlets of Kott, Cavorim and Gurdolim, whose residents helped build the Chandor church in 1645. Until 1946 the Kings came only from high-caste families, and now the role is open to all. Each king's family spends some 100,000 rupees, about US$2,250, on a horse, costumes and a lavish buffet. At Cansaulim, only natives of Quelim, Cansaulim and Arrosim may serve, and the procession ends at a church built in 1581.

  In Ireland, the day is Nollaig na mBan, or Women's Christmas, when women traditionally rested and celebrated after the labor of the holidays. James Joyce chose an Epiphany celebration as the setting and climax of "The Dead," a story in his 1914 collection Dubliners.

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