Happy Christmas! It’s
still OK to say that. I first wrote this post on January 4th 2018, and am revising it on January 5th 2022, so by my
reckoning that’s the 12th day of Christmas, and those twelve drummers are busy drumming as I write. My decorations came down today, my tree is still lit
and will remain so until Epiphany, which is tomorrow January 6th.
Most years, my family and I host an Epiphany Party at our home at around this time, as a
fundraiser for a community organisation of which I am Chairman (my town’s
Twinning Association, which overseas our flourishing links with two similar partner
towns in France and Germany.) Our activities are entirely self-funded, so we
hold fundraising events that enable us to offer hospitality to visitors from
our partner towns. We did this a few years ago as an experiment, and it proved to be so popular that
people asked for it to be become a regular event, and we were happy to oblige. This year, however, it is not taking place, for obvious reasons.
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| Our Epiphany Party table, centred on the Galette, in 2018 |
However, we shall still be
celebrating Epiphany even without this event, and it seems to me a crying shame
that we neglect this opportunity to prolong the fun of Christmas into January –
as many other countries, not least our European neighbours do. In our house, the Wise Men "arrive" at the stable on the night of the 5th, and stay there until Candlemas (February 2nd), as tradition dictates.
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| These Wise Men don't rush in |
Epiphany commemorates the arrival
to visit the baby Jesus of the Wise Men (often referred to as the Three Kings,
even though there is no reference in the Bible to there being three of them, or to their being Kings). But of course the word Epiphany also carries a more general, secular meaning of "a moment of sudden and great revelation or realisation".
The story of the Wise Men bringing gifts - Gold, Frankincense
and Myrrh - lies behind the tradition of exchanging presents at Christmas. In
my house, in a tradition inherited from my late parents, we mark the last day
of Christmas by exchanging one last present (a small symbolic gift), and take
the tree down, but we have also adopted the French tradition of the Galette
des Rois, whereby a cake is served, containing a charm, the recipient of which
is named “King” for the day and is crowned with a paper crown and allowed to
order the rest of the family around for a bit. When our children were little,
we used to ensure that one of them got the charm, thereby giving them the right
to turn the tables for a bit by requiring us to do the washing up or some other
task. Further details about how Epiphany is celebrated in other countries are
available here:-
I find it sad and surprising that
the retail and commercial trade doesn’t make any attempt to recognise Epiphany
here in the UK. Shops jump straight from Christmas to Easter, with Creme eggs
on sale from Boxing Day onwards, whilst card shops jump straight from Christmas
to Valentine’s Day. I've already seen Creme Eggs and Valentines cards this year. The retail trade seems only too keen to seize on somewhat
contrived and rootless dates like Black Friday, yet misses a trick in not
acknowledging festivals like Epiphany, St Nicholas Day (December 6th)
or Candlemas Day (February 2nd). I wrote about Candlemas in a
previous post here.
Epiphany gives the perfect opportunity for one final celebration of
Christmas, a moment of fun as an antidote to the dreariness of back-to-work week at the start of January.
Why don't more families make a Galette des Rois and see who gets to
be “King” for the day? And enjoy another Christmas drink while they’re at it? There's little enough fun in the coming weeks. There are numerous recipes for the galette on the internet, such as this one:-
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| The Epiphany Galette - complete with Crown |
But you could always just make -
or buy - any sort of cake according to tastes.
And as for so many festivals, there’s a wealth of hidden musical treasure to accompany the day. Here’s my selection of traditional sacred epiphany hymns and music seasoned with some secular songs with Epiphany meaning or lyrics. Who needs an excuse to listen to Spandau Ballet's iconic 80s classic Gold, a fitting title for this post?
Happy Christmas for now, then Happy Epiphany on the 6th!
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