Washington D.C., Jan 6, 2018 / 01:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- While the hustle and bustle of Christmas ends for many people on Dec. 26, throughout Christian history Christmas lasts for twelve days – all the way until Jan. 6.
This feast marking the end of Christmas is called “Epiphany.”
In the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, Epiphany celebrates the revelation that Jesus was the Son of God. It focuses primarily on this revelation to the Three Wise Men, but also in his baptism in the Jordan and at the wedding at Cana.
In the Eastern rites of the Catholic Church, Theophany – as Epiphany is known in the East – commemorates the manifestation of Jesus’ divinity at his Baptism in the River Jordan.
While the traditional date for the feast is Jan. 6, in the United States the celebration of Epiphany is moved to the next Sunday, overlapping with the rest of the Western Church’s celebration of the Baptism of Christ.
However, the meaning of the feast goes deeper than just the bringing of presents or the end of Christmas, says Fr. Hezekias Carnazzo, a Melkite Catholic priest and founding executive director of the Virginia-based Institute of Catholic Culture.
“You can’t understand the Nativity without Theophany; or you can’t understand Nativity without Epiphany.” The revelation of Christ as the Son of God – both as an infant and at his baptism – illuminate the mysteries of the Christmas season, he said.
“Our human nature is blinded because of sin and we’re unable to see as God sees,” he told CNA. “God reveals to us the revelation of what’s going on.”
Origins of Epiphany
While the Western celebration of Epiphany (which comes from Greek, meaning “revelation from above”), and the Eastern celebration of Theophany (meaning “revelation of God”), have developed their own traditions and liturgical significances, these feasts share more than the same day.
“The Feast of Epiphany, or the Feast of Theophany, is a very, very early feast,” said Fr. Carnazzo. “It predates the celebration of Christmas on the 25th.”
In the early Church, Christians, particularly those in the East, celebrated the advent of Christ on Jan. 6 by commemorating Nativity, Visitation of the Magi, Baptism of Christ and the Wedding of Cana all in one feast of the Epiphany. By the fourth century, both Christmas and Epiphany had been set as separate feasts in some dioceses. At the Council of Tours in 567, the Church set both Christmas day and Epiphany as feast days on the Dec. 25 and Jan. 6, respectively, and named the twelve days between the feasts as the Christmas season.
Over time, the Western Church separated the remaining feasts into their own celebrations, leaving the celebration of the Epiphany to commemorate primarily the Visitation of the Magi to see the newborn Christ on Jan. 6. Meanwhile, the Eastern Churches’ celebration of Theophany celebrates Christ’s baptism and is one of the holiest feast days of the liturgical calendar.
Roman Traditions
The celebration of the visitation of the Magi – whom the Bible describes as learned wise men from the East – has developed its own distinct traditions throughout the Roman Church.
As part of the liturgy of the Epiphany, it is traditional to proclaim the date of Easter and other moveable feast days to the faithful – formally reminding the Church of the importance of Easter and the resurrection to both the liturgical year and to the faith.
Other cultural traditions have also arisen around the feast. Dr. Matthew Bunson, EWTN Senior Contributor, told CNA about the “rich cultural traditions” in Spain, France, Ireland and elsewhere that form an integral part of the Christmas season for those cultures.
In Italy, La Befana brings sweets and presents to children not on Christmas, but on Epiphany. Children in many parts of Latin America, the Philippines, Portugal, and Spain also receive their presents on “Three Kings Day.”
Meanwhile, in Ireland, Catholics celebrate “Women’s Christmas” – where women rest from housework and cleaning and celebrate together with a special meal. Epiphany in Poland is marked by taking chalk – along with gold, incense and amber – to be blessed at Mass. Back at home, families will inscribe the first part of the year, followed by the letters, “K+M+B+” and then the last numbers of the year on top of every door in the house.
The letters, Bunson explained, stand for the names traditionally given to the wise men – Casper, Melchior and Balthazar – as well as for the Latin phrase “Christus mansionem benedicat,” or, “Christ, bless this house.”
In nearly every part of the world, Catholics celebrate Epiphany with a Kings Cake: a sweet cake that sometimes contains an object like a figurine or a lone nut. In some locations lucky recipient of this prize either gets special treatment for the day, or they must then hold a party at the close of the traditional Epiphany season on Feb. 2.
These celebrations, Bunson said, point to the family-centered nature of the feast day and of its original celebration with the Holy Family. The traditions also point to what is known – and what is still mysterious – about the Magi, who were the first gentiles to encounter Christ. While the Bible remains silent about the wise men’s actual names, as well as how many of them there were, we do know that they were clever, wealthy, and most importantly, brave.
“They were willing to take the risk in order to go searching for the truth, in what they discerned was a monumental event,” he said, adding that the Magi can still be a powerful example.
Lastly, Bunson pointed to the gifts the wise men brought – frankincense, myrrh and gold – as gifts that point not only to Christ’s divinity and his revelation to the Magi as the King of Kings, but also to his crucifixion. In giving herbs traditionally used for burial, these gifts, he said, bring a theological “shadow, a sense of anticipation of what is to come.”
Revelation of God
Fr. Hezekias Carnazzo explained to CNA the significance of the feast of the Theophany – and of Christ’s Baptism more broadly – within the Eastern Catholic churches.
“In our Christian understanding in the East, we are looking at creation through the eyes of God, not so much through the eyes of Man,” Fr. Carnazzo said.
In the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, he continued, there is special divine significance.
With this feast day, the pastor explained, “God has come to reclaim us for himself.” Because of original sin, he continued, humanity has inherited “a human nature which has been dislocated from its source of life.”
Sin also effected parts of creation such as water have also been separated from their purpose and connection to God’s plan for life, Fr. Carrazzo said, because its original purpose is not just to sustain our bodies, but our souls as well.
“With the fall, however, it has been dislocated from its source of life, it is under the dominion of death- it doesn’t have eternal life anymore. So God comes to take it to himself.”
“What Jesus did was to take our human nature and do with it what we could not do – which is, to walk it out of death, and that’s exactly what He did with His baptism.” As it is so linked to the destruction of death and reclaiming of life, the Feast of Theophany is also very closely linked to the Crucifixion – an attribute that is reflected in Eastern iconography of both events as well.
The feast of the Theophany celebrates not only Christ’s conquering of sin through baptism, but also God’s revelation of Christ as his Son and the beginning of Christ’s ministry. “The baptism of the Lord, just like the Nativity, is not just a historical event: it’s a revelation,” Fr. Carrazzo said.
To mark the day, Eastern Catholics begin celebrations with Divine Liturgy at the Church, which includes a blessing of the waters in the baptistry. After the water is blessed, the faithful drink the water, and bring bottles of water to bring back to their homes for use and not only physical but spiritual healing, he explained. Many parishes hold feasts after Liturgy is over. In many Middle Eastern cultures, people also fry and eat awamat – dough that is fried until it floats, and then is covered in honey.
During the Theophany season, priests also try to visit each home in the parish to bless the house with Holy Water that was blessed at Theophany. Fr. Carrazzo invited all Roman Catholics to come and become familiar, “to be part of a family” and join in celebrating Eastern Catholic traditions.
This article was originally published on CNA Jan. 6, 2017.
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It is good of course that sanity is being preserved in some places.
What stakes me in that gender madness (read “the denial of the reality”) is how anti-women it is. A group of men will not likely feel endangered by the presence of one or two biological females in their changing rooms/toilets/sports while women, forced to put up with a biological male in women-only spaces, will. This law spits on women – on who a woman is – and especially on those women who are victims of assaults/have a high level of anxiety.
Honestly, I do not know the Western law more misogynistic than this because it is not about who a woman can be i.e. profession restrictions or whatever but about who a woman is i.e. the most basic biology-determined need of women to have female-only spaces and feel safe. It is a level of a body which does not even need a religion to back it up.
Considering that roughly a half of humanity are females, the rights of 50% are thrown away for the sake of satisfying 1% (?) or less.
The sports side of this gets talked about a lot, and it should. It affects a lot of young girls, teens, and young women and puts them in the position of sacrificing either their safety and modesty, or their sport.
The women in prison who are forced to share a cell with a “transgender” convicted rapist don’t have even that option. Nearly 60% have been through sexual violence, while about 80% have been through domestic abuse. Misogyny at its finest. They act like that man’s feelings are more important than that woman’s right to not be raped.
“Mr. President – Bishop Gruss is on line one.”
Thanks to Fr. Pivonka for his clear, measured statement.
Let’s see if other Catholic universities are up to the challenge.
I agree that men and women should not compete against each other in most sports because men have the advantage. Sadly many sports seem to be ignoring the differences between the sexes and admitting all sexes to compete together on teams or against each other in singles sports (e.g., swimming), even though one sex often has a clear physical advantage.
BUT…there is one sport that I think has always been on a good track and hopefully will remain that way!
All my life, my family (Dad and Mom, and eventually husband and daughters) have been fans of and participants in the sport of figure skating. And if you don’t think it’s a real sport, then before reading the rest of this, please head down to your closest ice rink and give it a try. “Nuff said!”
My late husband was an ice dancer, and in one of the last competitions he participated in before he passed away (2020-COVID-R.I.P.), he told me that he was the only straight man in a locker room of 26 other men who identified as something other than “straight.”
And that’s OK. After he died, the largest number of cards and gifts to his memorial were from fellow skaters that had gotten to know him over the years. He always enjoyed being with other skaters and sexuality didn’t matter.
Sexuality truly doesn’t matter in the sport of figure skating. What matters is “Can you skate perfectly (or close to it) during your competitions?”
Straight men or women who have landed huge jumps for years can still bomb at a competition, and so can gay men and women, or anyone with any other sexual identity. It is NOT a kind, forgiving sport! You have one shot at competitions, and that “shot” lasts only a few minutes and then it’s over. No do-overs. No time-outs. No “Stop the Clock” so the physical therapist can massage the muscles. If you bomb, you have to wait until the next competition, often a year later, to try again.
There have been women who can outskate a man in jumps, and there have long been men who skate with more “style” than a woman. Figure Skating skills have nothing to do with sexuality, although the biological men are generally stronger when it comes to over-the head lifts of a partner–but not always! And women are generally more flexible when it comes to ice dancing elements, spins, and other elements that require flexibility–but not always!
Recently the figure skating discipline of synchronized skating has allowed over the head-lifts–and in last year’s world championships, WOMEN LIFTED WOMEN over their heads–and most of these lifts were performed by women of roughly the same weight and height!
Amber Glenn won the U.S. Championships in the 2023-2024 season after years of competing and never winning. Only recently has Ms. Glenn “come out” as pan-sexual/bi-sexual. But everyone in the figure skating world knew. And it didn’t matter–what mattered was how she skated during competitions, and often, she didn’t skate well enough to win. Her sexual orientation had nothing to do with her skating performance during competitions.
Jason Brown is the only male figure skater in the world who does not land quadruple jumps in competition, yet at age 30, he placed 5th at Worlds in 2024. He’s incredibly good at all the other elements and has a style of skating that brings an audience to their feet every time. He’s gay, but…that doesn’t matter. (Everyone loves him–he is kind and mannerly to fans and fellow skaters.) I still remember the first time I ever saw him skate when he was just in middle school–I knew that he would be one of the greatest skaters ever (even though he was wearing a ponytail!).
The sexual orientation of the sport MIGHT have mattered back in the old “6.0” system (although it didn’t seem to matter at the time, as quite a few “gay” skaters won competitions–again, because of their skills, not their sexuality).
But now, the Code of Points system does not allow for political “gimmees.” Figure skaters in all the disciplines of the sport (Men’s and Ladies’ Singles, Pairs, Ice Dance, and Synchronized) earn points for each element completed based on how good the ELEMENT is, and although this system is incomprehensible to the public and to many figure skating fans as well, it is generally much more accurate than the old 6.0 system, in which a “pretty skater” could (and sometimes did) win even if the other skaters landed every jump, spin, and footwork sequence.
It’s a sport, not an “entertainment.” Many people who don’t follow the sport don’t believe that, but for those who train in the sport, it’s the absolute truth. Figure skaters have to pass difficult tests to be promoted to the different levels of competition (Preliminary, Juvenile, Intermediate, Novice, Junior, Senior), and many skaters spend years working on these tests, often failing them several times before passing. Most of the public doesn’t know this. It’s expensive, time-consuming, and often, practiced in the early morning hours because after school and work, public skating and hockey (and sometimes broomball) take over the ice rink.
My daughters were up at 4 a.m. on weekends to practice with their synchronized skating teams from 5:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. During the week, they got to sleep until 5:00 a.m. and were at the ice rink at 6:00 to practice a few hours before school.
One of the reasons why I love the sport of figure skating is that biological men and women still compete in the division that matches their biological sex. Men and women do NOT compete against each other in the Singles events, as the sexes, regardless of the orientation of the skater, possess physical attributes that make certain elements impossible or at best, extremely difficult. There are male skaters (Jason Brown)( who can perform a layback spin with as much flexibility as a woman, but most cannot. And there are women who can perform quadruple jumps–but most cannot, especially in the lower levels of the sport, which skaters must ascend before competing at the Senior level that we see on television.
And many men and women who excel in one aspect of the sport (e.g., jumps, spins, or footwork) do not have the same level of performance in other aspects of the sport (e.g., jumps, spins, footwork) to put together a program that demonstrates mastery of ALL the elements of the sport of figure skating. There’s no such thing in figure skating as a “3-point specialist” or a “pinch hitter.” You do it all, and you do it all well, and sexuality does not matter.
Yes, there are occasional competitions in which men and women compete against each other, but these are mainly “show” events, not real competitions, and they often are done as a fundraising event for a worthy charity. I think it’s highly unlikely that the International Skating Union will be merging the sexes in the competition arena anytime soon. other than in synchronized skating where men and women are on the same teams.
It’s interesting that in the U.S., the sport is often disregarded (or worse) by men–even if they watch the sport (to please their wives, girlfriends, or daughters), they would never participate in it, no way! But in many European and Asian countries, as well as Canada, the sport is just as popular for men as it is for women. It infuriates me and other figure skating families that boys and men who figure skate are often made fun of. Keep in mind that male Olympic figure skaters like Charlie White (U.S.A.) and Kurt Browning (Canada) competed in figure skating AND ice hockey while they were growing up!
I hope that some who read this will take a look at the sport of figure skating, which I think has, so far anyway, handled the sexuality issue fairly well. Basically, sexuality ISN’T an issue in figure skating–the “issue” is, “Can you skate well enough to hit all the elements in your chosen figure skating discipline, and hit them better than anyone else in your competition field?”
By the way, Adult figure skating (all disciplines) is becoming more popular, and U.S. Figure skating sponsors many competitions for adults, so if you’re looking for a sport, consider giving figure skating a try!
The sports side of this gets talked about a lot, and it should. It affects a lot of young girls, teens, and young women and puts them in the position of sacrificing either their safety and modesty, or their sport.
The women in prison who are forced to share a cell with a “transgender” convicted rapist don’t have even that option. Nearly 60% have been through sexual violence, while about 80% have been through domestic abuse. Misogyny at its finest. They act like that man’s feelings are more important than that woman’s right to not be raped.