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Xanadu 2012: Epiphany |
Category: Articles 7 comments 7 Jan 2006 @ 02:49 by swanny : ...EPIPHANY - THREE KINGS Lovers of carols and Christmas parties know that this season has 12 days, packed with golden rings, calling birds and various kinds of gentry, musicians and domestic workers. December 25 is Christmas - and 25 minus 12 does equal 13. Do the math and you will see why shopping malls, newspapers, television networks, and other cultural fortresses annually deliver some kind of "Twelve Days of Christmas" blitz, beginning on December 13. Problem is that for centuries church calendars in the East and the West have agreed that there are twelve days of Christmas and they begin on Christmas Day and end on January 6. The twelve days of Christmas end with the Feast of Epiphany also called "The Adoration of the Magi" or "The Manifestation of God." Celebrated on January 6, it is known as the day of the Three Kings (or wise men/magi): Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar. According to an old legend based on a Bible story, these three kings saw, on the night when Christ was born, a bright star, followed it to Bethlehem and found there the Christchild and presented it with gold, frankincense and myrrh. January 6, the last day of Christmas, comes with its own traditions, rituals and symbols. Carolers are going from house to house; in many homes the Christmas tree is taken down and in some areas is burnt in a big bonfire. For the children this is an especially joyous occasion because, associated with taking down the tree goes the "plündern" (raiding) of the tree. The sweets, chocolate ornaments wrapped in foil or cookies, which have replaced the sugar plums, are the raiders' rewards. The history of Christmas, (the festival of the nativity of Jesus Christ,) is intertwined with that of the Epiphany. The commemoration of the Baptism (also called the Day of Lights, i.e. the Illumination of Jesus) was also known as the birthday of Jesus, because he was believed to have been born then of the Virgin or reborn in baptism. In some records Christmas and Epiphany were referred to as the first and second nativity; the second being Christ's manifestation to the world. In the fourth century, December 25 was finally adopted by the Western Christian Church as the date of the Feast of Christ's birth. It is believed that this change in date gave rise to the tradition of the "12 Days of Christmas." While the Western Christian Church celebrates December 25th, the Eastern Christian Church to this day recognizes January 6 as the celebration of the nativity. January 6 was also kept as the physical birthday in Bethlehem. In the Teutonic west, Epiphany became the Festival of the Three Kings (i.e. the Magi), or simply Twelfth day. 7 Jan 2006 @ 03:17 by swanny : hmmm Hmmm I suppose that would make Jesus = God and the Son of God. hmmmmm interesting. Amen 7 Jan 2006 @ 03:48 by swanny : ... I suppose then you could say that in the beginning God created God and then... etc. etc. 7 Jan 2006 @ 04:07 by bushman : Hmm And when do you think you remember your first sight after birth? Is it God, who sees himself in the mirror, the time and moment of your first realization , of being out of the womb, and a being, pretty scary, lol. 7 Jan 2006 @ 04:17 by swanny : 4 years old Well I remember my baby brother coming home from the hospital after his birth when I was four. That seems to be my first memory. 7 Jan 2006 @ 04:27 by swanny : Strange... Something somewhat strange is to look at "photos" of myself before then and have a sense that it happened and is or was real but I have no "connected" awareness of the time, event or place. Strange as well that I went to visit the place I lived at at the age of two and found that there was a cemetary just a couple of blocks away. It was somewhat strange to realize that I may have in fact played in it but I don't know, still it was strange all round. 7 Jan 2006 @ 06:18 by bushman : Ya Thats so bizare, I think my first memory was when I was 2 and a half, I tryed to push my bros stroler off the hill, and with maluse intent to get rid of him, lol. My dad promptly put up a fence, lol. But I do also remember a messy food situation when I was maybe 1 year old, and I remember being as concious as I am now about it, I remember having trouble picking things up, maybe felt like being drunk, it made me mad I couldnt just grab the carrots, lol, still, as far as I can tell, Im no different a person than I was then, even my innermind voice is the same, the voice that argues with itself about everything, lol, maybe the voice of God? Thats the scary part to me. :} I think the strangest thing in my childhood was the size of stuff, everything looked so huge, trains just amazed me to no end just because of thier size to my perception, now of corse everything looks normal, lol. 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