Just so you will know I am a Baptist Minister but I am also fascinated with religious holidays and what they represent. So it is because of this interest that I am writing about Epiphany today.
Epiphany is the climax of the Advent/Christmas Season and the Twelve Days of Christmas, which are usually counted from the evening of December 25th until the morning of January 6th, which is the Twelfth Day. In following this older custom of counting the days beginning at sundown, the evening of January 5th is the Twelfth Night. This is an occasion for feasting in some cultures, including the baking of a special King's Cake as part of the festivities of Epiphany (a King's Cake is part of the observance of Mardi Gras in French Catholic culture of the Southern USA). In some church traditions, only the full days are counted so that January 5th is the Eleventh Day of Christmas, January 6th is the Twelfth Day, and the evening of January 6th is counted as the Twelfth Night.
Epiphany is observed in most Christian Religious because it commemorates the coming of the Magi or Wise Men to present gifts to the Christ Child and to make him known to other non Jewish people. What is amazing is that we teach our children that the wise men came to present gifts the night he was born but if you will study the scriptures you will see the wise men did not actually find the child until he was about two years old. Think about it, Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem when Christ was Born. Also the scriptures tell us that he was taken to the temple for his brisk or circumcision when he was 8 days old. And there they were met by Simeon and a prophetess who knew who this child was by sight. It was when the wise men came to Herod asking about the child that he became scared this child would take his throne and he ordered that all males 3 years and under to be killed.
During this time the wise men found Joseph, Mary and the Christ child and presented their gifts to him. And God sent an Angel who warned the wise men in a dream not to return to Herod but to go home another way. God Also sent an Angel to Joseph to warn him Herod was trying to find the child to kill him and told him to take Mary and the child into Egypt and remain there until he told him that it was safe to bring the child back home.
Just study the first four Gospels of the New Testament and think about it. Also use your commentaries and you will see but most of all let the Holy Spirit teach you. That is why God sent the Holy Spirit, to be our comforter and our guide.
