The richest gifts we can bestow are the least marketable. – Henry D. Thoreau
January 6th means many different things to different people in different parts of the world. In Western Christian tradition it is the Epiphany, the day on which the Magi are supposed to have brought gifts to the infant Jesus; because of this Christmas gift-giving was shifted to this date in the Dark Ages and remained so until the Reformation, when it shifted back to Christmas in all but the most staunchly Catholic countries (namely Spain and Italy). As I explained in my first column for the holiday, children in Spanish-speaking countries still receive their gifts from Los Tres Reyes, for whom they leave out their shoes on Twelfth Night. Italian children also found their gifts this morning, but there the traditional gift-giver is a witch named Befana, a modern form of the Roman goddess Strenia (who in Greece was known as Hecate).
In French tradition, today is the beginning of the carnival season, which extends until Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras), the day before Ash Wednesday; in New Orleans it is the day we traditionally take down our Christmas trees and start eating king cake (though I’ve noticed some creep back toward New Year’s Day among the hasty). Due to an early paschal full moon, Mardi Gras will fall quite early this year, on February 12th; carnival is thus barely over a month long and the celebrations will therefore be relatively concentrated.
In Russia, today is Christmas Eve because the Russian Orthodox Church still uses the Julian calendar with its extra leap day in three out of four centenary years. Their traditional gift-giver is Grandfather Frost (usually accompanied by his granddaughter, the Snow Maiden); during communist rule he began to bring gifts on (Gregorian) New Year’s Eve because the celebration of Christmas (on any date) was strongly discouraged, but since the fall of the Soviet Union the gifting date seems to vary by region or even by family, ranging from December 25th all the way to January 7th. Perhaps in a generation or so it will settle down to a consensus, but given the circumstances it isn’t surprising things are in flux right now.
So, to my Italian readers, Buona Epifania! To my Spanish-speaking readers, Feliz Día de Los Reyes! To my Ethiopian readers, Melkam Gena! And to my Russian readers, S Roždestvom!
And here in the North, we will celebrate every time the snow falls enough to sled downhill, and take the day off.
Didn’t used to be that way, before global warming.
It’s also the birthday of Sherlock Holmes.
Nice to see I’m not the only one with the problem of celebrating a birthday within three weeks of Christmas Eve. Some very bright people have even LESS time between holidays!
Have you heard of the song “Birthday Card at Christmas” by Jethro Tull?
Ian Anderson wrote the song for his daughter Gael whose birthday is a few days from Christmas.
Maman and I are taking down decorations today and having a slice of King Cake baked by one of the neighbors. The only other people in our building that still have decorations up are a couple other people with Louisiana Creole heritage and a couple Latin families.
I think I will watch the MST3K episode “Jack Frost” to celebrate the Russian Orthodox Christmas.
Eposode 519- Outlaw of Gor
I haven’t watched that one in years!
I am getting too old to giggle like I did this morning in bed over that episode. Should have gone to Mass and acted all Serioso
MST3K > Mass, full stop.
You know, I don’t think Laura has seen Santa Claus Conquers the Martians yet. I’ll have to see if I can remedy this sad deficit in her cultural experience.
Has she seen “Santa Claus”, the one set in Mexico with the creepy Santa and Pitch the Devil?
Don’t know. Laura, if you read this, just what weird Santa Claus movies have you seen?
Dear Sailor B, no, haven’t seen “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” but HAVE read about it in several places. We can watch it together. I haven’t seen any “strange Santa” movies YET…wink. Dear Aspasialibertine, is “Santa Clause” the title of the 1 set in Mexico? Please let me know as I’d like to check it out along with Sailor B. Thanks!
Pix of Epiphany celebrations from The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2013/jan/06/epiphany-celebrations-in-pictures
In the East, we call it Theophany, when St John the Forerunner baptized Jesus.