Christmas — it ain’t over yet. It ain’t over till the Wise Men show up to pay homage to the newborn king.
And that doesn’t happen till January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany.
Contrary to popular Nativity scenes, the Three Wise Men — or Kings, or Magi — did not arrive in Bethlehem with their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh until some time after the birth of Jesus.
They had followed the Christmas Star from distant lands to the East, and this had taken time. Which means they definitely did not make it to that iconic scene at the manger.
And unlike Mary, Joseph and the shepherds, the Wise Men were not Jews. Which is why some Christians celebrate Epiphany as the first time Jesus’ divinity was revealed to the Gentiles — the non-Jews.
When my children were small and I was still holding down a bona fide office job and I was feeling overworked and overextended (OK, not as overworked and overextended as parents struggling through this pandemic), I liked to take advantage of this technical detail in the Christian calendar.
Christmastide — the Twelve Days of Christmas — does not end until Epiphany, I’d tell myself. It ain’t over till the Wise Men show.
And so, if the holiday cards had not been signed and mailed by Christmas Eve, I figured we still had twelve more days of official Christmas before they needed to arrive in people’s mailboxes.
And if I couldn’t get the Christmas tree down in time for the city Christmas tree pick-up, I’d work off my guilt by muttering, “Hey, wait a minute. Christmas isn’t over. The Wise Men haven’t even gotten here and you want me to put them back in storage?”
Or maybe the Christmas cookies hadn’t gotten baked, or the Christmas carols sung. Or maybe I just wasn’t ready to take in Christmas until after Santa had come and gone and the last bit of Christmas wrap had been stuffed into the trash.
Maybe I wasn’t any more ready for Christmas than those first three gentile Christians. Maybe I still had a long way to go. Maybe it would take me till Epiphany to show up.
Jon is the No. 1 stargazer in our family. Our last astronomical adventure took us to Missouri for the total eclipse of the sun in 2017. More on that at “A Totality Disappointment.” As for me, I’m more preoccupied with the star that my book, “Wrestling with God,” received from Publishers Weekly. That was a very big deal.
I am totally with you on the 12 days of Christmas. And getting to see the planets merge to form what was the Star of Bethlehem 2,000 years ago was a good ending to the year.
That “star” was definitely a magical moment for Jon and me. We watched it from a local hillside with several socially distanced clumps of people, everybody enjoying the beautiful evening and the amazing sight.
Liked this riff a lot, Barbara! And it really resonates here in New Orleans, because Jan. 6, Twelfth Night, is not only Epiphany, but also the “official” beginning of Mardi Gras, so in the old days it was the first time you could get a King Cake!
Because of our need to celebrate after this year-long disaster of a year, I was thinking of keeping my tree up even longer than usual – and since it’s a newly-discovered from the barn attic, diminutive artificial tree, I don’t have to worry about the city pick-up of tree dates!
I love it! A Mardi Gras that starts in January! New Orleans sure knows how to show itself a good time . . . When the kids were little and I had a to-do list a mile long, I once took down our Christmas tree on Super Bowl Sunday. That worked out well because I could multi-task — spend time with my husband watching a football game and getting the Christmas stuff put away.
Hi Barb, Great article and pictures. Here in Michigan all we had that night was clouds. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
Enjoyed the riff and many memories. Since Stephanie’s birthday is Jan. 2 I made sure all Christmas trimmings were down and birthday balloons etc were up. Peter’s is coming up very soon. Stephanie was always very proud that she was older then Peter. Not sure if that feeling had carried over to adulthood. Happy and well new year.
Last January we celebrated Peter’s birthday, the whole family together. That’s the last time we saw Peter.
Barbara- Good comments! And wise men and women STILL seek him. Think about the commitment of the wise men to travel all that distance to worship the King! May we each do the same.
The “Michigan” Jim Falconer
Hi, Michigan Jim. And they went back home with the news.