Epiphany 2012

We are celebrating Epiphany on Sunday, the 8th, this year. The traditional feast falls on Friday, which is always dh’s birthday, so we’re fond of having separate celebrations.

I have posted about our Epiphany celebrations, including our special books for preparation of the feast. All stories about the wise men, the journey, the camels, La Befana and Baboushka, the star — all these are slated for the Christmas season, building up to Epiphany. Two new titles we have added this year:

The Third Gift by Linda Sue Park and illustrated Bagram Ibatoulline I already mentioned in this post. This by far is the favorite new book of the year. We have read it several times already. My youngest has referred to the “the tears” all Advent and Christmas. It is so helpful to understand the origin of myrrh.

The Tale of Baboushka: A Traditional Christmas Story by Elena Pasquali is a lovely retelling of the legend of Baboushka. An added feature of this Baboushka is she makes toys, so she had toys ready to pack and give to the Christ Child. While it’s a lovely book, I like to incorporate the cultural aspects of Baboushka/Babushka (Russian origins).

Our favorite The Story of the Three Wise Kings by Tomie dePaola, has been reprinted in Joy to the World: Tomie’s Christmas Stories is a collection of 3 Christmas stories by Tomie dePaola, The Night of Las Posadas, The Story of the Three Wise Kings, and The Legend of the Poinsettia, with a few illustrated Christmas carols. The Story of the Three Wise Kings has been out of print for a long time, so this is a great opportunity to get a copy of that and two other favorite dePaola “must-read” stories.

I’ve updated our Epiphany ceremony for 2012: epiphanyceremony2012.

Every year we enter more deeply and understand more about the feast and its significance. Besides learning about the tears of myrrh, we also found out that the Three Kings have a last name. Our youngest refers to them to the “Kings OfOrientar”.

Happy Epiphany!

It was Epiphany today for us. We didn’t do our usual celebrations because we were traveling. But since the traditional feast of Epiphany is January 6, I feel like we have wiggle room to do it some time this week.

I was also so thrilled to hear the Proclamation of the Date of Easter CHANTED at Mass this morning:

On the solemnity of the Epiphany, the proclamation takes place after the Gospel, the homily or after the Prayer after Communion. The proclamation should be sung from the ambo by a deacon, cantor or a reader. In their absence, the celebrant or concelebrant or another priest may sing or proclaim it according to the following text:

Dear brothers and sisters, the glory of the Lord has shone upon us,
and shall ever be manifest among us, until the day of his return.
Through the rhythms of times and seasons
let us celebrate the mysteries of salvation.

Let us recall the year’s culmination, the Easter Triduum of the Lord:
his last supper, his crucifixion, his burial, and his rising celebrated
between the evening of the 21st of April and the evening of the 24th of April.

Each Easter – as on each Sunday –
the Holy Church makes present the great and saving deed
by which Christ has for ever conquered sin and death.

From Easter are reckoned all the days we keep holy.
Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, will occur on the 9th of March.
The Ascension of the Lord will be commemorated on the 2nd [or 5th] of June.
Pentecost, the joyful conclusion of the season of Easter, will be celebrated on the 12th of June.
And this year the First Sunday of Advent will be on the 27th of November.

Likewise the pilgrim Church proclaims the Passover of Christ
in the feasts of the holy Mother of God, in the feasts of the Apostles and Saints,
and in the commemoration of the faithful departed.

To Jesus Christ, who was, who is, and who is to come, Lord of time and history,
be endless praise, for ever and ever.
Amen.

 The Proclamation of the Date of Easter on Epiphany dates from a time when calendars were not readily available. It was necessary to make known the date of Easter in advance, since many celebrations of the liturgical year depend on its date. The number of Sundays that follow Epiphany, the date of Ash Wednesday, and the number of Sundays that follow Pentecost are all computed in relation to Easter.

Although calendars now give the date of Easter and the other feasts in the liturgical year for many years in advance, the Epiphany proclamation still has value. It is a reminder of the centrality of the resurrection of the Lord in the liturgical year and the importance of the great mysteries of faith which are celebrated each year. (From Sacramentary Supplement, pp. 47-50.)

Scenes of the Christmas Season

Photo Highlights of our Christmas:

Our Gingerbread House –
 a kit with egg free icing meant ds1 could decorate with allergic problems if he licked his fingers.
And of course, the more frosting and candy the better, right?

The gift we should have given –
Ds2 was obsessed with Daddy’s old electric football game, which is on its last legs.
Even after the gifts were open he kept trying to sneak upstairs to play football.

You’re never too young to be a clown –
Christmas Eve dinner ds2 decides to put a show on for the family — balancing his bread on his head–buttered, no less.

All dressed to play –
Our two sweet boys playing with Thomas trains under the tree.

 

Let Your Dreams Soar –
Our two floor-to-ceiling Lego/Duplo towers

Decorating the Manger for Epiphany –
Younger son giving football helmets to Baby Jesus. 

Keeping a Stiff Upper Lip –
Penn State won their Bowl game, but Steelers are out of the Playoffs. Boohoo.

 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder –
Our Allergy Free Epiphany Cake.
All the “jewels” and icing make this a most beautiful King Cake for two little boys!

Epiphany 2010

Planning our Epiphany….This year it will be low key with just our immediate family. 
We spent Christmas up in PA with my MIL, starting the 21st, returned the 27th with my MIL, had family visitors two days in a row, then drove back to PA to meet with other of dh’s siblings and families. I’m in recovery mode. My Christmas cards just got mailed, the house is a mess, we’re all tired and cranky, and I’ve got some kind of cold/mild flu and am resting and taking it easy. Other siblings had a few other viruses including a stomach bug, so we’re going to keep our germs to ourselves. I’ll pare down our usual Epiphany celebration for just our little family.

After all these years I still don’t have robes and crowns. I keep hoping I’ll have a working sewing machine and some time to whip some up. If I can find our Epiphany box, we’ll have the Epiphany Home Blessing for 2010 done by my dh, with the new markings over the door:

The three wise men, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar followed the star of God’s Son who became man two thousand ten years ago.

May Christ bless our dwelling, and remain with us throughout the new year, and grant that our comings and goings will be in search of truth. Amen.

20  +  C  +  M  +  B  +  10

Christus mansionem benedicat:  Christ bless this house.

I wanted to make a nice gumbo, but I think roast beef will be our dinner. For dessert it’s been requested to make a special allergy free “King Cake”. Now this won’t be the kind I’ve made before, nor do I have the energy to make our favorite King Cake. The Eggless Milkless Butterless Epiphany Cake was not so good with the flour substitutions. So my plan is to use our favorite Cherrybrook Kitchen allergy safe cake mix (free of eggs, wheat, and dairy) in a fancy Bundt pan that looks like a crown, ice with Vanilla frosting and liberally add candy “jewels”.

Dh’s birthday is January 6, the traditional Epiphany date. It does seem that I’m sick or something for that date, so he gets gypped in celebrations. I’ll have to find out what he would like for his big day.

Here are all my past Epiphany Posts, which includes many of our Epiphany reading. I have added a few more titles that we’ve been reading since Christmas. Here is a short list of our Epiphany related reading:

Epiphany Books:

• The Story of the Three Wise Kings by Tomie dePaola
• We Three Kings, by Gerady Spirin
• The Last Straw by Fredrick H. Thury
• Gifts of the Magi NY Metropolitan Museum of Art
• They Followed the Bright Star by Ulises Wensell
• The Christmas Camel, by Nancy Winslow Parker
• The Legend of Old Befana by Tomie dePaola
• The Legend of Befana by Henry Chafetz, drawings by Ronni Solbert
• The Story of Befana: an Italian Christmas Tale by Ilse Plume
• Baboushka and the Three Kings by Ruth Robbins
• Baboushka by Arthus Scholey illustrated by Helen Cann
• The Stone: A Persian Legend by Diane Hofmeyr
• The Fourth Wise Man, by Mary Joslin
• The Other Wise Man by Van Dyke
• The Little Boy’s Christmas Gift by John Speirs
• Federico and the Magi’s Gift: A Latin American Christmas Story by Beatriz Vidal
• Hurray for Three Kings’ Day! By Lori Marie Carlson

But this will all have to wait until after I rest.

Epiphany Proclamation 2010

The Proclamation of the Date of Easter on Epiphany dates from a time when calendars were not readily available. It was necessary to make known the date of Easter in advance, since many celebrations of the liturgical year depend on its date. The number of Sundays that follow Epiphany, the date of Ash Wednesday, and the number of Sundays that follow Pentecost are all computed in relation to Easter.

Although calendars now give the date of Easter and the other feasts in the liturgical year for many years in advance, the Epiphany proclamation still has value. It is a reminder of the centrality of the resurrection of the Lord in the liturgical year and the importance of the great mysteries of faith which are celebrated each year. (From Sacramentary Supplement.)

On the solemnity of the Epiphany, the proclamation takes place after the Gospel, the homily or after the Prayer after Communion. The proclamation should be sung from the ambo by a deacon, cantor or a reader. In their absence, the celebrant or concelebrant or another priest may sing or proclaim it according to the following text:

Dear brothers and sisters, the glory of the Lord has shone upon us,
and shall ever be manifest among us, until the day of his return.
Through the rhythms of times and seasons/let us celebrate the mysteries of salvation.

Let us recall the year’s culmination, the Easter Triduum of the Lord:
his last supper, his crucifixion, his burial, and his rising celebrated
between the evening of the 1st of April and the evening of the 4th of April.

Each Easter – as on each Sunday –
the Holy Church makes present the great and saving deed
by which Christ has for ever conquered sin and death.

From Easter are reckoned all the days we keep holy.

Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, will occur on the 17th of February.

The Ascension of the Lord will be commemorated on the 13st [or 16th] of May.

Pentecost, the joyful conclusion of the season of Easter, will be celebrated on the 23rd of May.

And this year the First Sunday of Advent will be on the 28th of November.

Likewise the pilgrim Church proclaims the Passover of Christ
in the feasts of the holy Mother of God, in the feasts of the Apostles and Saints,
and in the commemoration of the faithful departed.

To Jesus Christ, who was, who is, and who is to come, Lord of time and history,
be endless praise, for ever and ever.
Amen.

Solemnity of the Epiphany

This year, most of my family who live locally will be attending our Epiphany celebration at my sister’s house. My past Epiphany posts describe our family liturgical celebration. I’ve also uploaded our Home Blessing Ceremony to print. I’m always fond of the prayer of blessing from the Roman Ritual:

O Lord, Almighty God, bless this house that it may become a shelter of health, chastity, self-conquest, humility, goodness, mildness, obedience to the Commandments, and  thanksgiving to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Upon this house and those who dwell herein may Thy blessing remain forever. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

These words should be a constant reminder during our daily family life.

I’m a bit pooped from the holidays, so I’m not baking our usual Epiphany King Cakes, but am looking forward to our family get-together.

May you all be blessed on this wonderful feast of Epiphany.

Proclamation of the Date of Easter on Epiphany

The Proclamation of the Date of Easter on Epiphany dates from a time when calendars were not readily available. It was necessary to make known the date of Easter in advance, since many celebrations of the liturgical year depend on its date. The number of Sundays that follow Epiphany, the date of Ash Wednesday, and the number of Sundays that follow Pentecost are all computed in relation to Easter.

Although calendars now give the date of Easter and the other feasts in the liturgical year for many years in advance, the Epiphany proclamation still has value. It is a reminder of the centrality of the resurrection of the Lord in the liturgical year and the importance of the great mysteries of faith which are celebrated each year. (From Sacramentary Supplement.)

On the solemnity of the Epiphany, the proclamation takes place after the Gospel, the homily or after the Prayer after Communion. The proclamation should be sung from the ambo by a deacon, cantor or a reader. In their absence, the celebrant or concelebrant or another priest  may sing or proclaim it according to the following text:

Dear brothers and sisters, the glory of the Lord has shone upon us,/ and shall ever be manifest among us, until the day of his return./ Through the rhythms of times and seasons/let us celebrate the mysteries of salvation.

Let us recall the year’s culmination, the Easter Triduum of the Lord:/ his last supper, his crucifixion, his burial, and his rising celebrated/ between the evening of the 9th of April and the evening of the 12th of April.

Each Easter – as on each Sunday – / the Holy Church makes present the great and saving deed/ by which Christ has for ever conquered sin and death.

From Easter are reckoned all the days we keep holy./ Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, will occur on the 25th of February./ The Ascension of the Lord will be commemorated on the 21st [or 24th] of May./ Pentecost, the joyful conclusion of the season of Easter, will be celebrated on the 31st of May./ And this year the First Sunday of Advent will be on the 29th of November.

Likewise the pilgrim Church proclaims the Passover of Christ/ in the feasts of the holy Mother of God, in the feasts of the Apostles and Saints,/ and in the commemoration of the faithful departed.

To Jesus Christ, who was, who is, and who is to come, Lord of time and history,/ be endless praise, for ever and ever./ Amen.

Epiphany Reading

I LOVE the feast of the Epiphany. This year I won’t be able to recreate our family’s traditions, but I am all prepared for our reading for this feast. I’m going to be a bit busy and on blog holiday for the next few weeks, so I’m sharing our books now. I found a few new titles for this year’s feast day I can’t wait to share with my son.

The Story of the Three Wise Kings by Tomie dePaola, unfortunately out-of-print, but the best retelling of the Epiphany story. This follows the Gospel story very closely. The illustrations, especially of the Star of Bethlehem are unique and memorable.

The Legend of Old Befana by Tomie dePaola. A retelling of the Italian legend. Elizabeth’s Tomie dePaola unit includes these titles. A definite favorite in this house.

Baboushka and the Three Kings by Ruth Robbins, illustrated by Nicholas Sidjakov, winner of the Caldecott Medal in 1960. This is a Russian legend. The illustrations are a bit “different” but captivate my son. Next year I hope to find a copy of Baboushka by Arthur Scholey to compare the story.

The Last Straw by by Fredrick H. Thury. The story of the old, proud, complaining camel Hoshmakaka who carries the gifts for the baby Jesus. This title is included in Cay Gibson’s Catholic Mosaic.

The Stone: A Persian Legend of the Magi by Dianne Hofmeyr. The three wise men travel with their gifts to Bethlehem and the Christ Child gives them a gift of a stone. They find out more about their seeminly worthless gift.

The Fourth Wise Man by Mary Joslin, illustrated by Richard Johnson. This is a delightful retelling of a French legend of a fourth wise man, who struggles to find the perfect gift for the Christ Child and his solution is both humorous and beautiful.

We Three Kings illustrated by Gennady Spirin. We just love Spirin’s illustrations, and this is lavishly illustrating the text to the hymn “We Three Kings”.

After the Ball Is Over…

I’m exhausted. It’s been a busy, long Christmas season, finishing with a big weekend of hubby’s birthday and hosting the family Epiphany on Sunday. And for some reason that song keeps going in my head, “After the Ball is Over”. I think it’s just because the way I feel — I’m so happy it’s Ordinary Time! Not that it’s anything but “ordinary” but the feasting needs to come to a crawl. I have exercising and dieting and planning and organizing and cleaning and the family gatherings need to slow down!

Our Epiphany celebration went very well. We had 14 adults and 12 children (all under the age of 9). My mother provided the lasagne and salad, my youngest sister brought yummy appetizers, I had bread and spaghetti (the spaghetti made from brown rice pasta, so safe for my son). Dessert was our King Cakes which I described on my food blog, both a success.

Because of late arrivals and a hungry priest, we moved the house blessing ceremony until after dinner. I have to say this was the highlight of the evening for me. We gathered in the kitchen around the enthroned Christ Child in the manger.

The blessing of the house is from the older Roman Ritual, but I love these words. I think I need to do this as copywork for myself, to use it as a model throughout the year:

Let us pray. O Lord, Almighty God, bless this house that it may become a shelter of health, chastity, self-conquest, humility, goodness, mildness, obedience to the Commandments, and thanksgiving to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Upon this house and those who dwell herein may Your blessing remain forever, through Christ our Lord.

Father then blessed the chalk and we incribed the letters over our front door.

I didn’t make crowns or capes, nor had time to decorate boxes lavishly, but I tried to have a treasure chest or special container for each of our little kings who wanted to be in the procession. After the door was marked, Father takes the holy water and blesses throughout the house. All the kings (children) follow him in procession while we sing “We Three Kings.”

One of my nephews is an altar boy, so he had the job of holding the censor, a miniature one from Our Father’s House. The next two in age held candles, a very special handmade gift from MaryM, one frankincense, the other myrrh, with the gold around the ring. Then I had various chests and containers I picked up at the craft store, and a special Polish pottery container my mil gave for Christmas. These were all symbolic, but each child took their task so seriously, and entered their part as a king. They followed Father through every nook and cranny, catching some of the holy water dousing with smiles.

I was so moved (but unfortunately didn’t catch it on film) after blessing all the levels, the children put their gifts at the manger for Baby Jesus. Spontaneously they imitated the Nativity scenes, and knelt down and adored like the Magi. The gesture was so beautiful.

After that, Father sat and played with Mr. Potato Head (a gift to my son for Three Kings Day). The children had so much fun seeing the crazy ways he was putting it together. I got a little snapshot of my son and godson, both baptized by Father (not pictured, one other nephew who was also baptized by Father, but he was playing in the basement).

The tree and all the Christmas decorations come down. I’m just going to share my favorite Christmas decoration. My mother has a statue similiar to this one, and I searched on eBay and found a duplicate. Our Advent wreath gets transformed at Christmas, with white candles and Jesus on gold angel hair. On Epiphany, the candles change to gold.

Our Epiphany Celebration

In the illustration above a threefold manifestation of the divinity of Christ is commemorated: The Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit proclaim it at the baptism in the Jordan, the Magi recognize it by their tribute, and Christ Himself manifests it by showing His divine power over nature at the wedding at Cana. Shining over them all is the miraculous star. (From With Christ Through the Year: The Liturgical Year in Word and Symbols by Rev. Bernard Strasser, O.S.B.)

Epiphany is such a rich feast day, with so many levels of possible meditation. I don’t have time today to enter the deep levels, but I’m just sharing some of our family traditions.

Our family celebrates Epiphany with my parents and all my siblings (5 that are local) and their families coming together for dinner. We usually have lasagna. I usually make a New Orleans King Cake (not stuffed), and this year I may also try this allergy free cake. We always invite a priest to come and do the house blessing. Over the years we’ve had different priests, but now we have a dear friend who loves our tradition and makes it priority to come every year.

We use blessed chalk to mark over the doors 20 + C + M + B + 07, The CMB stands for Christus Mansionem Benedicat–May Christ Bless this House. They are also the initials of the three wise men, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar. Father walks around the house sprinkling with holy water, we all sing “We Three Kings.”

At first when we didn’t have many kids, the dads were the 3 Kings. Now that the children are older, we are trying to get them more involved. Some craft projects are making crowns for all the kings (and since the Bible doesn’t say an exact number, you can have as many as you want). Kingly robes would be fun to have, too.

This year I bought some little treasure boxes in the unfinished wood section of the Craft Store, 3 different kinds. I plan on painting/staining and having one for each gold, frankincense, and myrrh, perhaps lining the boxes with fabric. It all depends on the time frame. I was hoping to buy an censor and have one of the boys incense in front of Father while blessing the house…the incense being frankincense and myrrh scented, of course.

Of course, we read books. Legend of Old Befana by Tomie dePaola, Story of the Three Wise Kings by dePaola. There are other Christmas stories we still read, but these cover the Wise Men. I also found Hurrah for Three King’s Day by Lori Marie Carlson at my library that helped give an idea of Hispanic traditions.

We also enthrone the Christ Child. I have a small doll that we use as baby Jesus. On Christmas we process and place him in the manger, singing Silent Night and with some lighted candles and prayers. On Epiphany he has a small crown, a red cloak with gold trim, lights around the manger, gold fabric around. The Christ Child no longer looks poor, but we get a glimpse of his Kingship. The Advent Wreath has gold candles and festive ribbons.

I have a little House Blessing Ceremony which includes the blessing of chalk and the home. If you write to me at jennifergmillerNOSPAM AT gmail dot com (removing NO SPAM and spaces, replacing with AT symbol and dot, of course), I can send a Word file to you.

I “discovered” some other “Wise Men” Christmas carols in my song books that I can’t wait to teach to my family. So besides “The First Noel” and “We Three Kings” here are some other carols to find. I’ve starred my two favorites that will be easy to sing.

• There Were Three Kings (De Drie Koningen) Traditional Flemish
• He Is Born (W Zlobie Lezy) Polish, Thirteenth Century
• Twelfth Night Song, Traditional Russian
• *Melchior and Balthazar (Melchoir et Balthazar) A French round from Bas-Languedoc
• Brightest and Best (Star of the East) United States Folk Hymn
• *March of the Kings (La Marche Des Rois) 13th Century Provencal Carol
• Song of the Wise Men (De Tierra Lejana Venimos) Traditional Puerto Rican

May your family have a blessed Epiphany and enjoy the end of the Christmas season.