Epiphany is the Church feast that celebrates the arrival of the three Magi who came to worship the child Jesus shortly after his birth. It is traditionally celebrated on January 6th. The Church celebrates it on the Sunday between 2 and 8 January.
Around the world it’s also known as Little Christmas, and in many places includes the exchanging of gifts.
In Italy children wait for Befana, usually portrayed as an old witch-like woman, to deliver their Christmas gifts in the night of 5th January, while Santa and St Nicholas do the same in other traditions, and again on different dates.
The Church of England has special blessings for this season:
May God the Father,
who led the wise men by the shining of a star to find the Christ, the Light from light,
lead you also in your pilgrimage to find the Lord.
Amen.
Christ our Lord,
to whom kings bowed down in worship and offered gifts,
reveal to you his glory
and pour upon you the riches of his grace;
and the blessing …
Amen
But there’s another blessing that is unique to Epiphany: that of the tradition of blessing houses.
Perhaps you know about it.
Or you may have noticed the appearance of puzzling number and letter codes, chalked on door frames around the town: 20+C+M+B+25!
The letters stand for the tradtional names of the three Magi: Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, book-ended by the year’s numbers.
They also represent the Latin blessing “Christus mansionem benedicat,” which means “May Christ bless this house.” (though I cannot help thinking that the order of the ‘supposed’ names conveniently achieves that particular outcome!).
Be that as it may, there is a rather lovely ceremony connected with this tradition that could have accompanied this Epiphany Blessing as it was delivered in Wivenhoe this year.
Because yes, our local Rector and associate Parish Priest might have been spotted, going round various addresses between 2-5pm on Sunday 5th January, to give the Epiphany Blessing by prior request!
If your household received one, please let us know in the comments of your experience!
stmaryswivenhoe 