Three Kings’ Day 2019 Epiphany Theophany Little Christmas Date
Epiphany is a Christian feast day celebrated annually on January 6 that is also known as Three Kings Day and Theophany. Epiphany means “manifestation” as it commemorates the first time Jesus’ divinity manifested itself through the visit of the Three Kings (also known as the Magi or Wise Men) and through his baptism in the river Jordan. It is a significant event in the church calendar as the celebration of the Baptism of Jesus.
Epiphany is the starting day of Epiphanytide (the Epiphany season), the liturgical period that follows Christmastide (the Christmas season) and continues until Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent (the Lenten season). It is preceded by Epiphany Eve on January 5.
Three Kings’ Day 2019 Epiphany Theophany Little Christmas Date Sunday, 6 January Wishes Wall papers Activities.Santa Claus may have gone back to the North Pole to rest, but it doesn’t mean the gift-giving (and receiving) is over — at least not for the thousands of children in Latin America and Spain anxiously awaiting“El Día de los Reyes” Celebration on Jan. 6th.
Three Kings’ Day 2019 Epiphany Theophany Little Christmas Holiday
For many Christians, the holiday season doesn’t officially end until the 12th day of Christmas known as the “Feast of the Epiphany” or “Three Kings’ Day”. To celebrate, all that we really have to do is prepare a large meal for our family and friends, invite them over, and enjoy the day that is in fact Three Kings Day.
The gifts the Three Kings gave Jesus were meant to be symbolic. Gold was associated with the belief that Jesus was the King of Jews. Frankincense, which is often burned in churches today, was meant to represent the divine nature of Jesus and the fact that people would come to worship him as the Son of God. And myrrh, a perfume sometimes used to embalm dead bodies, represented the fact that Jesus would eventually suffer and die. Each gift represented a distinct part of the baby’s destiny.
Today, children celebrate Three Kings’ Day by receiving gifts of their own. Children in Spain and Latin America are instructed to leave their shoes by the door of their house so, like Santa Claus, the three kings can come and leave them presents.
The holiday marks the biblical adoration of baby Jesus by the three Kings, also referred to as three Wise Men or Magi. According to the Gospel of Matthew, the men found the divine child by following a star across the desert for twelve days to Bethlehem. Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar — representing Europe, Arabia, and Africa respectively — travelled by horse, camel, and elephant in order to present baby Jesus with three symbolic gifts.
The gold offered by one of the wise men is a symbolic acknowledgment of Jesus’ royal standing as “King of the Jews,” while the frankincense manifests the divine nature of the baby’s existence, since he is not an earthly king but the Son of God. And finally the myrrh, often used to embalm corpses, was gifted to the newborn as a symbol of Jesus’ mortality — foreshadowing his death as a means to cleanse humanity of its sins.
Reyes festivities come in different shapes and sizes across the globe from community parades to three-day celebrations at Disneyland. In Mexico, thousands gather every year to taste a mile-long “Rosca de Reyes” (Kings’ Bread) while others simply make the holiday staple at home honoring the tradition to hide a baby jesus figurine within the bread — the person whose slice has the figurine must prepare tamales for everyone on the Day of the Candles on Feb. 2!
Originally posted 2018-04-05 10:30:19.
