epiphany

Growing up, this wasn't a day we recognized.  In Germany though, where my mother is from, this was the end of the Christmas season.  Their candle-lit tree did not arrive until Christmas Eve and it was taken down on the 6th of January.   It is on this day that some recognize and celebrate the coming of the magi or the three kings who followed a star to visit and bring gifts to the Christ Child in Bethlehem.  Other traditions recognize this day as the baptism of Jesus by John in the River Jordan and the moment that the Christ Spirit entered an earthly body and so changed the nature of our world forever.  The days since Christmas Eve are the twelve Holy Nights and epiphany marks their end as an acknowledgment of the manifestation of the Divine on earth.  Really though, as birth signifies, it is just a beginning.

These are the thoughts, stories and spirit upon which we reflect as today, in Oma's tradition, we take down the adornments of the season and clean, pare down and simplify our outer and inner world to prepare ourselves for the coming year.