This Thursday, we celebrate the Feast day of The Epiphany.
The word Epiphany is from the Greek word, epiphaneia, meaning manifestation or appearance. In classical Greek it was used for the appearance of dawn, of an enemy in war, but especially of a manifestation of a deity to a worshiper (a theophany).
In Western Christianity, the feast commemorates the visit of the Magi to the Christ Child, and thus Jesus Christ’s physical manifestation to the Gentiles. It is sometimes called Three Kings’ Day, and in some traditions celebrated as Little Christmas. The feast of the Epiphany, in some denominations, also initiates the liturgical season of Epiphanytide, or, more familiar to us the season of Mardi Gras, lasting until the day before Ash Wednesday and the begining of Lent.

In England, the celebration of the night before Epiphany, Epiphany Eve, is known as Twelfth Night. The first night of Christmas is December 25-26, and Twelfth Night is January 5-6; the twelve days of Christmas. The Yule log was left burning until this day, and the charcoal left was kept until the next Christmas to kindle next year’s Yule log. Twelfth Night is still as popular a day for plays as when Shakespeare‘s Twelfth Night was first performed in 1601 and is a traditional time for “mumming” and the wassail.  
A traditional dish for Epiphany was Twelfth Cake, a rich, dense, typically English fruitcake. Whoever found the baked-in bean was king for a day!
Sound familiar?  Anything spicy or hot, like ginger snaps and spiced ale, was considered proper Twelfth Night fare, recalling the costly spices brought by the Wise Men. Another English Epiphany treat was the traditional jam tart, made in the shape of a six-pointed star symbolizing the Star of Bethlehem, and thus called Epiphany tart. English cooks sometimes used different colored jams on the tart creating a pastry resembling stained glass.

Popular Epiphany customs include chalking the door, having one’s house blessed, and winter swimming. It is customary for Christians in many localities to remove their Christmas decorations on Epiphany Eve. According to tradition, those who fail to remember to remove their Christmas decorations on Epiphany Eve must leave them untouched until Candlemas (February 2nd).

In Colonial Virginia, Epiphany, or 12th Night, was an occasion of great merriment, and was considered especially appropriate as a date for balls and dancing, as well as for weddings. On 12th Night, Great Cake was prepared, consisting in two giant layers of fruitcake, coated and filled with royal icing. Custom dictated that the youngest child present cut and serve the cake and whoever found the bean or prize in the Twelfth Night cake was crowned “King of the Bean” similar to the European king cake custom.

Tarpon Springs, Florida is known for elaborate religious ceremonies related to the Greek Orthodox Church, the most notable being the Epiphany celebration. The blessings conclude with the ceremonial throwing of a wooden cross into the city’s Spring Bayou, and boys ages 16 to 18 diving in to retrieve it. Whoever recovers the cross is said to be blessed for a full year. Following the blessings, the celebration moves to the Sponge Docks. Tarpon Springs has given itself the nickname Epiphany City. 

In Manitou Springs, Colorado, Epiphany is marked by the Great Fruitcake Toss. Fruitcakes are thrown, participants dress as kings, fools, etc., and competitions are held for the farthest throw, the most creative projectile device, etc. As with customs in other countries, the fruitcake toss is a sort of festive symbolic leave-taking of the Christmas holidays until next year, but with humorous twist, since fruitcake is considered with a certain degree of derision in most of the United States, and is the source of many jokes.

For us, Epiphany is the beginning of the Carnival season!
Time for King Cakes, filled with cinnamon, glazed and coated in colored sugar. The person who finds the doll (or bean) must provide the next king cake. Many traditions are associated with the day in Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast. Carnival krewes begin having their balls on that date, and the first New Orleans parades roll that night.

So, get your King Cake, toss that fruit cake, douse the Yule log and maybe take down the decorations, maybe…

And, don’t forget,
Laissez les bon temps Rouler!