Talk:Epiphany (holiday)

Date of Commemoration - April 2011 - Hi, I've just made an edit to this section. If someone feels the need to move this comment to another area of the talk page, please feel free. I changed a clause about the date of old-calendar Epiphany changing from January 19 to January 20th in 2100 to "today". Firstly, it doesn't seem that any more information is necesary. Secondy, the clause was very cumbersome, and confusing. This can be a confusing point - why Epiphany seemse to be celebrated on more than one day. However, the old-calendar/new calendar issue is covered more than once in the article. It is not the case that every time Epiphany being celebrated on Jan 19 is mentioned, the issue has to be explained again. It just adds to the confusion. Thirdly this section is under the heading of Western Churches. It's great for the information regarding the date of commemoration to be all together. It is also a very interesting piece of information, that due to the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars Epiphany in some Eastern Christian traditions has been celebrated on Jan 19 for 110 years, but will only continue to be for the next 90 years. I hope this can be included somewhere in the article. If someone would like to included it, would a possible solution of adding a "Date of Commemoration" section under the "Easter Churches" heading work? The nuances of different Eastern Calendars, including Gregorian, Julian, and revised Julian, are ultimately best organized under articles on these subjects, or briefly under the Eastern Churces section here on the Epiphany Article. If such a section is written up, another important piece of information to include might be that Eastern Catholic Rites celebrate Epiphany on Jan 6, but that the day commemorates the Baptism of Christ rather than the Adoration of the Magi. Finally, it seems that at one point, the "today" concluded the paragraph as it does now. It was removed - perhaps the editor thought it superfluous. Then later, the clause about the shifts in the Julian calender which are to take place in 2100 was inserted to clarify. May I make a suggestion to future copy editors? I would reccomend not removing the "today" without first discussing it here on the talk page. It is a bigger edit than he or she might consider it to be. Any edit here must clearly and briefly convey all that the "today" does in standing in for a longer clause on the Julian calendar. Enjoy! — Preceding unsigned comment added by MattDiClemente (talk • contribs) 05:42, 10 April 2011 (UTC)

Why is there an illustration of Theophany and not Epiphany on this page?Guille 03:02, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Because no one has put one there yet. That's your job.  Sean Lotz  talk  03:26, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Never mind. It's your lucky day. I did it for you.  Sean Lotz  talk  03:43, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Ya gotta give a guy a chance I was getting there.

Well, as art, I like the one you changed it to better.  Sean Lotz  talk  07:59, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

An event in this article is a January 6 selected anniversary

From the 25th of December to the 6th of January is THIRTEEN days, not twelve. The twelfth day of Christmas is the 5th of January.

Not sure, but I think that counting may have had December 25 as the 0th day of Christmas, the 26th as the first day, etc. Liturgical day counting can be strange some times; East and West have different ways of coming up with 40 days of Lent, for instance, by counting weekends slightly differently or some such. Wesley 17:44, 5 Jan 2004 (UTC)

"Epiphany was traditionally a Christian feast..." may need to be NPOV-ified, since it is still practiced in Orthodox Christianity (hence not past-tense).

Epiphany still is a Christian feast. The twelfth day of Christmas is 5 January, and its evening is Twelfth Night: Epiphany is not in Christmastide, but the start of a new season. The Revised Common Lectionary says that if Epiphany is celebrated on a Sunday it should be celebrated on the Second Sunday after Christmas: that is the Sunday before Epiphany, not after it. What is the evidence to support the observance of Epiphany Sunday after Epiphany? Gareth Hughes 14:00, 20 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Does anyone fancy working on WikiProject Christian liturgical year? Gareth Hughes 10:55, 21 Feb 2005 (UTC)

The article currently states:

"Thus in the Latin church, the feast of Christmas was established before that of Epiphany. Over time the western churches decided to celebrate Christmas on December 25. The eastern churches continued to treat January 6 as the day marking Jesus's birth. This has given rise in the west to the notion of a twelve-day festival, starting on December 25, and ending on January 6, called the twelve days of Christmas, although some Christian cultures — especially those of Latin America — extend it to forty days, ending on Candlemas, or February 2 (known as Candelaria in Spanish)."

The difference between January 6 and December 25 is not a liturgical distinction, but one of calendar. When the Julian calendar was replaced by the Gregorian calendar by the civil authorities in predominantly Orthodox countries, in many places the Orthodox church kept the Julian in effect for liturgical observances, creating a situation where two calendars are in effect. Right now, there are 13 days of difference between the two, placing Old Calendar Christmas right on top of New Calendar Epiphany.

The feast of Epiphany, however, has always been separate from the feast of Christmas, not only in substance but in date. The Annunciation has been celebrated on March 25 for over a millenium, which places Christmas squarely on December 25 regardless of what calendar is used to observe the feast.

The article is correct. The division between East and West over the Feats of the Nativity occurred in the third century. It seems that various churches began to suplant pagan winter solstice festivities with a celebration of the incarnation of Jesus. In Egypt and Syria, 6 January in the Julian calendar was considered to be the traditional date of the solstice. In Rome, 25 December was the traditional date of the solstice. Finally, there was compromise and both dates were accepted. However, the shift of the Roman Empire eastwards led to 25 December becoming the main feast of the two. As you have already pointed out, the issue is complicated by the Gregorian and Revised Julian calendars being now 13 days out of step with the Julian calendar. This gives us:

• 25 December — Gregorian and Revised Julian Christmas.
• 6 January — Gregorian and Revised Julian Epiphany.
• 7 January — Julian Christmas.
• 19 January — Julian Epiphany and Armenian Christmas.

Note the Armenian Apostolic Church has always considered Christmas to be on the 6 January Julian, and has never adopted 25 December. --Gareth Hughes 20:11, 21 May 2005 (UTC)

Rewrite for clarity

Quote: Prior to 1970, the Roman Catholic Church (and prior to 1976, the Anglican churches) reckoned Epiphany as an eight-day feast, beginning on January 6 and continuing through the Octave of Epiphany, or January 13. Many traditionalist Catholics continue to use this calendar, and celebrate the feast of the Holy Family on the Sunday within the octave. More recently, most Roman Catholics in the United States mark Epiphany on the Sunday after the first Saturday in January (before this the Sunday between January 1 and January 6, in years when there was one, was designated the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus), and most Catholics and Anglicans (along with many other Protestants) now formally end the Christmas season on the Sunday immediately following January 6, or, for American Catholics, the ensuing Monday in years when the Epiphany falls on January 7 or January 8. In either case, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord is observed on the latter day, after which the first installment of Ordinary Time begins. (But note that some Churches, such as the Anglican Catholic Church, and some groups of Roman Catholics, still use the pre-1970 calendar; for these bodies, Christmas still has twelve days and ends on January 5, and Epiphany is still celebrated on January 6 with an 8-day octave.)

Are you DELIBERATELY trying to be obtuse?
There must be a better way to organize this information...

- 128.107.253.41 03:06, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

I am adding back in the link to the traditional Catholic customs of Epiphany and Twelfhnight because I think they are complete guides to how the Feast and its eve are celebrated by traditional Catholics and that the information is useful to them and to others who are interested in present and historical Catholic customs. Malachias111 15:46, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

I guess what I don't understand is that there's a link to a generic Christian resource center, a link to "the Epiphany customs in Greece"--but there's nothing about how the Feast and its Eve are celebrated by Catholics (the biggest "denomination" in the Christian world) except for very basic stuff in the Christian resource center page. The Fisheater pages are much more complete and have readings, rites, customs, folklore, recipes, etc. (Actually, this can be said about all of the "Feast" pages--Advent, Lent, Christmas, Easter, Brigid of Ireland, Candlemas, Martha, Mary Magdalen, John the Baptist, etc. The Fisheaters pages are just so complete...)Malachias111 01:07, 23 December 2005 (UTC)

The article on the Epiphany is not very clear and needs some inprovement. You can hardly understand it and what it means please when you edit this please get your information from the correct sources.

Name

Might it not make more sense to have the disambiguation in parentheses be (feast) or (holiday)? Those strike me as much more natural and intuitive. --Gwern (contribs) 22:24, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Hi. The article states that tradition says that the wise men were called Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. True, yes, but that is what you might call church tradition, not Biblical tradition. The Bible says that there were three gifts, but not three wise men. The Bible is silent on how many wise men there were. There may have been three, but there may have been four, or eight or ten. What the original Greek says in Matthew 2 in the New Testament is Magi. Could there have been wise women and men?? I don't know. Just speculating there. L. Thomas W. 11/28/06

Pictures

would you be interested in this pic? the divers are shown, the Cross is kissed by the one who found it, it's winter and there are many people and also there is an island Church in the background. Mykonos, Greece. i like the pic with the Cross in the air too. could we fit that pic somewhere too? a thumbnail maybe? good or bad?
CuteHappyBrute (talk) 05:38, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

The References and Category Lists are missing!

I moticed that the References and Category lists are missing! Can someone please restore them? --Angeldeb82 (talk) 22:32, 4 January 2009 (UTC)

Epiphany in Italy

In Italy, Epipany is NOT trasformed into Befana. Befana is the character who brings the gifts in the Epiphny's Night. I would edit the article, but my English in not good. Ask the autor to edit that section. --Diavolo Rosso (talk) 13:10, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

This is contradicted by the entry in the Treccani (see the dictionary entry at http://www.treccani.it) The entry states that “befana” is derived from Latin epiphania. As its first meaning it gives: “Nome popolare dell’Epifania” and as its second “Personificazione dell’Epifania”. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Campolongo (talk • contribs) 17:27, 25 February 2011 (UTC)

Hungarian translation

"Hungarians, in an apparent reference to baptism, refer to the January 6 celebration as Vízkereszt or "water cross"." The word "kereszt" means cross, but here it is probably shortened from "keresztelés" which means baptism (of course it does come from the word for cross). So the translation is probably more correct as "water baptism" and so the meaning is more apparent. It is curious though that Hungarians use the eastern meaning for this holiday, while otherwise following western christianity, but alas I'm no expert in this field. (But I know Hungary had lot of Bizantine influence early on). Hoemaco (talk) 20:59, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

Discrimination against the Eastern Church

Why has the terminology of Rome been privileged? Theophany is equally valid as a name for the feast. Have made it so. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.96.148.42 (talk) 04:17, 8 January 2011 (UTC)

---They are both valid terms, and in the article, when speaking of the holiday in terms of the eastern church, and countries where it is known as Theophany, Theophany is used, either both in conjuction with Epiphany, or on its own.

The thing is, we do happen to be writing in the English section of wikipedia. We are Enlgish speakers, and we live largely in western countries. The Enlgish word for the holiday, going back deep into the history of the language is Epiphany. In fact, we live in English speaking countries that majoritarily, have been historically shaped not by Rome, but Protestantism, which also uses the term Epiphany. Yes, both are acceptable terms, but Epiphany is the main term, in English wikipedia that is. Now, this would be an entirely different discussion in the Russian Wikipedia space.

The other thing I'd like to mention is that both Epiphany and Theophany are used in the eastern churches. Meanwhile outside of them, only Epiphany is used. Epiphany, being itself just about as eastern a church term as can be coming from the Greek, is used by all groups, while Theophany is not. It would seem that rather than eastern churches in reality being discriminated against in this article, you are asking for information relating to them to be priveleged above other information. If this is the case, you would do better just to ask for this openly. I would still advise against such a change to the article, because the topic includes a variety of religious observances, and information relating to the holiday that is cultural, historical, or festive (without necesarily relating to religion) in nature, and is intended for the Entire wikipedia readership, not simply those from a particular religious or national background. You could see what the consensus is though.---

Nomination

This article has been nominated to be checked for its neutrality. This lousy T-shirt (talk) 16:37, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

Neutrality

I was surprised that this article was nominated for a check of its neutrality. In fact, it is almost as neutral as it can be. It discusses the holiday from the perspective of a number of different religious groups, as well as describes customs associated the holiday that have nothing in particular to do with religion. I would grant, that the section on Westnern Christianity needs to talk about Epiphany within Protestantism, and that some of the information there may need to be moved (because it actually relates to Eastern Christianty) or slightly rephrased to explain that it shows a comparison between Eastern and Western practice.

Other than that though, I don't understand where this is coming from. Why don't you point out your particular objection to the neutrality of this article, LousyTshirt? Maybe it can be worked on then. MattDiClemente (talk) 23:50, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

I don't have any objections to the neutrality of the article. I nominated it so that someone else (not me of course) would review it. Sometimes it's good for someone completely disinterested in the article to review it and I wouldn't consider MYSELF to be the ideal person to review the article for its neutrality because I'm a Christian.  :) This lousy T-shirt (talk) 01:07, 29 January 2011 (UTC)

Time to withdraw the neutrality tag. No real problem with this article ProfGiles (talk) 16:36, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Poland

Are you kidding me with the article on Poland? I've lived in Warsaw all my life and there is no "grand parade". Some very small (hundreds, not even thousands of people) parades and celebrations exist, but the day was a working day till last year when it was declared a state holiday. This was after a great fight by the unions. And for most Poles it's just that - a day when the people working in supermarkets have a rare day off... (as in Poland commerce is not regulated really and stores are only closed for 12 - now with Epiphany 13 - days a year, not on all sundays like in Germany). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.255.44.254 (talk) 20:38, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

There are four references. Are you saying that they are not accurate or that they are out-of-date? --Walter Görlitz (talk) 20:45, 5 January 2012 (UTC)