Recovering The Twelve-day Christmas To Epiphany Celebration

The commercialization of Christmas may be combated by following the suggestions below to recover a full twelve-day celebration that begins at Christmas and ends at Epiphany. The word epiphany means "manifestation" and refers in particular to the manifestation of Jesus as Savior not only of the Jews, but of all the peoples of the world. The merchants of our land are calling the shots on Christmas, at least as to when our parishioners feel it is Christmas time. The commercialization of Christmas has overpowered the church's 1, 500-year-old tradition of Advent. Christmas is popularly understood to end, not begin, on December 25. Consequently, Epiphany has been relegated to utter obscurity, an afterthought that appears as a curious inscription on the pastor's program planning calendar. Epiphany: Its Context The elevation or rehabilitation of Epiphany will be effected less by straining to discover its uniqueness than by recovering its proper context, i. e. , by treating the systemic …