Feast of the Epiphany and Related Matters

Today is the Feast of the Epiphany, (also known as Three Kings Day), a celebration that I've blogged about in bygone years. I don't have anything to add to my musings re that subject, so please click here to read my former entries and have yourself a blessed Epiphany!

Meanwhile, because there were three kings it's a good time to once again DISPEL (I first attempted to do this here on Blogger in 2011) the adage, "bad things happen in three."

Last Thursday's Walk in The Park

SHOP FOR MY MANDARIN DUCK RELATED ITEMS ON FAA

This past Thursday (12-20), I had an early afternoon appointment with my GP re a recent medical complication; but beforehand, in the late morning I took a walk with MLT in Central Park, to show her the now famous (at least in NYC) Mandarin duck who can be seen in the image above, swimming in The Pond near Fifth Avenue.

The Feast of the Epiphany 2018

Today is The Feast of the Epiphany. According to a web-page on Holiday Insights, "Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar were the three kings (also known as the Three Wise Men) who saw the star over Bethlehem when Christ was born. They followed it to find the Christ child on January 6th. They brought the Christ child gold, frankincense and myrrh." —  And they did it without mobile phones, contrary to what the cartoon atop this entry suggests.

SOME GOOD NEWS re The Galette des Rois! (It's available the whole month of January!)

Last night I celebrated Epiphany with two friends and one of them brought his chow chow (Ulysses), seen in the photograph above, wearing a crown in honor of the event. You might recognize him because I've written about this dog in prior posts here on Blogger. He is wearing, a type of crown that I have discussed in entries that I've written (in bygone years), that are related to the celebration of Three Kings Day, as well as the celebration of Epiphany.

This crown variety comes with Galette des Rois; a traditional treat which I have served — for a number of years —in honor of this occasion. It had been my habit to get my Galette des Rois at a bistro-bakery just around the corner from me, which is something I wrote about for hometalk a few years ago.

"Oh, Oh, Star of Wonder...."

I took the photo atop today's entry from the vantage point of a NYC street, after seeing the fireworks display in Central Park this past on New Year's Eve which was last Saturday!

Epiphany, The Feast of The Three Kings

Today, January Sixth is Epiphany, The Feast of The Three Kings. According to a web-page for Christmas Customs and Traditions, "Epiphany is celebrated 12 days after Christmas on 6th January (or January 19th for some Orthodox Church who have Christmas on 7th January) and is the time when Christians remember the Wise Men (also sometimes called the Three Kings) who visited Jesus.

"Epiphany is also when some Churches remember when Jesus was Baptised, when he was about 30, and started to teach people about God. Epiphany means 'revelation' and both the visit of the Wise Men and his Baptism are important times when Jesus was 'revealed' to be very important.

"Some Churches celebrate use Epiphany to celebrate and remember both the visit of the Wise Men and Jesus's Baptism!

"Epiphany is mainly celebrated by Catholics and Orthodox Christians. It's a big and important festival in Spain, where it's also known as 'The festival of the three Magic Kings' - 'Fiesta de Los tres Reyes Mages', and is when Spanish and some other Catholic children receive their presents - as they are delivered by the Three Kings!"

New York City  (where I live) also honors this day with The Three Kings Day Parade which takes place in the East Harlem area. For years I've wanted to see the parade, this year I finally it! The photograph atop this entry features a banner that I saw at the event.

Normally, live animals, including camels participate in this annual festivity. However, it such a cold day that the animals who normally are a part of the parade had to pass it up. But one young woman did a work around and came dressed (in a costume that she made) as a camel, evidenced by the following pictures.

Others came dressed as donkeys and there were a number of folks who dressed up as The Three Kings.

Star of Wonder, New York City Front Windows, and a Window of Opportunity for TLLG

" . . . O Star of wonder, star of night

Star with royal beauty bright

Westward leading, still proceeding

Guide us to thy Perfect Light . . . "

Tomorrow is the Feast of the Three Kings, a day, when the aforementioned lyrics to the hymn, We Three Kings are sung. In New York City, the feast will be honored by a number of celebrations throughout the boroughs including an annual parade in East Harlem. And, as I posted on TLLG's Facebook Page this morning, "This year will mark the 35h anniversary of this parade. The route begins at 106th Street and Madison Avenue, and it ends at 115 Street and Park Avenue. Although I've never been, I am aware that the parade features 12 feet Magi Puppets and live animals, such as camels and sheep.  I am not sharing the info as an endorsement but am doing so because I think it sounds like an interesting event."

As you undoubtedly know, dear reader, The Three Kings are always associated with the star of wonder, and, hence the presence of a star is a big part of holiday decor, or at least it is for the tenant who lives in the brownstone across the street from my building. The image of the star in a window, which is posted above today's blog entry, was taken on my camera by my neighbor's boyfriend on December the 30th 2010. He took the image for me when I told him that I had admired the star from the street.

Remembering Hitchcock's Rear Window

Image Credit  for Rear Window Poster is Here

Nearly fifty-eight years ago in the month of September,  the famous Alfred Hitchcock film, Rear Window, was released. The film's movie poster can be seen at the top of today's blog entry in an image credited with Wiki. Wiki's intro to the film's plot is this, "after breaking his leg during a dangerous assignment, professional photographer L.B. "Jeff' Jefferies (James Stewart) is confined in his Greenwich Village apartment, using a wheelchair as he recuperates. His rear window looks onto a small courtyard and several other apartments. During a summer heat wave, he passes the time by watching his neighbors, who keep their windows open to stay cool . . . " 

Like "Jeff", I have a rear window in New York City, and like "Jeff", my window faces a small courtyard and several other apartments. The apartments that I face are in a high-rise building directly north of where I live, and the rear windows of that building are in close proximity to my rooftop garden, as seen in the image below which shows a partial view of my garden as it looked this past September. I have included it here to give you a perspective.

During the growing season my garden is always lush and thriving, so I rarely think about what my neighbors are doing behind their rear windows. Aside from the fact that what they are doing is not my business, I don't have the time or inclination to think about it, as my work and my gardening are extremely time consuming. Moreover, I have very poor eye-sight and would not be able to see what they are doing even if I wanted to.

Commentary on Ascension Day Observance

My dear reader, for any of you that are procrastinators (like yours truly), and never got around to sending Easter cards to those near (and not so dear) to you that honor the day, fear not; it's not too late for you to send a card to express your thoughts (and hopefully you will choose ones from the selections in the store-front of my web-site for such purposes) because we are still in the Easter Season, and will be until Sunday, June 12th, 2011, when the Feast of Pentecost will close the Easter Season. Meanwhile, today is Ascension Day, one of the feasts of the Easter Season. The observance of Ascension Day dates back to the latter part of the fourth century.

"Guide us to Thy Perfect Light . . . "

The other day I came across this card that I received several years ago depicting The Three Kings (or Wise-Men) speaking on cell phones as they rode their camels to Bethlehem. Since I wrote about The Three King's celebrating Epiphany last week on their feast day (January the Sixth), I do not think it is too late to follow up on that post with today's blog entry, and a very short thought: The Three Kings on cell-phones! I hope they had GPS and an ipad too!

Reflecting on The Twelfth Day of Christmas AND Camels Hitting the Streets of The City That Never Sleeps . . .

Today I put my figurines of the three kings (pictured above) on display and invited a friend to dinner, so we could pay our own homage to ring out the Twelfth day of Christmas, January the Sixth: the Gregorian Calendar's Day for Epiphany (also known as The Feast of The Three Kings as well as The Twelfth Day of Christmas). 

To honor this day, in New York City, The Feast of the Three Kings Parade, a parade which includes camels, will march down Fifth Avenue. This is an annual event that I have yet to attend, in my nearly thirty years of living in New York, although the idea of seeing camels march down Fifth Avenue, in East Harlem, is more intriguing than checking out Easter bonnets at the annual Easter Parade down more trendy parts of Fifth Avenue — another annual parade that I've missed. The fact is: I don't list attending parades as one of my favorite things to do; and, although I live just a half a block from the part of Central Park West which is the route for the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, I have only seen part of the parade twice.

Star of Wonder: Who is "counter-cultural"? When IS Epiphany?

"Star of Wonder, Star of Night

Star with Royal Beauty Bright

Westward leading, still proceeding

Guide us to thy perfect light"

My neighbor lives in a studio apartment on the top floor of a building that is a few doors west of me and her window (where she has a small indoor garden of succulents) faces south. It looks directly into a window where someone has hung a star.

The star, we once speculated, was hung in honor of the Epiphany, which is the twelfth day of Christmas, January the sixth, and often celebrated with the familiar hymn, We Three Kings (its chorus lyrics are posted at the top of this entry). However, today, January the second, this traditional Epiphany hymn will be sung in New York City Catholic churches, where masses will be offered and celebrated for the Feast of the Epiphany, because the bishops have decided to move this feast day up to the second Sunday after Christmas. In spite of this, the Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, insists it is the secular world that is the one rushing Christmas, when for me, it appears the church is rushing it too — by moving up holidays.

" . . . and so this is Christmas, and what have you done?"

During the mid-morning, today, Sunday, December 26th, the day after Christmas is Boxing Day to some, Kwanzaa to others and the second day of Christmas for me. 

As I walked to the assisted living center where I do volunteer work every Sunday morning — and where I spent part of my Christmas yesterday — as discussed in yesterday's post , snow was falling lightly, and an elderly woman pushing a shopping cart was walking up the street shouting, "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! We shoulda had this yesterday! We shoulda had a white Christmas!"


What the woman may not have realized was that we were having a white Christmas. The Christmas season, for some who celebrate it in New York City, ends on January 6th, the twelfth day of Christmas, with the Feast of the Epiphany, and is honored with a parade down Fifth Avenue near East Harlem. This event is held annually, and includes animals such as camels and donkeys, in an effort to commemorate the visit of the three kings to the Christ child. It is also the day some cultures exchange their Christmas gifts.