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So, most teachers in the diocese were back in school on 3rd January. Next year’s Spring term doesn’t start until the 8th January. Obviously if we break up earlier, we come back to school earlier, which is fair enough. It does feel like a particularly early start to the Spring term though when, as this year, we come back during the ‘twelve days of Christmas’, even before Epiphany.
Many ancient traditions in this country have faded and so we no longer name many of the days within the 12 days of the Christmas season itself. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day…then the other days which blur together until New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day and then it is ‘back to business as usual’. What we seemed to have gained instead is an extended prologue to Christmas Day, powered largely by the retail opportunities offered. In retail, Christmas is already over by December 24th. We’ve even invented new retail-driven days like Black Friday and (a new one on me this year) ‘sunshine Saturday’ which is tomorrow and is something to do with buying holidays.
In years gone by, each of the twelve days of Christmas had a religious significance and the worshiping, feasting and celebrating carried on until the twelfth night and even into the feast of Epiphany on the 6th January. Epiphany has almost (but not quite) lost its profile in this country in circles beyond the church (and hopefully church schools), so it is worth reminding ourselves of its significance within the Christian faith.
“If Christmas is about appreciating again the wonder of the incarnation, the season of Epiphany is about sharing that wonder with the world…Epiphany is therefore a time for every church to issue a big, warm, open invitation to the whole world to ‘come and see’, to explore Christian faith for the first time, to return to faith after years of wandering.”
From a reflection by Steven Croft
On the day of Epiphany itself (today), our focus is on the visitation of the Magi to the Christ Child. The Magi, sometimes called the three Kings, are seen as representatives of the world of ‘gentiles’. The non-Jewish world, in other words. The revelation of God incarnate as Jesus Christ, to the whole world, is what we use the word ‘Epiphany’ to describe. To say Epiphany is a big day in the arc of the church year feels like a bit of an understatement, yet in this country its significance no longer seems to percolate through into daily life of many people. Not so in many other countries of the world. For example…
In Spanish tradition on January 6, three of the Kings: Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthazar, representing Arabia, the Orient, and Africa, arrived on horse, camel and elephant, bringing respectively gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus.
Before going to bed on the eve of January 6, children polish their shoes and leave them ready for the Kings' presents to be put in them. The next morning presents will appear under their shoes, or if the children are deemed to have misbehaved during the year, coal (usually a lump of hard sugar candy dyed black, called Carbón Dulce) Wikipedia
Not that it is a competition, but I feel we are letting the side down a bit in the way our cultural traditions to mark Epiphany have mostly been lost. Our only action these days seems to be something to do with taking down the Christmas tree. The Eve of Epiphany is also the twelfth night of the season of Christmas. We are only vaguely familiar with twelfth night as for many it is the ‘deadline’ for the taking down of Christmas decorations. By the way, if you haven’t had time to do that yet, don’t worry because for many others, Christmas decorations (including the tree) stay up until the last day of the season of Epiphany (Candlemas) on the 2nd February.
In years gone by, this coming Monday (the first one after the feast of Epiphany) also had a significance in England and one of particular importance in our own very rural diocese. It was called ‘Plough Monday’. Plough Monday marks the start of the new agricultural year and the return to work after the Christmas festivities. For many of the agricultural workers who did (and often still do) work from dawn till dusk throughout most of the year, Plough Monday probably wasn’t a particularly popular day, although some of old customs sound entertaining…
…a common feature to a lesser or greater extent was for a plough to be hauled from house to house in a procession, collecting money. They were often accompanied by musicians… Wikipedia
Perhaps we need our own ‘Plough Monday’ education equivalent, where we carry around an interactive whiteboard, collecting money for the things we need in school…School Saturday?
In our church schools and in our daily lives, we have a fresh opportunity to follow a pattern of the year that is not dictated by retail sales, but by a much higher purpose in pursuit of a more spiritual life. Perhaps so we can bring back a tradition or two in the process, but more importantly to help tune ourselves in to the life of Jesus. This is a star we can all follow, from the first day of the year to the last. So on this Feast of Epiphany we offer a warm and open invitation to the everyone in our diocese and beyond, to do just that. You might wish to begin with the prayer below...
Collect for Epiphany
O God,
who by the leading of a star
manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth:
mercifully grant that we,
who know you now by faith,
may at last behold your glory face to face;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen
Happy New Year to you all. Enjoy the feast of Epiphany today and have a restful weekend in the knowledge that in schools this year, we have already got past our own ‘Plough Monday’ and can focus again on the joy of working with children and young people in the year head.
Blessings and best wishes,
Andrew
Canon Andrew Teale
Diocesan Director of Education
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