This calendar of saints is drawn from several denominations, sects, and traditions. Although it will no longer be updated daily, the index on the right will guide visitors to a saint celebrated on any day they choose. Additional saints will be added as they present themselves to Major.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

January 6 -- Feast of the Epihany

To be pure, we can focus on three saints: Caspar, Balthasar, and Melchior. They were the Three Kings of Orient, or at least Magi (wise men, seers) who followed a star in the west guiding them to a new king. When they reached their destination, the infant was shining as a manifestation of his divinity -- the Greek word epiphanos refers to "shining around" in the sense of revealed.

This is the Twelfth Night of Christmas (drummers drumming) and will be followed by St. Distaff's Day on January 7. That is, of course, not a saint at all, but rather an unkind joke about the end of the Christmas holiday and time for women to get back to their spinning and other domestic chores. I'm sure a twelve-day feast had created no work for them, so St. Distaff's Day must surely have seemed like a rude awakening.

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