On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. – Matthew 2:11-12
Many families that celebrate the birth of Christ likely have some Christmas traditions that have been passed down through the generations. Newly married couples often choose which ones they want to keep and often create new ones. For my spouse and I, we started a tradition during the pandemic Christmas of 2020 to pick a unique recipe and have fun making it together.
One tradition of my family was leaving up the Christmas decorations until the celebration of Twelfth Night or more commonly known as the twelfth day of Christmas. This ancient Christian festival held the superstition that it is unlucky to leave Christmas decorations hanging after the twelfth night. King Cake is also a Twelfth Night tradition as the twelfth night is Epiphany Eve.
Although we didn’t have elaborate Twelfth Night celebrations in my house, one of the ways we celebrated every year was bringing the wise men to the manger. When we set up our manger scenes, we intentionally put the wise men and their camels in some other place in the house. As we moved through the twelve days of Christmas, we’d move the three figurines a little closer to the rest of the scene until, on the twelfth day, they would arrive at the manger.
I loved that part of the celebration of Twelfth Night, as I was usually the one who moved the figurines closer and closer. It reminded me of the journey and the adoration that followed. It was an aide-mémoire of the importance of bringing gifts and bringing myself to Jesus well beyond Christmas Day and every day. It was important to recall that pilgrimage to a place of adoration is essential.
Today is that Twelfth Day and the season of contemplation of Epiphany is soon upon us. As we put away our Christmas decorations for another year and take down the lights, may we remember to worship and give gifts. May we contemplate our own journeys to adoration and ponder what star we have yet to follow. May the revelation of the Christ Child still continue to amaze us and make us ponder.
Let us pray
O God, who by the leading of a star manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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