Epiphany traditions
As someone who is guided by and marks the passing of the seasons in as many ways as possible, and having been brought up as a Catholic, 6th January is a day I alway feel I should be marking in particular with traditions…but historically I haven’t!
Because I like to begin the new year with a fresh home - Christmas decorations down and deep clean done by 31st December (the latter of which has been done in bite-sized chunks due to a horrid lurgy!) - Christmas feels like it’s concluded.
But I’m always looking for ways to mark special dates in the calendar, and Epiphany traditions have been creeping in over the years.
Our take on Epiphany traditions
A secret in a cake
In my search for new traditions to bring to our home the last couple of years I have made a galette de rois/king’s cake to mark 6th Jan - mostly because we like the surprise of finding the hidden treasure inside! And it’s another excuse to eat cake!
However, as I’m poorly, this year I’ve made a doodle of it from under a blanket instead (and in front of Romancing the Stone!…(isn’t that movie just the ultimate comfort movie?!)
We don’t have a traditional galette do rois figurine, so we use a dried bean and draw a face and crown on it and wrap it in tin foil so it’s found easily after baking, meaning whoever finds it has luck for the year ✨
Plus, whoever finds it has to be treated like a king (queen in our house!) for the day.
In case you’re interested, this is the recipe we use: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/galette-des-rois
Blessing the house
I really like the idea of blessing the space in which we spend most of our time; our sanctuary.
Chalking the door - our take on an old Epiphany tradition
The Catholic tradition of ‘chalking the front door’ for good luck throughout the year weirdly feels quite pagan to me - taking the numbers of the year and the initials of the three wise men (C M B (Caspar, Melchior & Balthazar)) or also apparently an abbreviation of a Latin phrase of blessing, traditionally with a ‘+’ placed in between each letter to represent Jesus’ cross.
We do our own versions of this, where we chalk the door with just the initials of everyone who lives in, or regularly visits, the house (including the pets!).
But it’s just for fun…and if something magical/mystical happens: amazing. (I do quite like the fact that our initials almost spell the word ‘circus’ - rather apt!)
Manifestation
Apparently the word ‘epiphany’ comes from a Greek word meaning manifestation.
So, whilst nowadays I’m neither fully Catholic nor fully pagan…something in between, or a bit of both? (Feels better/safer than ‘nothing’…just in case!), a little secret hidden within a yummy cake and taking five minutes to inscribe the initials of my favourite humans and animals above the door of my favourite place to be for the year ahead is probably the definition - and manifestation! - of manifestation.
Hopefully it works and we all have a peaceful year. I hope you do too!