Epiphany Fun!

I'm getting waaay ahead of myself here, but since I posted a picture of our curious door blessing in my living room post, I thought I'd expand a bit more on it. I was preparing an answer in the comments section when I thought, why not post a true post? If you like some of these ideas, you could file them away for January! :)

I first read about the Epiphany blessing in The Catholic Home by Meredith Gould. I really enjoy this book for all its nice suggestions for celebrating the liturgical year in our homes, though there are a few errors here and there. I do enjoy her monthly column on Catholic traditions in the beautiful magazine Faith & Family. I gleaned more Epiphany information and ideas here and here.

Here is an excerpt from Ms. Gould's Epiphany chapter:

"Inscribing the initials C (Caspar), M (Melchior), and B (Balthazar) above your front door with blessed chalk is a venerable custom in eastern European countries. (Other cultures inscribe these initials on the back of the door.) The initials are enclosed by the year and connected by crosses (e.g., 20+C+M+B+04). In addition to representing the names of the Magi, these letters also represent the Latin phrase Christus mansionem bededicat (Christ bless this house)."

Other things we did that day to learn about and celebrate the Epiphany ...

~ We read the Sunday Gospel in our Bible (Matthew 2:1-12). Children's versions of the Epiphany story are found in The Children's Illustrated Bible (pages 196-197) and Tomie de Paola's Book of Bible Stories (pages 88-89)

~ We read The Legend of Old Befana, another favorite Tomie book.

~ We found Bethlehem on the map as well as Babylonia, Persia and Arabia (where the wise men are thought to have traveled from). We used the map of Bible lands from Uncle Josh's Outline Map Book to trace their possible routes.

~ Earlier in the week we made window stars for our eastern windows.

~ We (meaning the boys) dressed up as wise men in capes and crowns and acted out the story.

~ We sang We Three Kings.

~ We burned stick incense (frankincense and myrrh). Boy did the house smell nice!

~ We talked about what gifts we would have brought to the baby Jesus.

~ We baked crown-shaped cookies - frosted and sprinkled in red, blue and green.

~ We moved our three wise men figures into the manger (they had traveled far, from way across the room, a bit closer every day since Christmas).

There was one more little king (dressed in blue) but he was down for a nap at picture time! :)

Comments

[Jennifer]

Dawn, are you still considering a Christmas Blog? (hint, hint) You know, there might not be too much going on in Marigolds for Mama at that time...A Catholic Christmas Blog would be fantastic!

[Jennifer]

By the way, the picture at Hearthsong finally loaded and those Window Stars are gorgeous! Were they very difficult to make?

[Jennifer]

There are a lot of Jennifers out there! OK, this is As Cozy as Spring Jennifer - I love the Meredith Gould book. It's my constant companion. The Tomie DePaola books are also wonderful - my Dad's family happens to be from Calabria, so it's so nice to tie that together for my children.
I love the incense idea - we will have to try that this year. I'm probably just going to write all of your ideas on my calendar. Thank you!

[Jennie C.]

I haven't had time to read your blog yet, but I just wanted to say: WE DO THAT DOOR BLESSING, TOO! We picked up this custome when we lived in Germany, and very few people state-side do it. We get lots of comments, too!

[Christine]

Our Polish pastor always provides blessed chalk in a basket at the back of the church for this purpose. He has the blessing inscribed above the doors. Thank you for taking the time to explain it in detail. Now, I know where to send my friends when they ask about it.

[Jenn Miller]

Hmmm, my first comment didn't make it. I love this post, Dawn! Epiphany is HUGE at our house, and my family has put the blessing over the door for years. I tried doing a trackback to my Wenceslas post...to no avail.