The following is an article from The Record’s archives, published Jan. 13, 1961. It recounts a growing interest in the feast of the Epiphany during that time and offers a look at one local parish’s observance.
For most of us, the feast of the Epiphany is just another day in January. It comes and it goes without too much attention.
To the Eastern world, however, it is an integral part of the traditional 12 days of festivity between the feast of the Nativity (Christmas) and the feast of the Epiphany (12th night). Liturgically, Epiphany commemorates the visit of the Magi.
Celebration of Epiphany has been growing among local families and parishes in the last few years, as it has been in the rest of the country. Often the observance is an informal one, such as the Epiphany Party held at St. Thomas More Church last Sunday afternoon after the blessing of children ceremony.
After a buffet-style supper supplied by the families, a three-layer Epiphany cake decorated with the names of the Magi was cut for dessert. Hidden inside were three beans. The children who found the beans in their cake were crowned as the three Kings, Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar.
Then there was a ceremony in which Father Bertrand Rapp blessed the gold, frankincense and myrrh. He also blessed some chalk for the Epiphany blessing of the school. Each family received pieces of the blessed chalk to perform the blessing at home. It consists in saying a short prayer and inscribing the names of the three Magi over the doorway as a manifestation of Christian faith and a protection against the powers of evil.
The families were then led back to the church by the three young Kings looking for the Child Jesus. There, the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh were presented at the nativity crib. The smallest child in each family also brought an envelop with a small offering to the crib.
All in all the whole celebration (including the cleaning up) took less than three hours and the parents and children seemed to enjoy every minute of it.
