January 6

It's January 6, an important day for several reasons.

First of all, traditionally January 6 marks the day when the three magi supposedly arrived in Bethlehem with their gifts and worshiped the baby Jesus, still wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger. Let's hope they weren't the same swaddling clothes he had been swadddled in since Christmas!

Being wise men, the magi brought wise gifts. (O. Henry reminds us of this in his wonderful Christmas short story, The Gift of the Magi.) Long tradition holds that they arrived with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. My impression is that frankincense is a room freshener, and burning it would chase away or at least mask the many odors that houses and stables of two thousand years ago had in abundance. It probably  also was thought to have medicinal value, since breathing bad air was considered a major cause of disease back then. Myrrh is an unguent, useful for reducing the inflammation and pain of cuts and burns. Both were literally worth their weight in gold. So the wise men were offering wealth and  good health to the baby.

January 6 marks the traditional end of the Christmas season, the twelfth day of Christmas. It's the time when Christmas decorations are put away and we face winter in earnest. For European people, it was time to tighten the belts and try to survive until spring. Animals that were slaughtered in fall had been consumed by this time and families subsisted on whatever grains, vegetables, and fruits they had managed to put by. Hours of daylight were short, and people had only candles and lanterns to illuminate the long cold winter nights. It was a time of madness, and a time when the old pagan beliefs in witches and other magical creatures seemed much more credible.

In our house, on this January 6, the Christmas tree is still here, mostly because I haven't found time to take it down, and Kris is still partially immobilized from surgery. But we both know it's time and we will put Christmas behind us in the next day or two.

Finally, January 6 is my brother's birthday, a big one this year as he turns seventy. In Scandinavia there's  a lovely tradition of making a big deal  out of a seventieth birthday, with dinners and speeches, in the expectation that the honoree won't be celebrating many more birthdays. It's kind of a valedictory on a life. My siblings are all in Florida today to mark the occasion, but Kris and I are not. She couldn't fly so soon after her operation, and there is the matter of a strained budget, but mostly we were complying with Larry's wish not to make a fuss over his special day. Instead we'll go to Denver to visit Kris' mother and take down her Christmas decorations.

So happy Epiphany everyone. And keep Christmas with you, all through the year.