I’ve put most of my one dram and half ounce oils on sale from now until January 6, so if you’ve had your eye on something, now is the time to get a good deal!
January 6 is the Feast of the Epiphany, also known as Three Kings Day in some traditions, and as Twelfth Night in others (remember the twelve days of Christmas? January 6th is the 12th [depending on how your church does its math]). This feast celebrates the arrival of the Three Wise Men or Kings at the stable where the Christ was born, when they gave him gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
The Feast of the Epiphany is a big deal in the Catholic Creole culture I grew up in on the Alabama/Mississippi border, an hour and a half from the Creole-drenched New Orleans; we never, ever took our Christmas trees down until January 6th. In the moving statuary processions my great-grandmother used to have, the baby Jesus statue would make its way to the manger from across the living room over the course of Advent, stopping daily on some convenient coffee table, side table, or windowsill, and every day moved closer to his manger scene; then, between Christmas Eve and the Epiphany, the Three Kings statues would make *their* way across the living room toward the manger scene, to arrive on January 6th, at which point the statue of infant Jesus would be presented with a small wooden casket embellished with gold and containing frankincense and myrrh resin. Then we burned that incense over the course of the year during prayer and when special blessings were needed.
My great-grandmother has been gone for twenty years now, but her daughters, granddaughters, and great-granddaughters keep that tradition alive, and her great-great-granddaughter is learning it as she grows up. (Her favorite part of the season is still the chocolate in the Advent calendar, though – maybe when she’s older 🙂 )
Some vodouisants consider the Three Kings to be associated with Simbi.
Big Lucky Hoodoo 