The Epiphany
The feast that opens Christmas outward to everyone else
The Epiphany 2027 — Key Dates
What Is The?
The Epiphany celebrates the manifestation of Christ to the nations, told in Matthew’s account of the Magi who follow a star from the east and find the child at Bethlehem. The word means showing or appearance, and that is the whole theme of the day: the birth was not private. The Magi matter because of who they are not. They are not Jewish, not from Israel, not part of the covenant, and they are the first outsiders in the Gospel to seek Christ deliberately and find him. The feast is the Church saying, on the twelfth day of Christmas, that this was never a local event. Everything that follows in the New Testament about the Gospel going to all nations is already contained in that visit. Scripture does not say there were three, and it does not call them kings. It names three gifts, which is where the number came from: gold for a king, frankincense for God, myrrh for burial. The third gift is the one that unsettles the scene, and it is placed there on purpose. Myrrh at a crib is a funeral spice at a birth. In many countries the Epiphany is kept on 6 January, its traditional date. In others, including the United States, it is transferred to the Sunday falling between 2 and 8 January so that more people can celebrate it. Both are entirely legitimate. In 2027 the traditional date is Wednesday 6 January, and where it is transferred it falls on Sunday 3 January.
Observance & Rules
Where the Epiphany is celebrated on 6 January it is a holy day of obligation in some countries and not in others. Where it is transferred to a Sunday, the ordinary Sunday obligation applies. Because this varies so widely, check your own diocese rather than assuming. The Epiphany does not end the Christmas season. The season continues to the Baptism of the Lord, which falls on the Sunday after Epiphany, 10 January in 2027. The blessing of chalk, and with it the blessing of homes, is customary on this day. It is a sacramental rather than a sacrament, and any member of the household may mark the door. Where a priest is available he blesses the chalk beforehand.
Practical Guide
Bless the house. The custom is to chalk the lintel of the main door with the year and the letters C, M, B, separated by crosses, so that 2027 is written as 20 + C + M + B + 27. The letters carry two meanings at once: the traditional names given to the Magi, and the Latin phrase Christus mansionem benedicat, may Christ bless this house. It takes two minutes, children can do the writing, and the mark stays over the door all year. Move the Magi figures to the crib on the day, if you have kept them travelling across the twelve days. It is the simplest possible way to make the season legible to a child. Keep the decorations up until the Baptism of the Lord the following Sunday. Epiphany is not the end of Christmas, and taking the tree down on the 6th is a week early by the Church’s reckoning. And if the feast has passed before you noticed, bless the house anyway. Nothing about it depends on the date being exact.
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Upcoming · Aug 8
St. Dominic