Today, 6th January, is Epiphany, the last of the official Christmas festivals. But it means different things to different people.

Today, most people are worried whether they should take down their Christmas decorations by the night of the 5th or the 6th? When is 12th night? No conclusive proof one way or the other.

But getting so wrapped up in the 12 days of Christmas and 12th night means that Epiphany is often overlooked.

Epiphany means “revelation” or “manifestation” and is celebrated for different reasons in tbe various parts of the worldwide church.

In western churches, we tend to think of the visit of the wise men to the baby Jesus, bringing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

However, in many orthodox churches, Epiphany is celebrated as Christ’s birth, on 7th January, and is more important than our traditional 25th December Christmas day. In fact, up until thr 19th century, Epiphany was of more importance than Christmas day.

Whichever day you take your decorations in a way is irrelevant, because getting lost among the tinsel and baubles is the revelation, or Epiphany, of the Son of God in human form among us, which changed the wotld.

David Bedford