Christmas / Epiphany

The Twelve Days of Christmas begin with the feast of Christmas on December 25 and end with the feast of the Epiphany on January 6. The Epiphany season varies in length according to the date of Easter.

On Christmas Day the world remembers the incarnation of our Lord, that is, the assuming of human form by God in Jesus Christ. The Book of Common Prayer puts it this way: Christ "by the mighty power of the Holy Spirit was made perfect Man of the flesh of the Virgin Mary his mother;" and calls it "the mystery of the Word made flesh" (John 1:1ff).

Epiphany season focuses the Christian's attention on the manifestations or appearances of Christ as a divine being. The three traditional manifestations, since the early centuries of the Church, have been:

• The Nativity of Christ and the Adoration of the Wise Men;
• The Baptism of Christ when the Spirit descended on him;
• The first miracle at Cana when, at a marriage, Jesus turned water into wine.