Happy Epiphany! The coming of the wise men means that this strange Christmas is finally over. It used to be a twelve day holiday, but nowadays there’s at least a month of build-up.
For a century or two, royal and imperial pageantry was a sort of replacement for public religion
I have nothing against Christmas (except that it brings out the most hideous bourgeois side of us), but I do worry that it has become the only game in town. Our festive culture is too Christmas-heavy. The phrase ‘the festive period’ says it all. We need lots of little festive periods. In Japan they have about one a month. To Japanese ears, ’the festive period’ would sound as strange as ‘the cultural period’ or ‘the meaningful period’. For festivals are essential to authentic culture, and we have allowed almost all of ours to wither away. Hallowe’en is almost the only other contender.
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