Seasons of the Church:

  Epiphany

The Feast of the Epiphany, January 6;
the Season continues through
Shrove Tuesday, February 28 in 2006

"For we have seen his star in the East
 and are come to worship him."
  St Matthew 2:2

The length of the season of Epiphany varies, because although it always begins on January 6, after the 12th day of Christmas, it ends on the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent; and the date of Ash Wednesday depends on when Easter is, a complicated matter that we need not get into here.  Epiphany is nearly three weeks longer in 2006 than it was in 2005.  In 2006 Ash Wednesday will be on March 1, so Epiphany ends on Febrary 28.

In thinking of Epiphany one thinks of the Wise Men, but it is not all about the Wise Men.  In addition to the feast days listed below, two other events associated with Epiphany are the Baptism of Christ (Luke 3:21), commemorated on January 8 in 2006, and the Wedding at Cana, when Christ first turned water into wine (John 2: 1-10).

Although the liturgical color for the day of

Epiphany itself is

White

for the Season it is Green.

Note:  these days listed below are taken from the official Episcopal Calendar, but only the major feasts, and such minor ones as seem especially  interesting for some reason, are given here.  The liturgical color for most major feasts is white, but for St. Matthias (as for Apostles in general) it is red.  For the full lectionary online, from which most of this is derived, click here.

Special Days during Epiphany

The Feast of the Epiphany	Jan 6	The Feast of the Epiphany, the day on which the Wise Men visited the newborn Christ  (Matthew, Ch 2).  For more information on the Feast of the Epiphany, click here.
Hilary of Poitiers, Bishop and Doctor	Jan 13	This Hilary was a man.  He lived in the fourth century and was involved in various controversies about the heresies at that time.  For more on him, click here.
The Confession of St Peter	Jan 18	Commemorates the acknowledgement by Peter that Jesus was the Christ, described in Matthew 16:13-20.  "He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’"For more on the Confession of St. Peter, click here.
Phillips Brooks Bishop and Preacher	Jan 23	Best known today as the author of "O Little town of Bethlehem", he was very famous as a preacher in the 19th century.  For more information on him, click here.
Florence Li Tim-Oi, Priest	Jan 24	Florence was the first woman to be ordained a priest in the Anglican Communion, in Hong Kong in 1944.  For the interesting story of how this came about, click here.
The Conversion of St Paul	Jan 25	Paul's (then called Saul) experience on the road to Damascus is described in Acts 9:1-8.  There are a number of references for Paul's conversion; for a much fuller discussion and account of them, click  here.
Thomas Acquinas, Priest, Friar, and Theologian	Jan 28	One of the best-known theologians of the Western Church, Thomas lived in the 13th century, and was largely responsible for the re-introduction of the works of Aristotle to the West and the integration of them with Christianity.  For a fuller account, click here.
The Presentation of Christ	Feb 2	Also known as Candlemas, this day commemorates the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. "When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord" - this  is described in Luke 2:22-33.  For reasons from Jewish Law, it is 40 days after Christmas.  For a somewhat lighthearted look at the subject of Candlemas, and its connection - apparently there is one - to Groundhog Day, click the link below.  For a more serious and  detailed account, click here.
Martin Luther, Educator, Translator	Feb 13	It is not necessary to explain who Martin Luther was; a very interesting article for those suprised to find him in the Episcopal calendar is here.
Valentine, Martyr	Feb 14	He is not in the Episcopal calendar, which usually means his actual existence is in doubt, so this is unofficial.  There are said to have been, depending on the source, 2 or 3 different Valentines martyred in Rome in the 3rd century and honored on this date.  These old sources are considered unreliable and in any case have nothing to do with lovers.  But the association with lovers in England goes back at least to the time of Chaucer, who mentioned it in his Pariiament of Foules. It is believed to originate in a belief that this was the date when birds paired.  For a more extensive account from the Catholic Encyclipedia, which is also skeptical of him, click here.
St. Mathias, Apostle	Feb 24	Mathias was the Apostle chosen after the Ascension to replace Judas.  Little is known of him but for information on what is, click here.
(The Transfiguration)	Feb 26	The Last Sunday of Epiphany - this is not really the Feast of the Transfiguration, which is and always has been August 6, but  in the Western Church the Transfiguration is often commemmorated on the last Sunday of Epiphany (Feb 26 in 2006), because it forms a transition between Epiphany and Lent.  The Lectionary readings reflect this.   For a full explanation of this, click here.