1. Epiphany - The Feast of the Epiphany, January 6, is the day the Church celebrates the coming of the Magi or Wise Men.  With a small 'e' the word epiphany means a revealing scene or moment - when reality becomes clear through something simple and striking.  This is what happened to the Wise Men.
   
   
2. Melchior, Caspar, Balthasar - Note that these are not in the Bible (Matthew 2:1 says only that there were wise men from the East; it does not say how many), but the tradition of these names is very old.  Probably unlike most Episcopalians, I did not have to look them up.  I come, on my father's side, from the Pennsylvania Germans, and unlike most groups that I am aware of, they actually used these names, and inflicted them on unsuspecting children.  This was in the 1700s; over time, Melchior tended to become Michael, Caspar became Casper, and Balthasar became Baltzer for a while but I think it is pretty much out of use now.  2005:  I have recently learned that the supposed relics of all three are in the cathedral at Cologne - this no doubt helps to explain why the names were familar to Germans.
   
   
3. When Jesus was a young child, according to Matthew 2:11 (not a baby in a manger as often depicted).
   
   
4. Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh.  Matthew 2:11 lists these gifts but does not give the names of the Wise Men, or who gave what.  In fact he does not even say that there were three men; that is tradition too, probably derived from the fact that three gifts are named..  According to the song, "We Three Kings of Orient Are", the gifts were brought by the three in the order of names given above.  The song, words and music, was written by John H. Hopkins in  1857, but I do not know what earlier authority, if any, he had for the names, which were traditional centuries before that, or for which one brought which gift.
   
   
5. Gold - OK, you know what Gold is, in general.  Included here for completeness.  In case you didn't know in particular: "The most precious metal; characterized by its yellow colour, non-liability to rust, high specific gravity, and great malleability and ductility. Chemical symbol Au"  (OED).   Or, from Websters: "A malleable, ductile, yellow mettallic element that occurs chiefly free or in a few minerals and is used esp. in coins, jewelry, and dentures."    Its atomic number is 79; atomic weight 196.9665.   So now you really know what gold is.
   
   
6. Frankincense - According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Frankincense is "a gum-resin obtained from certain species of trees of the the genus Bosswellia."   These grow in a lot of different places such as India, Arabia, and Eastern Africa, so it does not cast any light on exactly where the person bringing it came from.   Frankincense is the incense still used today in most churches that use incense, though other kinds are also sometimes used.
   
   
7. Myrrh - According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Myrrh is "a gum resin highly esteemed by the ancients as an unguent and perfume, used for incense in temples and also in embalming ... true myrrh is the product of Commiphora myrrha, a small tree of the family Burseracae that grows in Eastern Africa and Arabia."
   
   
8. We don't, actually - As will be clear to anyone who has gotten this far, we don't know what color any of them were, but the fact that one is often depicted as black is not a product of recent political correctness but is another very old tradition.  Considering what we know (above) about where the gifts would have originated, it is not at all implausible that one may have been from Eastern Africa.  Christianity in Ethiopia is very old, and the Ethiopians firmly believe that one of the Wise Men was from there.
   

Note:  This is partly cribbed from something Joshua had for the youth group, partly from my general knowledge, and partly from looking things up. - Jan