In my family, the holidays do not stop at New Year’s Day. We keep it going all the way through the Feast of Epiphany.
The Feast of Epiphany is celebrated by both the Eastern and Western Churches, but a major difference between them is precisely which events the feast commemorates. For Western Christians, the feast primarily commemorates the coming of the Magi; Eastern churches celebrate the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan. In both traditions, the essence of the feast is the same: the manifestation of Christ to the world (whether as an infant or in the Jordan), and the Mystery of the Incarnation.
Ken with his Lionel Trains
In the oral tradition handed down in my family, the day celebrates an old lady named Epiphania (now depicted as a witch) who “swept away the footprints” or removed evidence of the people present at the birth of Jesus, thereby concealing the event from King Herod.
January 6th is the date usually set aside for the Feast, but in many countries it is celebrated on the Sunday falling between January 2nd and 8th.
The matriarchs – (L to R) Zia’s Connie, Ruthie and Lily (my Mom)
As the branches of our family tree have spread and grown, there are many members of our family who rarely get to see each other. Some years ago, we began trying to plan an annual gathering for the “cousins” from my mother’s side of the family; the “Italian” cousins. Somehow this roughly-annual event has migrated to my cousin, Paula’s, house in Temecula and become an annual gathering held on or about The Feast of Epiphany.
(Note: My WordPress spell check thinks Temecula should be either peculate, molecular, testicular or temerity. There’s gotta be future blog in there, somewhere! Wait a minute! This is the spell check provided by WordPress, yet it sees WordPress as misspelled… sigh… Perhaps this is why old folks like me shouldn’t have computers.)
Jared with Mommy (the always beautiful, Angela)
Most of us still live in Southern California, but we do have some family join us from Arizona and my cousin, Joe, from Rome, Italy. This is the one event each year we can usually get together. Actually, this year Joe referred to this as our annual gathering to “see the new grandchildren.”
The newest member of the family, Jared Higuera, made is debut this year.
This year our gathering was held on January 1st, as this was the date on which most people could attend. And we had family from four generations in attendance.
Cameron is finally taller than Grandma!
The party started off well for my youngest, Cameron, who finally passed my mother in height. She gives each grandchild five dollars when they grown taller than her and Cameron finally made it. We told him it wasn’t so much that he grew taller, it’s that Grandma is shrinking.
This was the 10th year we gathered for Epiphany and traditions have begun to evolve; running the trains for the little ones, cigars on the back patio, Manhattans in honor of our grandfather who always made them for the holidays and the drawing for King or Queen of Epiphany.
Under my reign, a year of prosperity and domestic tranquility.
Originally, the king or queen was determined by finding the small toy or treasure in your piece of cake. This, too, has evolved to a drawing from a hat for that lucky piece of paper. I was once King of Epiphany, but once you are “chosen” you can no longer draw from the hat. I believe we should all recall the economic prosperity under my reign as King, and allow me to again draw from the hat.
Nobody else does.
Despite my annual whining about not being allowed to be King more than once, this year we did have a repeat of the King. Last year, my cousin, Mario, drew the magic slip of paper and was allowed to pass said slip to his first grandson, Luke. We decided on the spot that, even though you have to be the king or queen if you are chosen by the lucky piece of paper, you are allowed to pass it down to a grandchild.
“Papa” Mario with King Luke, 2010
This year, Mario drew for his wife, Diane (who was holding another grandson), and he, again, drew the paper containing the crown. So, Diane decided to hand the crown down to Lukie and for the first time ever, we had a King re-chosen for a second term!
I had been seriously considering an all-out campaign this past year, beginning sometime around Thanksgiving, to lobby for the repeal of the no-one-can-be-King-more-than-once law. At the party, I did my usual grumbling, then decided that next year would be the year I made the all-out effort to be re-selected. Then my cousin, Paula, explained that the party store was out of crowns so she, instead, chose to substitute a sparkly hat (which can be seen on Luke’s head in this picture).
As I began to imagine all of the pictures of me, in that hat, spreading across the internet, I decided that, perhaps, I’d just be quiet and stick to the rules.
Thank you to Paula and Ken for hosting us again this year and to everyone who was at the party! I had (as always) a wonderful time!
Cousin, Donna, offers a Manhattan
Always plenty to eat!
Everyone wants to hold the baby.
Each year we get a pic like this! (L to R) Joe Boenzi, Bill Kasal, Mario Boenzi
Happy New Year!
