Three Kings Festival

Epiphany is celebrated with a wide array of customs around the world.  Everyone agrees it is “Twelfth Night” but as Eastern and Western calendars are not aligned, this falls variously from January 6th to January 19th.

Europe

In Poland, “Trzech Kroli” (Three Kings) is celebrated in grand fashion, with huge parades held welcoming the Wisemen, often riding on camels or other animals from the zoo.  The Wisemen pass out sweets, children march, enact nativity and dress in colors signifying Europe, Asia and Africa - the supposed homes of the Wisemen. 

In 2011, by an act of Parliament, Epiphany was restored as an official non-working national public holiday in Poland for the first time since it was cancelled under communism.

Poles though take small boxes containing chalk, a gold ring, incense and a piece of amber in memory of the gifts of the Magi, to church to be blessed. Once at home, they inscribe the year and "+K+M+B" with the blessed chalk above every door in the house, according to tradition, to provide protection against illness and misfortune for those within. The letters, with a cross after each one, are said to stand either for traditionally applied names of the Three Kings - Kaspar, Melchior and Balthazar.

In Germany, young people called "Sternsinger" (star singers) travel from door to door. They are dressed as the three wise men, plus the leader carrying a star, usually of painted wood attached to a broom handle. Often these groups are 4 girls, or two boys and two girls for the benefit of singing their songs in four part harmony, not necessarily three wise men at all. German Lutherans often note in a lighthearted fashion that the Bible never specifies that the "Weisen" were men, or that there were three. The star singers will be offered treats at the homes they visit, but they also solicit donations for worthy causes, such a efforts to end hunger in Africa

The Irish call Epiphany Little Christmas or "Women's Christmas" (Nollaig na mBan).

In Spain, it is traditional for children to leave their shoes, along with a letter with toy requests for the Three Kings, by the family nativity scene or by their beds.  The shoes may be filled with hay for the camels, so that the Kings will be generous with their gifts.

India

In certain parts of southern India, Mar Toma Christians call Epiphany the Three Kings Festival and celebrated in front of the church like a fair. Families come together and cook sweet rice porridge.  This day marks the close of the Advent and Christmas season and people remove the cribs and nativity sets at home.

The New World

Peruvian national lore holds that Pizarro was the first to call Lima "Ciudad de los Reyes" (City of the Kings) because the date of the Epiphany coincided with the day he and his two companions searched for, and found, an ideal location for a new capital.

In colonial Virginia, Epiphany, or Twelfth Night, was an occasion of great merriment, and was considered especially appropriate as a date for balls and dancing, as well as for weddings.  For this festival, Great Cake was prepared, consisting in two giant layers of fruitcake, coated and filled with royal icing. Custom dictated that the youngest child present cut and serve the cake and whoever found the bean or prize in the Twelfth Night cake was crowned "King of the Bean" similar to the European king cake custom.

The good, they die young

Whether you exchange gifts on Christmas or Epiphany, you are following in their footsteps.  The Magi came to adore a baby, perhaps a child by the time they reached Bethlehem.  But the gifts they brought were not toys.  In fact, the combination of myrrh and frankincense was a bit ominous.  One was for burial – a commodity everyone will need sooner or later.  But frankincense was used in worship, for sacrifice…

Jesus was not only a new leader, his birth brought a new way of leading.  He would not only worship in synagogue and temple – he himself would become a sacrifice.

Epiphany 2011 Mpumalanga

When the wife of Johan Holme Ndlovu - ANC chief whip in the Ehlanzeni district municipality in Mpumalanga - became worried because her husband had not returned home by the early hours of yesterday morning, she called him on his cellphone.  To Gift Ndlovu's surprise a stranger answered her husband's phone. She dropped the call, thinking she had dialed the wrong number.

The woman suddenly received a call from the stranger, who said: "We have shot your husband. If you go to the bush at Lephong village, you will find him still alive."  She alerted the family and police, who started searching for Ndlovu from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., when they found his body with bullet wounds to the upper body.  Police are investigating a murder case but no arrests have been made.

Ndlovu's murder showed a striking similarity to the killing of Mbombela municipality speaker Jimmy Mohlala who was shot dead at his home in KaNyamazane near Nelspruit on January 4 last year.  Also at Epiphany.
Sammy Mpatlanyane, head of communications in the provincial department of arts, culture and sports, was also shot dead in his house in Nelspruit last year.

While five people, including two policemen, were arrested in connection with Mohlala's murder, no arrests have been effected in the Mpatlanyane case.

They both needed myrrh.  Can we give them the gift of frankincense too?

A Litany

In Mpumalanga province, the following people have either been killed, received death threats, disappeared or survived assassination attempts on their lives. The hit men - most of them alleged to be Zimbabwean and Mozambican nationals - are still at large.

• Saul Shabangu (killed in 1998)
• Hebron Maisela (killed in 1998)
• Sydney de Lange (killed in 1998)
• Rose Alleta Mnisi (killed in 1999)
• Caswell Maluleke, (survived assassination in 2000)
• Joshua Ntshuhle (disappeared in 2005)
• Sizile Ndlovu, (survived assassination in 2006)
• Thandi Mtsweni (killed in 2008)
• Jimmy Mohlala (killed in 2009)
• Isaac Mohale Matsoabane (killed in 2009)
• Themba Monareng (died 2009)
• Mike Sifunda (died 2009)
• Simon Lubisi (died 2009)
• Lucas Shongwe (died 2009)
• Samuel Mpatlanyane (killed in 2010)
• Johan Holme Ndlovu (killed in 2011)

Like these local leaders, Jesus died before his time.  But he did not die in vain.  His death accomplished something significant, even monumental.

Let us take captivity captive!

Let us declare that leadership is just too important to our children and youth to deplete the ranks of those who lead them.

Let the stench of these murders be replaced by a fragrance of myrrh combined with frankincense.  May they rest in peace, and may the gifts they brought us never be forgotten.

So that African children can live in a safe and secure communities, protected from violent men like King Herod of old.

God

Bless Africa

Guard her children

Guide her leaders

And grant her peace

For Jesus Christ’s sake

Amen