Today is the 6th of January and it struck me as yet another long lost tradition - the celebration of Epiphany.

Now, after a Christmas season bedevilled with flu and the hibernating climate of northern Europe, I am finally back in the 30 degree warmth of Thailand. This is a country that has never even heard of Epiphany but as my arrival has prompted a late new year get-together my thoughts somehow turned to my fond childhood memories of this fading festival.

Epiphany is the Twelfth Day of Christmas and seems to have accumulated a number of different, if even contradictory, meanings. For many following the western churches this is the technical end of the Christmas season, usually marked by the arrival of the three magi. This is where confusion starts as most nativity scenes include the magi as being miraculously there at the birth - more like three wise midwives. It is also the time to bring down those Christmas trees, and to hopefully have finished that over-sized turkey.

However, just to add to the christian-pagan syncretism that plagues many religious festivals, the way we used to celebrate it in Italy involved a friendly witch! To add a certain gender symmetry to winter, just as Father Christmas brings presents at Christmas, a witch would bring children presents at Epiphany - powered by her broomstick sans reindeer. This was great as I used to get two rounds of presents! Christmas followed by New Year followed by Epiphany was a long round of eating and playing.

I believe that in the name of progress, and to cut down on what was once a long list of public holidays, the Italians have officially stopped the celebration of Epiphany.

Indeed, does anybody still celebrate Epiphany?

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