01/06/2024
January 6 is the Epiphany (the twelfth night, that is, the night of January 5/6) and should be celebrated by going to church and then coming home, cleaning house, taking down the Christmas decorations, putting away the crèche for another year, taking down the tree, and putting away all of its ornaments.
This is the feast day of La Epiphania who searches the world over for the baby of Bethlehem. She is the patron saint of housekeepers; her herbal symbol is the broom or the Broom plant. "The broom was doomed to ignominy, forever to sweep he dirt of the earth, because it rustled and snapped so loudly that the Roman soldiers almost discovered Mary and the Infant in hiding."*
Poor Epiphania! She spent so much time cleaning her house, possessed by tidiness, that when the Wise men knocked on her door telling her of the star and the newborn king, she let them go on without following, but continued to clean and clean. Finally, she could not resist the desire to find the Babe and gathered some gifts together including a bunch of aromatic herbs for the Virgin's health. But she had dallied too long with her cleaning and when she finally set out it was dawn, the Star had set (see Lesson/Chapter 27, MOON), the Wise men were gone, the Shepherds gone to bed. Epiphania is doomed forever to search the world looking at all the sleeping children and leaving a little gift behind in the memory of the Christ child.
January 6th is really a more appropriate time of gift giving than December 25th. December 25th should be a holy day for celebrating the birth of the Christ child rather than a holiday to celebrate the advertising world's penchant for pushing consumerism. But on this night, January 6th, the devil is said to roam about. To keep him away one should stand with others in a magic circle holding Elderberries that were gathered on St. John's night (June 24th or December 27th).
"On Bertha Night (6th January), the devil goes about with special virulence. As a safeguard, persons are recommended to make a magic circle, in the center of which they should stand, with Elderberries gathered on St. John's night. By doing this, the mystic Fern seed may be obtained, which possesses the strength of thirty or forty men."*
This is a Styrian tradition. "The whole tree has a narcotic smell, and it is not considered wise to sleep under its shade. Perhaps the visions of fairyland were the result of the drugged sleep! No plant will grow under the shadow of it, being affected by its exhalations."*
Apart from all these traditions, the Elder has had from the earliest days a firm claim on the popular affection for its many sterling virtues. *
The plant is the Apple tree, the food is the Crab feast, the herb is the Rose petal/hip tea, essentail oilsl for Peace of Mind are Myrrh/Rosewood/Orange/Patchouli, the tree is the true Cedar, and the resin are the gifts of the Magi, the gold of Atlas Cedar oil, Myrrh and Frankincense.
