Meditating on the Lost Season of Epiphany | Reflection

Portion of the Nave Ceiling from the Ely Cathedral, England

Often when we think of the Epiphany, we think of the feast day celebrated on January 6th in which the Magi visited the Infant Jesus and presented their gifts to Him. But in the older Church calendars, the Epiphany also marks the beginning of a sub-season within the larger Christmas Season called Epiphanytide or Time After Epiphany. Not many know about this part of the liturgical calendar, and personally, I think it's a shame because the more I learn about it, the more I find how rich it is in the spiritual fruits it has to offer.

In the current liturgical calendar, themes of the Epiphany are present in the weeks between the feast day and Lent, but it is no longer considered a season and instead falls under the category of Ordinary Time. And while it echoes the sub-season it came to replace, it was fully separated from the larger Christmas Season.

I consider it to be a sub-season because at a glance, it appears somewhat separate from the Christmas events that come before the Epiphany; the liturgical color even changes from white to green to denote this shift. And yet, upon further examination, I think Epiphanytide still plays an important role in the Christmas Cycle that gives deeper spiritual meaning to its preceding Nativity events and therefore deserves to stay linked to the overall Christmas Season.

Epiphanytide starts on the Feast of the Epiphany and ends on the Feast of the Presentation (Candlemas) on February 2nd. That makes the Christmas Season a full 40 days, which (to me, at least) feels appropriate given that the Easter Season is 50 days, and Christmas is the second-greatest feast of the year next to Easter. So why not take a good 40 days to relish the coming of the Savior; why rush it? 

Advent, our season of waiting and preparing, was anywhere from 22 to 28 days, so why would our celebration only last for 12 days when we've spent longer than that getting ready? That's one reason why the Easter Season is longer than Lent, so I don't see why the logic wouldn't transfer to the Advent-Christmas relationship too. 

(Personally, I think we subconsciously try to shorten the true Christmas Season because we as a culture spend too much of Advent celebrating like it's already Christmas so that by the time we get to Christmas, we're all partied-out...but that's a discussion for another time.)

Furthermore, extending the Christmas Season through Candlemas also sets up a unique structure that provides greater means for meditation. We start the season with Christ as a baby, then "fast forward" to Jesus' public ministry, and then return to Christ as a baby at the Presentation. It acts as a kind of parentheses that encapsulates this special period of time.

From the moment that Jesus enters into the world at Christmas, we have a rather slow, methodical buildup of His manifestation to the world. It feels intentional and gives us a sense of viewing God's purposeful unfolding of His perfect plan as it was meant to be. The events included in Epiphanytide—the Baptism of Jesus, the Miracle at Cana, and other important miracles worked by Jesus during His public ministry—all highlight the importance of why Christmas was necessary and point toward Christ's fate. 

The culmination of this manifestation, then, is the prophet Simeon at the Presentation telling Mary of Jesus' destiny right from His infancy—a destiny that will pierce her heart—underscoring once again the purpose for Christ's birth and revelation to the world in order to save it through His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. Candlemas, therefore, acts as a kind of pivot from Christmas into Lent so that we can start preparing our hearts, this time for Easter.

When we fully extend the Christmas Season with the inclusion of Epiphanytide, I think we then have a more meaningful transition into Lent and Easter that allows us to view the whole scope of Christmas in light of Christ's messianic destiny. It better bridges the gap between the seasons and helps keep our minds focused on the way in which everything is connected in God's divine plan, lending to a greater sense of the Gospel being lived out in our daily lives through the progression of the liturgical year.

After all, isn't that what the liturgical calendar is set up to do, to help us bring Christ and the Church into our hearts and homes? So for that reason, I'm sticking with the 1962 calendar, keeping Epiphanytide, and keeping the celebration going from Christmas through Candlemas. Because why not!


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