Christmastide ends tomorrow

Tomorrow is the Epiphany, a solemnity that used to be the highlight of the Christmas season. We said highlight because it was when gifts where exchanged for it was when the Wise Men from the East presented the Holy Infant with three gifts˜gold, frankincense and myrrh. Now, the mythical figure of Santa Claus has replaced the Wise Men and gifts are exchanged right on Christmas Day. Children no longer associate Christmas with the Nativity, but with Santa Claus.

The Epiphany is now a movable feast celebrated on Sunday between January 2 and 8. But the Three Kings that traditionally represented the Magi – Melchior, Gaspar and Balthazar – are no longer part of the celebration. Medieval legend calls them the Three Kings of Cologne. The Cologne Cathedral is supposed to have their relics. Now, the Vatican has acknowledged that they never existed. So any depiction of the Nativity of Christ that has the Three Kings now contradicts the teachings of the church. The truth is that the Epiphany has been reduced to just another Sunday. The giving of Christmas presents during Christmas Day has no Biblical basis.

To the people who lived during the Spanish period, Christmas was associated with the Misa de Gallo and Christmas presents with the Feast of the Three Kings. Today, Christmas is a commercial celebration. Only three old customs retain the spirit of the Christmas past – the simbang gabi, the panunulayan and the star lantern. The rest is a modern innovation.

Even the song The Twelve Days of Christmas is no longer valid. Christmastide ends tomorrow and it is only the eleventh day after Christmas.The three Christmastide events were the Nativity, the Feast of the Holy Innocents and the Epiphany. Now Santa Claus has upstaged the Nativity.

The Feast of the Holy Innocents is a totally neglected feast. And the Epiphany that marked the end of Christmas is now celebrated on different days. The Christmas we knew and the Christmas our children and grandchildren will be observing will not have the same inherent characteristics.

The truth is that Santa Claus has upstaged both the Nativity and the Epiphany. It is Santa Claus that children expect during Christmas and the gifts that he distributes no longer come from the Three Kings who represented the Wise Men from the East. Christmas carols like Joy to the World The Lord Has Come have been replaced by Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

In short Christmas has been reduced from a holyday to a commercial holiday. Some people dream of a white Christmas. I grieve for a lost Christmas.