Both Nativity and Epiphany today

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This manger scene, with its gift-bringing three Wise Men (or Magi or kings) dressed in white, can be good to illustrate the two holy days being celebrated in Israel today. 
For Catholics and Protestants, today is the Feast of Epiphany. 
For the Greek and Russian Orthodox, Copt, Syrian, Romanian, and Ethiopian Christians, January 6-7 is the Feast of the Nativity. 

The creche welcomes visitors at the gate of the Monastery of St. Gerasimus, or in Arabic, Deir Hajla. 
Our busload from Meitar was there two weeks ago. 

If you enlarge the photo you can see the braided palm work, which is a specialty there.
The Greek Orthodox monastery is near Jericho,  not far from the baptism site Kasr al Yahud on the River Jordan.  
At an altitude of several hundred meters below sea level, the centuries-old St. Gerasimus is the lowest still-lived in monastery in the world, our guide said. 

You can see more in my previous posts from a few years ago here. 
If you are celebrating one of these two feast days today, I wish you a blessed and happy day! 
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(Linking to inSPIREd Sunday.)
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"We three kings of Orient are ..."

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The three magi or wise men have arrived, perhaps as in this old manger scene in Grandchamp.
Happy Epiphany to all the Western Christians who celebrate it today.

And it is the Feast of Nativity (Christmas) for many Eastern Christians, including the Orthodox in Israel.

For more about Epiphany, please see my other posts.
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We three kings

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We three kings of Orient are . . . 

bearing gifts we traverse afar . . .
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Happy Dreikönigstag or Feast of Epiphany or Twelfth Day to all the Western Christians celebrating it today. 
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(More Epiphany posts from previous years are here. )
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And to the Eastern Orthodox Christians, happy Christmas Eve! 
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UPDATE: A video of the Epiphany and Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem on Jan. 6.
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Magi arrive today with frankincense and myrrh

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IMPORTANT UPDATE:  Read here  how botanist Dr Elaine Solowey is currently nurturing a fragile frankincense tree sapling in Kibbutz Ketura, after the plant has been absent from Israel for 1,500 years!
 

". . . And there it was—the star they had seen in the east! It led them until it came and stopped above the place where the child was.  
¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed beyond measure.  
¹¹ Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary His mother, and falling to their knees, they worshiped Him. 
Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh."

--Matthew 2

January 6, the Feast of Epiphany, the day the Wise Men arrived in Bethlehem. 

Happy Epiphany, Christian friends! 

These days frankincense and myrrh are readily available in spice shops in Jerusalem's Old City. 

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You're welcome to see my older posts:

T.S. Eliot's "Journey of the Magi"

and

Epiphany at Abu Ghosh monastery

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UPDATE: I realized I didn't know how they were made.  Here is the answer from How Stuff Works:

"Derived from tree sap, or gum resin, both frankincense and myrrh are prized for their alluring fragrance.
Frankincense is a milky white resin extracted from species of the genus Boswellia, which thrive in arid, cool areas of the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa and India.
The finest and most aromatic of this species is Boswellia sacra, a small tree that grows in Somalia, Oman and Yemen. . . .
Myrrh is a reddish resin that comes from species of the genus Commiphora, which are native to northeast Africa and the adjacent areas of the Arabian Peninsula. Commiphora myrrha, a tree commonly used in the production of myrrh, can be found in the shallow, rocky soils of Ethiopia, Kenya, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Somalia. . . .

The processes for extracting the sap of Boswellia (for frankincense) and Commiphora (for myrrh) are essentially identical.
Harvesters make a longitudinal cut in the tree's trunk, which pierces gum resin reservoirs located within the bark.
 The sap slowly oozes from the cut and drips down the tree, forming tear-shaped droplets that are left to harden on the side of the tree. 
These beads are collected after two weeks."
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The fascinating article continues here with more about the historical AND modern uses of frankincense and myrrh!
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Binding

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The Western Churches are celebrating Epiphany today in Israel.
I went to Abu Ghosh to observe the beautiful prayer service at Saint Mary of the Resurrection Abbey.
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And guess what!
Their Book of the Gospels (which I showed you last week) now has a new binding.

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But inside, the lovingly illuminated pages painted and written by the freres and the soeurs of the community are still the same.
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Epiphany marks the night when the three Magi arrived at the humble birthplace of Jesus.
This page shows even their camel and horse kneeling before the baby!
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This is my favorite page.

Enlarge the photo and you will see monastic communities from all over the Hills of Jerusalem ( Hills of Judea), actual nuns and monks of our own day and age, 2011, are walking toward the manger.

I know some of the people by name!

What a great idea, to make the Book of the Gospels span two millennia in such a way.

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In previous posts: Epiphany at Abu Ghosh 2007, and T.S. Eliot's poem "The Journey of the Magi".

Gallery images and more about the Gospel Book at the abbey's website.
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Epiphany at Abu Ghosh

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T.S. Eliot and I wrote about Epiphany last Sunday .

But today, January 6, is the day Christians in Israel celebrate the feast day.
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The beautiful book from which the Bible readings are chanted was hand-written and painted by the French-speaking monastics of the Monastère de la Résurrection.

The church was built by the Crusaders in the 12th century.

It stands next to the mosque in the Israeli Arab village of Abu Ghosh.

The acoustics are heavenly. You can hear the Benedictine nuns and monks singing in this short video on YouTube.

"Gifts from the Magi" perhaps, near the icon of the nativity.

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Traditional bread for this day is among the gifts.

Fragments of frescoes from 12th century Crusader times adorn the walls.

See more of them in a short experimental video by an art student.

(Enlarge to enjoy the winding suspended stairs.)

A Sister in the rain near the monastic enclosure. This is a more modern building, separate from the old Crusader church.

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The Olivetan Benedictines have a double monastery; the men's and the women's monasteries are within the same walled compound, and each has its own superior.
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(These photos are from Epiphany 2007 but I imagine--and hope--that not much has changed since then.)

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For Epiphany: "Journey of the Magi"

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In many countries the January 6th Feast of Epiphany or Three Kings' Day was celebrated today, this being the Sunday closest to the holiday.
The events are recorded only in the Gospel of Matthew, in chapter 2:

". . .behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem . . . .
and lo, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was."




"And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him."

"They offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way."
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Various traditions later added that the men were magi, that there were three either kings or magi, and that they came on camels.

I think these days we know mostly the romanticized creches showing royally-dressed clean kings at the manger. But I prefer the poet's telling of it. If you have time and patience, read the strong words of his rougher version:

UPDATE: Hear the poet himself read his poem here.

JOURNEY OF THE MAGI

by T.S. Eliot

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A cold coming we had of it,

Just the worst time of the year

For a journey, and such a long journey:

The ways deep and the weather sharp,

The very dead of winter.'

And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,

Lying down in the melting snow.

There were times we regretted

The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,

And the silken girls bringing sherbet.

Then the camel men cursing and grumbling

And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,

And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,

And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly

And the villages dirty and charging high prices:

A hard time we had of it.

At the end we preferred to travel all night,

Sleeping in snatches,

With the voices singing in our ears, saying

That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,

Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;

With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,

And three trees on the low sky,

And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.

Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,

Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,

And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.

But there was no information, and so we continued

And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon

Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,

And I would do it again, but set down

This set down

This: were we led all that way for Birth or Death?

There was a Birth, certainly,

We had evidence and no doubt.

I had seen birth and death,

But had thought they were different; this Birth was

Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.

We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,

But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,

With an alien people clutching their gods.

I should be glad of another death.
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