6th of Jan - Three King's Day
Three King's Day. July 6th. What Joy.
Three King's Day celebrates the day god made man in the form of Jesus Christ. It is strongly connected to the Magi, or Wise Men, who visited Jesus at his birth. Thing is though, it's kind of a catch-all celebration, not only does it celebrate the above event, but also Jesus' Baptism, his appearance to the Gentiles, and many more.
Not only this, but it's celebrated in many different ways depending on the region, I can't do most of these as I don't have twelve Russian men wearing bright, primary colored robes, or the money to have a large feast wherein every piece of pastry has things inside it, (including, but not limited to, Dolls and wheat), however one particular celebration has put me in mind of an old custom I would like to tell you about.
It's called King of Bean, and it's pretty old, sure Christianity has put its own spin on it, but it's history is far older than that. The custom goes that during midwinter the whole village will assemble for a feast at town center; at the end of this feast cake will be handed out to each person there. Now, inside one piece of cake is a bean, and the individual who gets the bean in their cake is crowned King of Bean. King of Bean has ultimate power now, anyone and anything is his to do with as he pleases. He has complete and utter freedom, he can take another mans wife, cow, or house as he wishes. However, this period of power only lasts three days, and at the dawn of the fourth day he must be sacrificed.
It's a creepy practice, and I doubt it's still around, but it certainly makes you think, is that kind of power worth death?
Anyway, Happy Three King's Day
JACKSON
*Put your nerd pants on, coz tomorrow is International Programmers Day, and I'm gonna try and interview someone who knows something about programming*
Three King's Day celebrates the day god made man in the form of Jesus Christ. It is strongly connected to the Magi, or Wise Men, who visited Jesus at his birth. Thing is though, it's kind of a catch-all celebration, not only does it celebrate the above event, but also Jesus' Baptism, his appearance to the Gentiles, and many more.
Not only this, but it's celebrated in many different ways depending on the region, I can't do most of these as I don't have twelve Russian men wearing bright, primary colored robes, or the money to have a large feast wherein every piece of pastry has things inside it, (including, but not limited to, Dolls and wheat), however one particular celebration has put me in mind of an old custom I would like to tell you about.
It's called King of Bean, and it's pretty old, sure Christianity has put its own spin on it, but it's history is far older than that. The custom goes that during midwinter the whole village will assemble for a feast at town center; at the end of this feast cake will be handed out to each person there. Now, inside one piece of cake is a bean, and the individual who gets the bean in their cake is crowned King of Bean. King of Bean has ultimate power now, anyone and anything is his to do with as he pleases. He has complete and utter freedom, he can take another mans wife, cow, or house as he wishes. However, this period of power only lasts three days, and at the dawn of the fourth day he must be sacrificed.
It's a creepy practice, and I doubt it's still around, but it certainly makes you think, is that kind of power worth death?
Anyway, Happy Three King's Day
JACKSON
*Put your nerd pants on, coz tomorrow is International Programmers Day, and I'm gonna try and interview someone who knows something about programming*