About Epiphany
Epiphany falls on 6 January and closes the twelve days of Christmas in the Western Christian calendar. The feast commemorates the Magi — the three wise men or kings — visiting the infant Jesus, and more broadly the manifestation of Christ to the world. In Orthodox churches that follow the Julian calendar, the day focuses instead on the baptism of Christ in the Jordan and is celebrated on 19 January in the Gregorian reckoning. Epiphany is a public holiday in Spain, parts of Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Sweden, Finland, and several Latin American countries. The English name comes from the Greek epiphaneia, meaning manifestation.
Customs differ widely. In Spain and Latin America the Three Kings — not Santa — bring children's gifts, delivered overnight after the spectacular cabalgata parades on 5 January; the next morning families share a Roscón de Reyes ring cake with a hidden figurine. In Italy the Befana, a kindly old woman on a broomstick, fills stockings with sweets or coal. In France and Belgium the Galette des Rois with its hidden fève crowns whoever finds it as king for the day. Germans and Austrians stage Sternsinger processions, with children dressed as the Magi blessing homes and collecting alms. Greeks bless the waters with a cross thrown into harbours, then dive to recover it. Poles join Three Kings parades through city streets.