The Epiphany Holiday, known in Spanish speaking countries as Dia De Los Tres Reyes (Day of The Three Kings), falls annually on January 6th and marks the adoration of baby Jesus by the three Kings, also referred to as Wise Men or Magi .
It occurs on January 6 . The arrival of the magi is written about in the Bible’s Gospel of Matthew, which says that Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar traveled for 12 days to reach Jesus. They each brought a unique gift.
So we know from this that Jesus was 7 + 33 = 40 days old at the time of this ceremony.
They have become known most commonly as Balthasar , Melchior , and Gaspar (or Casper). According to Western church tradition, Balthasar is often represented as a king of Arabia or sometimes Ethiopia, Melchior as a king of Persia, and Gaspar as a king of India.
The wise men brought gold, frankincense and myrrh to the newborn king . Gold, of course, was valuable as currency. Frankincense is a valuable perfume. Myrrh is a precious ointment often used in the burial process.
Magi (/ˈmeɪdʒaɪ/; singular magus /ˈmeɪɡəs/; from Latin magus) were priests in Zoroastrianism and the earlier religions of the western Iranians. The earliest known use of the word magi is in the trilingual inscription written by Darius the Great , known as the Behistun Inscription.
In the mountains of ancient Persia, lived Artaban, whose study of the planets and the stars led him to predict the birth of the King of Kings.
To understand the Star of Bethlehem , we need to think like the three wise men. Motivated by this “star in the east,” they first traveled to Jerusalem and told King Herod the prophecy that a new ruler of the people of Israel would be born.
The New Revised Standard Version of Matthew 2:1–12 describes the visit of the Magi in this manner: In the time of King Herod , after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews ?
Jesus at the age of twelve accompanies Mary and Joseph, and a large group of their relatives and friends to Jerusalem on pilgrimage, “according to the custom” – that is, Passover. On the day of their return, Jesus “lingered” in the Temple, but Mary and Joseph thought that he was among their group.
The Virgin Mary, pregnant with the son of God, would hence have given birth to Jesus nine months later on the winter solstice. From Rome, the Christ’s Nativity celebration spread to other Christian churches to the west and east, and soon most Christians were celebrating Christ’s birth on December 25 .
Mary Magdalene as trusted disciple For its part, the Bible gave no hint that Mary Magdalene was Jesus’s wife . None of the four canonical gospels suggests that sort of relationship, even though they list the women who travel with Jesus and in some cases include their husbands’ names.
Saint Balthazar; also called Balthasar, Balthassar, and Bithisarea, was according to tradition one of the biblical Magi along with Caspar and Melchior who visited the infant Jesus after he was born. Balthazar is traditionally referred to as the King of Macedonia and gave the gift of myrrh to Jesus.
Later tellings of the story identified the magi by name and identified their lands of origin: Melchior hailed from Persia , Gaspar (also called “Caspar” or “Jaspar”) from India , and Balthazar from Arabia.
He is the King of Sheba. Gaspar represents the Frankincense brought to Jesus. Melchior , who has long white hair and a white beard and wears a gold cloak. He is the King of Arabia.