Three Kings Day

There are so many wonderful things about Christmas in Germany, and one of them is Three Kings Day. Here's a little recap of it, now that I'm almost finally jet-lag-effect free and blogging is once again inching its way up my to-do list! Despite how much fun I was having in the states (to which many of you who saw me can attest!) the time finally arrived for me to leave the states. And so, I arrived back at chez Molly Murphy a week an a half ago, on a Thursday morning. By Friday, I'd made it as far as my greatroom at the end of the house where stood my still-decorated Christmas tree. Now, two weeks earlier, in a moment of Martha Stewart-like madness, I'd decided that I'd try to take the tree down before departing for the states. But, of course, that didn't happen in the whirlwind of last-minute travel preparations. So, I arrived back, and figured I was the last person to get everything taken apart, detinseled, packaged up and hauled away, it being January and all. But then I realized that when it came to taking down the tree, I wasn't exactly late. Turns out, that in Germany, January 6 is the perfect time to take down your tree! Why is that, you ask? Well, Friday the sixth was Three Kings Day (Epiphany). Anyway, on the evening of Three Kings Day, children in Germany dress as the three kings Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar and walk from house to house, with one child carrying a star. The houses in the neighborhood are then blessed for the coming year. (And you take your tree down!) There are varying accounts as to who actually does the blessing (priests or the children) but as you travel around Germany, and particularly Bavaria which is largely Catholic, you will see the mark of the blessing, which is numbers denoting the year, and the letters C+M+B written in chalk over the doorways. The inscription for this year, will be: 20C+M+B06. The letters, as you may have guessed, either stand for the names of the kings, or, alternatively for "Christus Mansionen Bendicat" or "Christ Bless this House". (I even found the inscription from the last blessing on the doorframe at mom's church in the states while visiting!) So, on the evening of Three Kings, I pulled into the parking spot in front of my house just in time to see the three "kings" pass under the murky light of the streetlamp at the end of my block. It was quite a procession, and definitely not something you see often in the U.S.! It was the culmination of a wonderful holiday season, and I can hardly believe that Christmas came to an official end so quickly! I will not live here forever, and the Christmas holidays (and all the traditions that come with it) are something I will remember forever after living here. Thanks again to everyone in the states who made the American part of my holiday so special and see you again soon!