Christmas day and New Year’s eve may have ended, but that doesn’t mean the celebrations are over.

For many Christians in Spain and Latin America, the holiday season officially ends tomorrow, 6th of January, which is the 12th day of Christmas known as the Feast of the Epiphany, or Three Kings’ Day.

The holiday celebrates the biblical tale in which the Three Kings, or Three Wise Men, visit baby Jesus after his birth.

In the Gospel of Mathew, the three Kings find baby Jesus by following the path of a star across the desert for twelve days.

According to the Gospel, the three Kings, named Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar traveled to Bethlehem to bring gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to baby Jesus.

This makes a lot more sense to me than sharing gifts in the name of an old, fat, bearded man dressed in red, with no connection to baby Jesus. 🤔

So in Catholic Spain, tomorrow is when we find our gifts under the Christmas tree, if you’ve been good, of course! 😊

At the same time, on the 6th and 7th of January, millions of Orthodox Christians around the world celebrate Christmas, this is because the Orthodox Church still chooses to celebrate the birth of Jesus as per the Julian calendar.

The Gregorian calendar that is currently in use today, led to a new Christmas Day on December 25 due to the addition of new elements that changed the calendar year.

Calendars are yet another example of the way we have been controlled and manipulated for thousands of years…

Before the Julian calendar was introduced, by Julius Caesar in 45BCE the ancient Roman calendar was loosely based on a 355-day lunar cycle with a year commencing around March 25 with the vernal equinox. 

But as early as 2500 BC bureaucrats came up with a way of counting days –  in order to regulate tax collection. Yes, calendars were invented to collect our taxes!

Lunar time caused problems for large-scale bureaucracies.  First, the lunar cycle is not constant. 
Second, the actual time of the rising of the new moon varied depending on the longitude and latitude of the observer, so as empires got bigger and bigger, covering more geographic territory, reckoning time by the rising of the new moon didn’t work because it rose at different times in different parts of the empire. 

This change from calendars based on nature to calendars designed to serve the purposes of those in power was one of the earliest rejections of our relationship to the natural world around us.

God has supplied us with a natural calendar: the 13-moon calendar contains 13 cycles of 28 days, with one day left over.  The Mayans decreed the extra day to be one of renewal before the new year. It was called a day out of time when “all the people rest and celebrate life.” What a lovely thought…

With this type of perspective of time, you know exactly what is going on in the world around you, it defines all aspects of life and gives people a relationship with the natural world.

We need to regain this connection with God’s creation. We’ve been out of synch with the cycles of nature for too long… and all for what? Taxes?! 🤦🏻‍♀️

https://t.me/LauraAbolichannel

https://twitter.com/BiancoDavinci/status/2008220217848058270/photo/1

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Notes to Readers:

There is talk about returning to the Lunar calendar rather than the old Roman ones, which were developed in order to collect taxes. Or moving from the Georgian to the Julian calendar. We’ll find out soon enough.

I think I would prefer the Lunar calendar which follows the moon cycles and seasons, more in keeping with the natural progression of a year.

What do you think?

Eliza