Twelfth Night Traditions: Marking the Epiphany

Published 12:21 pm Monday, January 5, 2026

Everyone has their own beloved traditions — especially when it comes to the holidays. While some start to decorate their tree and sing Christmas carols on Nov. 1, others wait until the turkey has been cooked and Thanksgiving has come and gone. Taking Christmas decorations down following the holiday is the same way — to some it is tradition to keep the tree out until New Year’s Day, while others take their tinsel down the day after Christmas.

While some insist Christmas is over at 11:59 p.m. Dec. 25, the Rev. Hunter LaRocca said at that point the celebration is just beginning.

“For us Christmas is not just a day, it’s a season,” said LaRocca, who is the parochial vicar at Our Lady of Prompt Succor Catholic Church in Sulphur.

In the Roman Catholic Church, there are liturgical seasons that focus on a different aspect of the life of Jesus Christ. Advent is the beginning of the new liturgical year of the church and it is the season between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Advent is the internal and external preparation time before Christmas, LaRocca said.

“Advent is when we are preparing for the coming of Christ at Christmastime and it is four weeks of preparation through prayer,” he said.

Advent is when the church focuses on not only the coming of Christ at Christmas, but also when he will come again at the end of time, according to LaRocca.

“I tell people advent is that good time of year when we realize we are in need of a savior and that we are preparing ourselves for his coming,” he said.

LaRocca said the church does not start celebrating the coming of Christ until Christmas, which is why if one drives past a Catholic church or visits one they will not see decorations up until Christmas Eve.

Dec. 25 starts the Christmas season, which runs through Epiphany — recognized on Jan. 6 — and The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, held the first Sunday following Epiphany.

LaRocca said Epiphany is when the church reflects on the Magi — also known as the three wisemen, who followed the star which led them to Christ. The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is the celebration of Jesus getting baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. The Christmas season in the church lasts for more than two weeks.

“The wise men were believed to not have been Jews, which means they probably didn’t believe in God and were most likely astrologers who studied stars and constellations and they studied the star that would come on this day. As they followed the star, it led them to Mary, Jesus and Joseph in the manger,” he said.

LaRocca said the deeper meaning behind the wise men following the star, in the religious sense, is that Christ did not just come for the Jewish people but was also the light to all the other nations.

LaRocca encourages all Christians to keep their decorations up into January to celebrate the season.

“Even if you are not Catholic or a member of the church, but identify as Christian, as a follower of Jesus Christ, this mystery is also for you to reflect upon because it’s in sacred Scripture,” he said.