title: Rye

text: Production levels of rye have fallen since 1992 in most of the producing nations, . For instance, production of rye in Russia fell from in 1992 to in 2020. Corresponding figures for other countries are as follows: Polandfalling from in 1992 to in 2020; Belarusfalling from in 1992 to in 2020; Chinafalling from in 1992 to in 2020. However, production levels rose in Germany from in 1992 to in 2020.


title: Rye

text: World trade of rye is low compared with other grains such as wheat. The total export of rye for 2016 was $186M compared with $30.1B for wheat.


title: Rye

text: Poland consumes the most rye per person at per capita (2009). Nordic and Baltic countries are also very high. The EU in general is around per capita. The entire world only consumes per capita.


title: Rye

text: Rye grain is refined into a flour high in gliadin but low in glutenin. It therefore has a lower gluten content than wheat flour. It also contains a higher proportion of soluble fiber. Alkylresorcinols are phenolic lipids present in high amounts in the bran layer (e.g. pericarp, testa and aleurone layers) of wheat and rye (0.1–0.3% of dry weight). Rye bread, including pumpernickel, is made using rye flour and is a widely eaten food in Northern and Eastern Europe. Rye is also used to make crisp bread.


title: Rye

text: Rye grain is used to make alcoholic drinks, such as rye whiskey and rye beer. Other uses of rye grain include kvass and an herbal medicine known as rye extract. Rye straw is used as livestock bedding, as a cover crop and green manure for soil amendment, and to make crafts such as corn dollies.


title: Rye

text: Rye flour is used in the original way to make Falun red paint (in addition to linseed oil and iron oxide) in Sweden.


title: Rye

text: Rye grain (aka "Rye Berries") is a popular medium to use as a grain spawn when cultivating some varieties of edible mushrooms. The grain is cleaned, hydrated, and sterilized and then injected with mushroom spores and the mycelium grow using the grain to obtain water and nutrients.


title: Rye

text: A reference serving of rye provides of food energy and is a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value [DV]) of essential nutrients, including protein, dietary fiber, the B vitamins, niacin (27% DV) and vitamin B (23% DV), and several dietary minerals (table). Highest nutrient contents are for manganese (143% DV) and phosphorus (47% DV).


title: Rye

text: According to Health Canada and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, consuming at least per day of rye beta-glucan or per serving of soluble fiber can lower levels of blood cholesterol, a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases.


title: Rye

text: Eating whole-grain rye, as well as other high-fibre grains, improves regulation of blood sugar (i.e., reduces blood glucose response to a meal). Consuming breakfast cereals containing rye over weeks to months also improved cholesterol levels and glucose regulation.


title: Rye

text: Like wheat, barley, and their hybrids and derivatives, rye contains gluten, which makes it an unsuitable grain for consumption by people with gluten-related disorders, such as celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity, and wheat allergy, among others. Nevertheless, some wheat allergy patients can tolerate rye or barley.


title: Rye

text: Ergotism is an illness that can result from eating rye and other grains infected by ergot fungi (which produce ergoline toxins in infected products). Although it is no longer a common illness because of modern food safety efforts, it was common before the 20th century, and it can still happen today if food safety vigilance breaks down.


title: Rye

text: Rye has long been considered an inferior grain to wheat in quality and digestibility, but has far larger kernels and is more hardy. In the 19th century, efforts were made to create a hybrid with the best qualities of both, known initially as triticosecale, but eventually becoming known as triticale. Initially fraught with fertility and germination problems, triticale is becoming more common worldwide in the 21st century, with millions of acres being produced.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Epiphany ( ), also known as Theophany in Eastern Christian traditions, is a Christian feast day that celebrates the revelation (theophany) of God incarnate as Jesus Christ.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In Western Christianity, the feast commemorates principally (but not solely) the visit of the Magi to the Christ Child, and thus Jesus Christ's physical manifestation to the Gentiles. It is sometimes called Three Kings' Day, and in some traditions celebrated as Little Christmas. Moreover, the feast of the Epiphany, in some denominations, also initiates the liturgical season of Epiphanytide.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Eastern Christians, on the other hand, commemorate the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River, seen as his manifestation to the world as the Son of God. The spot marked by Al-Maghtas in Jordan, adjacent to Qasr al-Yahud in the West Bank, is considered to be the original site of the baptism of Jesus and the ministry of John the Baptist.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: The traditional date for the feast is January 6. However, since 1970, the celebration is held in some countries on the Sunday after January 1. Those Eastern Churches which are still following the Julian calendar observe the feast on what, according to the internationally used Gregorian calendar, is January 19, because of the current 13-day difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In many Western Churches, the eve of the feast is celebrated as Twelfth Night (Epiphany Eve). The Monday after Epiphany is known as Plough Monday.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Popular Epiphany customs include Epiphany singing, chalking the door, having one's house blessed, consuming Three Kings Cake, winter swimming, as well as attending church services. It is customary for Christians in many localities to remove their Christmas decorations on Epiphany Eve (Twelfth Night), although those in other Christian countries historically remove them on Candlemas, the conclusion of Epiphanytide. According to the first tradition, those who fail to remember to remove their Christmas decorations on Epiphany Eve must leave them untouched until Candlemas, the second opportunity to remove them; failure to observe this custom is considered inauspicious.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: The word Epiphany is from Koine Greek ἐπιφάνεια, "epipháneia", meaning manifestation or appearance. It is derived from the verb φαίνειν, "phainein", meaning "to appear". In classical Greek it was used for the appearance of dawn, of an enemy in war, but especially of a manifestation of a deity to a worshiper (a theophany). In the Septuagint the word is used of a manifestation of the God of Israel (). In the New Testament the word is used in to refer either to the birth of Christ or to his appearance after his resurrection, and five times to refer to his Second Coming.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Alternative names for the feast in Greek include τα Θεοφάνεια, "ta Theopháneia" "Theophany" (a neuter plural rather than feminine singular), η Ημέρα των Φώτων, "i Iméra ton Fóton" (modern Greek pronunciation), "The Day of the Lights", and τα Φώτα, "ta Fóta", "The Lights".


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Epiphany may have originated in the Greek-speaking eastern half of the Roman Empire as a feast to honor the baptism of Jesus. Around 200, Clement of Alexandria wrote that, "But the followers of [the early Christian Gnostic religious teacher] Basilides celebrate the day of His Baptism too, spending the previous night in readings. And they say that it was the 15th of the month Tybi of the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar. And some say that it was observed the 11th of the same month." The Egyptian dates given correspond to January 6 and 10. The Basilides were a Gnostic sect.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: The reference to "readings" suggests that the Basilides were reading the Gospels. In ancient gospel manuscripts, the text is arranged to indicate passages for liturgical readings. If a congregation began reading Mark at the beginning of the year, it might arrive at the story of the Baptism on January 6, thus explaining the date of the feast. If Christians read Mark in the same format the Basilides did, the two groups could have arrived at the January 6 date independently.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: The earliest reference to Epiphany as a Christian feast was in A.D. 361, by Ammianus Marcellinus. The holiday is listed twice, which suggests a double feast of baptism and birth. The baptism of Jesus was originally assigned to the same date as the birth because was misread to mean that Jesus was exactly 30 when he was baptized.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Epiphanius of Salamis says that January 6 is Christ's "Birthday; that is, His Epiphany" ("hemera genethlion toutestin epiphanion"). He also asserts that the Miracle at Cana occurred on the same calendar day. Epiphanius assigns the Baptism to November 6.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: The scope to Epiphany expanded to include the commemoration of his birth; the visit of the magi, all of Jesus' childhood events, up to and including the Baptism by John the Baptist; and even the miracle at the wedding at Cana in Galilee.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In the Latin-speaking West, the holiday emphasized the visit of the magi. The magi represented the non-Jewish peoples of the world, so this was considered a "revelation to the gentiles." In this event, Christian writers also inferred a revelation to the Children of Israel. John Chrysostom identified the significance of the meeting between the magi and Herod's court: "The star had been hidden from them so that, on finding themselves without their guide, they would have no alternative but to consult the Jews. In this way the birth of Jesus would be made known to all."


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In 385, the pilgrim Egeria (also known as Silvia) described a celebration in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, which she called "Epiphany" that commemorated the Nativity. Even at this early date, there was an octave associated with the feast.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In a sermon delivered on December 25, 380, St. Gregory of Nazianzus referred to the day as "the Theophany" ("ta theophania", formerly the name of a pagan festival at Delphi), saying expressly that it is a day commemorating "the holy nativity of Christ" and told his listeners that they would soon be celebrating the baptism of Christ. Then, on January 6 and 7, he preached two more sermons, in which he declared that the celebration of the birth of Christ and the visitation of the Magi had already taken place, and that they would now commemorate his Baptism. At this time, celebration of the two events was beginning to be observed on separate occasions, at least in Cappadocia.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Saint John Cassian says that even in his time (beginning of the 5th century), Egyptian monasteries celebrated the Nativity and the Baptism together on January 6. The Armenian Apostolic Church continues to celebrate January 6 as the only commemoration of the Nativity.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Part VI of his Christmas Oratorio, "Herr, wenn die stolzen Feinde schnauben", was also designated to be performed during the service for Epiphany.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In Ottorino Respighi's symphonic tone poem "Roman Festivals", the final movement is subtitled "Bofana" and takes place during Epiphany.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Two very familiar Christmas carols are associated with the Epiphany holiday: "As with gladness, men of old", written by William Chatterton Dix in 1860 as a response to the many legends which had grown up surrounding the Magi; and "We Three Kings of Orient Are", written by the Reverend John Henry Hopkins Jr. – then an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church – who was instrumental in organizing an elaborate holiday pageant (which featured this hymn) for the students of the General Theological Seminary in New York City in 1857 while serving as the seminary's music director.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Another popular hymn, less known culturally as a carol, is "Songs of thankfulness and praise", with words written by Christopher Wordsworth and commonly sung to the tune "St. Edmund" by Charles Steggall.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Until 1955, when Pope Pius XII abolished all but three liturgical octaves, the Latin Church celebrated Epiphany as an eight-day feast, known as the Octave of Epiphany, beginning on January 6 and ending on January 13. The Sunday within that octave had been since 1893 the feast of the Holy Family, and Christmastide was reckoned as the twelve days ending on January 5, followed by the January 6–13 octave. The 1969 revision of the General Roman Calendar made the date variable to some extent, stating: "The Epiphany of the Lord is celebrated on 6 January, unless, where it is not observed as a holy day of obligation, it has been assigned to the Sunday occurring between 2 and 8 January." It also made the Feast of the Epiphany part of Christmas Time, which it defined as extending from the First Vespers of Christmas (the evening of December 24) up to and including the Sunday after Epiphany (the Sunday after January 6).


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist and United Protestant congregations, along with those of other denominations, may celebrate Epiphany on January 6, on the following Sunday within the Epiphany week (octave), or at another time (Epiphany Eve January 5, the nearest Sunday, etc.) as local custom dictates. Prior to 1976, Anglican churches observed an eight-day octave, beginning on January 6. Today, "The Epiphany of our Lord", classified as a Principal Feast, is observed in some Anglican provinces on January 6 exclusively (e.g., the Anglican Church of Canada) but in the Church of England the celebration is "on 6 January or transferred to the Sunday falling between 2 and 8 January".


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Eastern churches celebrate Epiphany (Theophany) on January 6. Some, as in Greece, employ the modern Revised Julian calendar, which until 2800 coincides with the Gregorian calendar, the one in use for civil purposes in most countries. Other Eastern churches, as in Russia, hold to the older Julian calendar for reckoning church dates. In these old-calendar churches Epiphany falls at present on Gregorian January 19 – which is January 6 in the Julian calendar.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: The Indian Orthodox Church celebrates the feast of Epiphany, "Denaha" [Syriac term which means rising] on January 6, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church celebrates on January 19 as the Timkath festival, which was included in the UNESCO heritage list of festivals.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In some Churches, the feast of the Epiphany initiates the Epiphany season, also known as Epiphanytide.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In Advent 2000, the Church of England, Mother Church of the Anglican Communion, introduced into its liturgy an optional Epiphany season by approving the "Common Worship" series of services as an alternative to those in the "Book of Common Prayer", which remains the Church's normative liturgy and in which no such liturgical season appears. An official publication of the Church of England states: "The Christmas season is often celebrated for twelve days, ending with the Epiphany. Contemporary use has sought to express an alternative tradition, in which Christmas lasts for a full forty days, ending with the Feast of the Presentation on 2 February." It presents the latter part of this period as the Epiphany season, comprising the Sundays of Epiphany and ending "only with the Feast of the Presentation (Candlemas)".


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Another interpretation of "Epiphany season" applies the term to the period from Epiphany to the day before Ash Wednesday. Some Methodists in the United States and Singapore follow these liturgies. Lutherans celebrate the last Sunday before Ash Wednesday as the Transfiguration of our Lord, and it has been said that they call the whole period from Epiphany to then as Epiphany season. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America used the terms "Time after Epiphany" to refer to this period. The expression with "after" has been interpreted as making the period in question correspond to that of Ordinary Time.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) does not celebrate Epiphany or Pentecost as seasons; for this Church, expressions such as "Fifth Sunday after Epiphany" indicate the passing of time, rather than a liturgical season. It instead uses the term "Ordinary Time".


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In the Catholic Church, "Christmas Time runs from First Vespers (Evening Prayer I) of the Nativity of the Lord up to and including the Sunday after Epiphany or after 6 January"; and "Ordinary Time begins on the Monday which follows the Sunday occurring after 6 January". Before the 1969 revision of its liturgy, the Sundays following the Octave of Epiphany or, when this was abolished, following the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which was instituted to take the place of the Octave Day of Epiphany were named as the "Second (etc., up to Sixth) Sunday after Epiphany", as the at least 24 Sundays following Pentecost Sunday and Trinity Sunday were known as the "Second (etc.) Sunday after Pentecost". (If a year had more than 24 Sundays after Pentecost, up to four unused post-Epiphany Sundays were inserted between the 23rd and the 24th Sunday after Pentecost.) The "Encyclopedia of Catholic Devotions and Practices", which has received the imprimatur of John Michael D'Arcy, with reference to Epiphanytide, thus states that "The Epiphany season extends from January 6 to Septuagesima Sunday, and has from one to six Sundays, according to the date of Easter. White is the color for the octave; green is the liturgical color for the season."


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Epiphany is celebrated by both the Eastern and Western Churches, but a major difference between them is precisely which events the feast commemorates. For Western Christians, the feast primarily commemorates the coming of the Magi, with only a minor reference to the baptism of Jesus and the miracle at the Wedding at Cana. Eastern churches celebrate the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan. In both traditions, the essence of the feast is the same: the manifestation of Christ to the world (whether as an infant or in the Jordan), and the Mystery of the Incarnation. The miracle at the Wedding at Cana is also celebrated during Epiphany as a first manifestation of Christ's public life.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Even before 354, the Western Church had separated the celebration of the Nativity of Christ as the feast of Christmas and set its date as December 25; it reserved January 6 as a commemoration of the manifestation of Christ, especially to the Magi, but also at his baptism and at the wedding feast of Cana. In 1955 a separate feast of the Baptism of the Lord was instituted, thus weakening further the connection in the West between the feast of the Epiphany and the commemoration of the baptism of Christ. However, Hungarians, in an apparent reference to baptism, refer to the January 6 celebration as "Vízkereszt", a term that recalls the words "víz" (water) and "kereszt, kereszt-ség" (baptism).


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Many in the West, such as adherents of the Anglican Communion, Lutheran Churches and Methodist Churches, observe a twelve-day festival, starting on December 25, and ending on January 5, known as Christmastide or The Twelve Days of Christmas.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: The "Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the General Roman Calendar" of the Roman Catholic Church determine since 1969 that "Christmas Time runs from First Vespers (Evening Prayer I) of the Nativity of the Lord up to and including the Sunday after Epiphany or after January 6". Some regions and especially some communities celebrating the Tridentine Mass extend the season to as many as forty days, ending Christmastide traditionally on Candlemas (February 2).


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: On the Feast of the Epiphany in some parts of central Europe the priest, wearing white vestments, blesses Epiphany water, frankincense, gold, and chalk. The chalk is used to write the initials of the three magi (traditionally, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar), over the doors of churches and homes. The initials may also be interpreted as the Latin phrase, (may Christ bless the house).


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: According to ancient custom, the priest announced the date of Easter on the feast of Epiphany. This tradition dated from a time when calendars were not readily available, and the church needed to publicize the date of Easter, since many celebrations of the liturgical year depend on it. The proclamation may be sung or proclaimed at the "ambo" by a deacon, cantor, or reader either after the reading of the Gospel or after the postcommunion prayer.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: The Roman Missal thus provides a formula with appropriate chant (in the tone of the "Exsultet") for proclaiming on Epiphany, wherever it is customary to do so, the dates in the calendar for the celebration of Ash Wednesday, Easter Sunday, Ascension of Jesus Christ, Pentecost, the Body and Blood of Christ, and the First Sunday of Advent that will mark the following liturgical year.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Some western rite churches, such as the Anglican and Lutheran churches, will follow practises similar to the Catholic Church. Church cantatas for the Feast of Epiphany were written by Protestant composers such as Georg Philipp Telemann, Christoph Graupner, Johann Sebastian Bach and Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel. Many other Protestant groups do not celebrate or recognise Epiphany in any way.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: The name of the feast as celebrated in the Orthodox churches may be rendered in English as the Theophany, as closer in form to the Greek ("God shining forth" or "divine manifestation"). Here it is one of the Great Feasts of the liturgical year, being third in rank, behind only Paskha (Easter) and Pentecost in importance. It is celebrated on January 6 of the calendar that a particular Church uses. On the Julian calendar, which some of the Orthodox churches follow, that date corresponds, during the present century, to January 19 on the Gregorian or Revised Julian calendar. The earliest reference to the feast in the Eastern Church is a remark by St. Clement of Alexandria in "Stromateis", I, xxi, 45:


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: And there are those who have determined not only the year of our Lord's birth, but also the day… And the followers of Basilides hold the day of his baptism as a festival, spending the night before in readings. And they say that it was the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, the fifteenth day of the month of Tubi; and some that it was the eleventh of the same month.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: If this is a reference to a celebration of Christ's birth, as well as of his baptism, on January 6, it corresponds to what continues to be the custom of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which celebrates the birth of Jesus on January 6 of the calendar used, calling the feast that of the Nativity and Theophany of Our Lord.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Origen's list of festivals (in "Contra Celsum", VIII, xxii) omits any reference to Epiphany. The first reference to an ecclesiastical feast of the Epiphany, in Ammianus Marcellinus (XXI:ii), is in 361.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In parts of the Eastern Church, January 6 continued for some time as a composite feast that included the Nativity of Jesus: though Constantinople adopted December 25 to commemorate Jesus' birth in the fourth century, in other parts the Nativity of Jesus continued to be celebrated on January 6, a date later devoted exclusively to commemorating his Baptism.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Today in Eastern Orthodox churches, the emphasis at this feast is on the shining forth and revelation of Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Second Person of the Trinity at the time of his baptism. It is also celebrated because, according to tradition, the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by St. John the Baptist marked one of only two occasions when all three Persons of the Trinity manifested themselves simultaneously to humanity: God the Father by speaking through the clouds, God the Son being baptized in the river, and God the Holy Spirit in the shape of a dove descending from heaven (the other occasion was the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor). Thus the holy day is considered to be a Trinitarian feast.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: The Orthodox consider Jesus' Baptism to be the first step towards the Crucifixion, and there are some parallels in the hymnography used on this day and the hymns chanted on Good Friday.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Forefeast: The liturgical Forefeast of Theophany begins on January 2 and concludes with the Paramony on January 5.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Paramony: The Eve of the Feast is called "Paramony" (Greek: , Slavonic: "navechérie"). Paramony is observed as a strict fast day, on which those faithful who are physically able, refrain from food until the first star is observed in the evening, when a meal with wine and oil may be taken. On this day the Royal Hours are celebrated, thus tying together this feast with Nativity and Good Friday. The Royal Hours are followed by the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil which combines Vespers with the Divine Liturgy. During the Vespers, fifteen Old Testament lections which foreshadow the Baptism of Christ are read, and special antiphons are chanted. If the Feast of the Theophany falls on a Sunday or Monday, the Royal Hours are chanted on the previous Friday, and on the Paramony the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is celebrated in the morning. The fasting is lessened to some degree in this case.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Blessing of Waters: The Orthodox Churches perform the Great Blessing of Waters on Theophany. The blessing is normally done twice: once on the Eve of the Feast—usually at a Baptismal font inside the church—and then again on the day of the feast, outdoors at a body of water. Following the Divine Liturgy, the clergy and people go in a Crucession (procession with the cross) to the nearest body of water, be it a beach, harbor, quay, river, lake, swimming pool, water depot, etc. (ideally, it should be a body of "living water"). At the end of the ceremony the priest will bless the waters. In the Greek practice, he does this by casting a cross into the water. If swimming is feasible on the spot, any number of volunteers may try to recover the cross. The person who gets the cross first swims back and returns it to the priest, who then delivers a special blessing to the swimmer and their household. Certain such ceremonies have achieved particular prominence, such as the one held annually at Tarpon Springs, Florida. In Russia, where the winters are severe, a hole will be cut into the ice so that the waters may be blessed. In such conditions, the cross is not cast into the water, but is held securely by the priest and dipped three times into the water.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: The water that is blessed on this day is sometimes known as "Theophany Water", though usually just "holy water", and is taken home by the faithful, and used with prayer as a blessing. People will not only bless themselves and their homes by sprinkling with holy water, but will also drink it. The Orthodox Church teaches that holy water differs from ordinary water by virtue of the incorruptibility bestowed upon it by a blessing that transforms its very nature. a miracle attested to as early as St. John Chrysostom.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Theophany is a traditional day for performing Baptisms, and this is reflected in the Divine Liturgy by singing the baptismal hymn, "As many as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. Alleluia," in place of the Trisagion.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: House Blessings: On Theophany the priest will begin making the round of the parishioner's homes to bless them. He will perform a short prayer service in each home, and then go through the entire house, gardens and outside-buildings, blessing them with the newly blessed Theophany Water, while all sing the Troparion and Kontakion of the feast. This is normally done on Theophany, or at least during the Afterfeast, but if the parishioners are numerous, and especially if many live far away from the church, it may take some time to bless each house. Traditionally, these blessings should all be finished before the beginning of Great Lent.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Afterfeast: The Feast of Theophany is followed by an eight-day Afterfeast on which the normal fasting laws are suspended. The Saturday and Sunday after Theophany have special readings assigned to them, which relate to the Temptation of Christ and to penance and perseverance in the Christian struggle. There is thus a liturgical continuum between the Feast of Theophany and the beginning of Great Lent.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the feast is known as "Timkat" and is celebrated on the day that the Gregorian calendar calls January 19, but on January 20 in years when Enkutatash in the Ethiopian calendar falls on Gregorian September 12 (i.e. when the following February in the Gregorian calendar will have 29 days). The celebration of this feast features blessing of water and solemn processions with the sacred tabot. A priest carries this to a body of water where it stays overnight, with the Metsehafe Qeddassie celebrated in the early morning. Later in the morning, the water is blessed to the accompaniment of the reading of the four Gospel accounts of the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan and the people are sprinkled with or go into the water. The tabot returns in procession to the church.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Among the Syriac Christians the feast is called "denho" (up-going), a name to be connected with the notion of rising light expressed in . In the East Syriac rite, the season of Epiphany (Epiphanytide) is known as "Denha".


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In the Armenian Apostolic Church, January 6 is celebrated as the Nativity ("Surb Tsnund") and Theophany of Christ. The feast is preceded by a seven-day fast. On the eve of the feast, the Divine Liturgy is celebrated. This liturgy is referred to as the "Chragaluytsi Patarag" (the Eucharist of the lighting of the lamps) in honor of the manifestation of Jesus as the Son of God. Both the Armenian Apostolic Church's and Assyrian Church of the East's liturgy is followed by a blessing of water, during which the cross is immersed in the water, symbolizing Jesus' descent into the Jordan, and holy "myron" (chrism) is poured in, symbolic of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus. The next morning, after the Liturgy, the cross is removed from the vessel of holy water and all come forward to kiss the cross and partake of the blessed water.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Epiphany is celebrated with a wide array of customs around the world. In some cultures, the greenery and nativity scenes put up at Christmas are taken down at Epiphany. In other cultures these remain up until Candlemas on February 2. In countries historically shaped by Western Christianity (Roman Catholicism, Protestantism) these customs often involve gift giving, "king cakes" and a celebratory close to the Christmas season. In traditionally Orthodox nations, water, baptismal rites and house blessings are typically central to these celebrations.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, as in other Latin American countries, the day is called "Día de Reyes" (The Day of Kings, a reference to the Biblical Magi), commemorating the arrival of the Magi to confirm Jesus as son of God. The night of January 5 into the morning of January 6 is known as "Noche de Reyes" (The Night of Kings) and children leave their shoes by the door, along with grass and water for the camel, horse and elephant. On the morning of January 6, they get up early and rush to see their shoes, where they are expecting to find gifts left by the "Reyes" who, according to tradition, bypass the houses of children who are awake. On January 6, a "Rosca de Reyes" (a ring-shaped Epiphany cake) is eaten and all Christmas decorations are traditionally put away.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In Bulgaria, Epiphany is celebrated on January 6 and is known as "Bogoyavlenie" ("Manifestation of God"), "Кръщение Господне" ("Krashtenie Gospodne" or "Baptism of the Lord") or "Yordanovden" ("Day of Jordan", referring to the river). On this day, a wooden cross is thrown by a priest into the sea, river or lake and young men race to retrieve it. As the date is in early January and the waters are close to freezing, this is considered an honorable act and it is said that good health will be bestowed upon the home of the swimmer who is the first to reach the cross.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In the town of Kalofer, a traditional horo with drums and bagpipes is played in the icy waters of the Tundzha river before the throwing of the cross.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: The Dutch and Flemish call this day "Driekoningen", while German speakers call it "Dreikönigstag" (Three Kings' Day). In the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and neighboring Germany, children in groups of three (symbolizing the Biblical Magi) proceed in costume from house to house while singing songs typical for the occasion, and receiving a coin or some sweets at each door. They may each carry a paper lantern symbolizing the star. In some places, especially Holland, these troupes gather for competitions and present their skits/songs for an audience. As in Belgium, "Koningentaart" (Kings' tart), puff pastry with almond filling, is prepared with a black bean hidden inside. Whoever finds the bean in his or her piece is king or queen for the day. A more typically Dutch version is "Koningenbrood", or Kings' bread. In the Netherlands, the traditions have died out, except for very few places. Another Low Countries tradition on Epiphany is to open up doors and windows to let good luck in for the coming year.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In Brazil, the day is called "Dia dos Reis" (The Day of Kings) and in the rest of Latin America "Día de Reyes" commemorating the arrival of the Magi to confirm Jesus as son of God. The night of January 5 into the morning of January 6 is known as "Night of Kings" (also called the Twelfth Night) and is feasted with music, sweets and regional dishes as the last night of Nativity, when Christmas decorations are traditionally put away.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: This day is sometimes known as the "Día de los Tres Reyes Magos" (The day of the Three Royal Magi) or "La Pascua de los Negros" (Holy Day of the Black men) in Chile, although the latter is rarely heard.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In the Dominican Republic, the "Día de los Tres Reyes Magos" (The day of the Three Royal Magi) and in this day children receive gifts on the christmas tree in a similar fashion to Christmas day. On this day public areas are very active with children accompanied by their parents trying out their new toys.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: A common practice is to leave toys under the children's beds on January 5, so when they wake up on January 6, they are made to believe the gifts and toys were left from Santa Claus or the Three Kings.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: The feast of the Epiphany is celebrated by the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, which falls on 11 Tobe of the Coptic calendar, as the moment when in the baptism of Jesus the skies opened and God himself revealed to all as father of Jesus and all mankind. It is then a moment of revelation of epiphany. This celebration started to include all the processes of incarnation of Jesus, from his birth on Christmas until his baptism in the river Jordan. For the Coptic Orthodox Church it is also a moment in which the path of Jesus to the Cross begins. Therefore, in many celebrations there are certain similarities with the celebrations of Holy Friday during the time of Easter. Since the Epiphany is one of the seven great feasts of the Coptic Orthodox Church, it is a day of strict fasting, and several religious celebrations are held on this day. The day is related to the blessing of waters that are used all throughout the year in the church celebrations, and it is a privileged day to celebrate baptisms. It is also a day in which many houses are blessed with water. It may take several days for the local priest to bless all the houses of the parishioners that ask for it, and so the blessing of the houses may go into the after-feasts of the Epiphany celebrations. However, it must be done before the beginning of Lent.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In England, the celebration of the night before Epiphany, Epiphany Eve, is known as Twelfth Night (the first night of Christmas is December 25–26, and Twelfth Night is January 5–6), and was a traditional time for mumming and the wassail. The Yule log was left burning until this day, and the charcoal left was kept until the next Christmas to kindle next year's Yule log, as well as to protect the house from fire and lightning. In the past, Epiphany was also a day for playing practical jokes, similar to April Fool's Day. Today in England, Twelfth Night is still as popular a day for plays as when Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" was first performed in 1601, and annual celebrations involving the Holly Man are held in London. A traditional dish for Epiphany was Twelfth Cake, a rich, dense, typically English fruitcake. As in Europe, whoever found the baked-in bean was king for a day, but uniquely to English tradition other items were sometimes included in the cake. Whoever found the clove was the villain, the twig, the fool, and the rag, the tart. Anything spicy or hot, like ginger snaps and spiced ale, was considered proper Twelfth Night fare, recalling the costly spices brought by the Wise Men. Another English Epiphany sweetmeat was the traditional jam tart, made appropriate to the occasion by being fashioned in the form of a six-pointed star symbolising the Star of Bethlehem, and thus called Epiphany tart. The discerning English cook sometimes tried to use thirteen different colored jams on the tart on this day for luck, creating a pastry resembling stained glass.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Church, the feast is known as "Timkat" and is celebrated on the day that the Gregorian calendar calls January 19, but on January 20 in years when Timket in the Ethiopian calendar falls on Gregorian September 12 (i.e. when the following February in the Gregorian calendar will have 29 days). The celebration of this feast features blessing of water and solemn processions with the sacred Tabot.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In Finland, Epiphany is called "loppiainen", a name which goes back to the 1600s. In the 1500s the Swedish-Finnish Lutheran church called Epiphany "Day of the Holy Three Kings", while before this, the older term "Epiphania" was used. In the Karelian language Epiphany is called "vieristä", meaning cross, from the Orthodox custom of submerging a cross three times to bless water on this day. Today, in the Lutheran church, Epiphany is a day dedicated to a focus on missionary work in addition to the Wise Men narrative. Between 1973 and 1991 Epiphany was observed in Finland on a Saturday each year no earlier than January 6, and no later than January 12. After that time however, the traditional date of January 6 was restored and has since been observed once again as a national public holiday.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: The Christmas tree is traditionally taken out of the house on Epiphany. While the term "loppiainen" means "ending [of Christmas time]," in reality, Christmas celebrations in Finland are extended to "Nuutti's" or St. Canute's Day on January 13, completing the Scandinavian Twenty Days of Christmas.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In France people share one of two types of king cake. In the northern half of France and Belgium the cake is called a "galette des Rois," and is a round, flat, and golden cake made with flake pastry and often filled with frangipane, fruit, or chocolate. In the south, in Provence, and in the south-west, a crown-shaped cake or brioche filled with fruit called a "gâteau des Rois" is eaten. In Romandie, both types can be found though the latter is more common. Both types of cake contain a charm, usually a porcelain or plastic figurine, called a "fève" ("broad bean" in French).


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: The cake is cut by the youngest (and therefore most innocent) person at the table to assure that the recipient of the bean is random. The person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket becomes "king" or "queen" and wears a paper crown provided with the cake. In some regions this person has a choice between offering a beverage to everyone around the table (usually a sparkling wine or champagne), or volunteering to host the next king cake at their home. This can extend the festivities through all of January.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: January 6 is a public holiday in Austria, three federal states of Germany, and three cantons of Switzerland, as well as in parts of Graubünden.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In the German-speaking lands, groups of young people called "Sternsinger" (star singers) travel from door to door. They are dressed as the Biblical Magi, and their leader carries a star, usually of painted wood attached to a broom handle. Often these groups are four girls, or two boys and two girls in order to sing in four-part harmony. They sing traditional songs and newer ones such as "Stern über Bethlehem". They are not necessarily three wise men. German Lutherans often note in a lighthearted fashion that the Bible never specifies that the "Weisen" (Magi) were men, or that there were three. The star singers solicit donations for worthy causes, such as efforts to end hunger in Africa, organized jointly by the Catholic and Protestant churches, and they will also be offered treats at the homes they visit. The young people then perform the traditional house blessing, by marking the year over the doorway with chalk. In Roman Catholic communities this may even today be a serious spiritual event with the priest present, but among Protestants it is more a tradition, and a part of the German notion of Gemütlichkeit. Usually on the Sunday following Epiphany, these donations are brought into churches. Here all of the children who have gone out as star singers, once again in their costumes, form a procession of sometimes dozens of wise men and stars. The German Chancellor and Parliament also receive a visit from the star singers at Epiphany.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Some Germans eat a Three Kings cake, which may be a golden pastry ring filled with orange and spice representing gold, frankincense and myrrh. Most often found in Switzerland, these cakes take the form of Buchteln but for Epiphany, studded with citron, and baked as seven large buns in a round rather than square pan, forming a crown. Or they may be made of typical rich Christmas bread dough with cardamom and pearl sugar in the same seven bun crown shape. These varieties are most typically purchased in supermarkets, with the trinket and gold paper crown included. As in other countries, the person who receives the piece or bun containing the trinket or whole almond becomes the king or queen for a day. Epiphany is also an especially joyful occasion for the young and young at heart, as this is the day dedicated to "plündern" – that is, when Christmas trees are "plundered" of their cookies and sweets by eager children (and adults) and when gingerbread houses, and any other good things left in the house from Christmas, are devoured. Lastly, there is a German rhyme saying, or "Bauernregel", that goes "Ist's bis Dreikönigs kein Winter, kommt keiner dahinter" meaning "If there hasn't been any winter (weather) until Epiphany, none is coming afterward." Another of these "Bauernregel", (German farmer's rules) for Epiphany states: "Dreikönigsabend hell und klar, verspricht ein gutes Weinjahr" or "If the eve of Epiphany is bright and clear, it foretells a good wine year."


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In Greece, Cyprus and the Greek diaspora throughout the world, the feast is called the Theophany, or colloquially "Phōta" (, "Lights"). It is the "Great Celebration" or "Theotromi". In some regions of Macedonia (West) it is the biggest festival of the year. The Baptism of Christ symbolizes the rebirth of man, its importance is such that until the fourth century Christians celebrated New Year on this day. Customs revolve around the Great Blessing of the Waters. It marks the end of the traditional ban on sailing, as the tumultuous winter seas are cleansed of the mischief-prone "kalikántzaroi", the goblins that try to torment God-fearing Christians through the festive season. During this ceremony, a cross is thrown into the water, and the men compete to retrieve it for good luck. The "Phota" form the middle of another festive triduum, together with Epiphany Eve, when children sing the Epiphany carols, and the great feast of St. John the Baptist (January 7 and eve), when the numerous Johns and Joans celebrate their name-day.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: It is a time for sanctification, which in Greece means expiation, purification of the people and protection against the influence of demons. This concept is certainly not strictly Christian, but has roots in ancient worship. In most parts of Greece a ritual called "small sanctification", "Protagiasi" or "Enlightment" is practiced on the eve of Epiphany. The priest goes door to door with the cross and a branch of basil to "sanctify" or "brighten" the rooms by sprinkling them with holy water. The "protagiasi" casts away the goblins ; bonfires are also lit in some places for that purpose. The "Great Blessing" happens in church on the day of the Epiphany. . Then the "Dive of the Cross" is performed: a cross is throwned by the priest in the sea, a nearby river, a lake or an ancient Roman cistern (as in Athens). According to popular belief, this ritual gives the water the power to cleanse and sanitize. In many places, after the dive of the cross, the locals run to the beaches or the shores of rivers or lakes to wash their agricultural tools and even icons. Indeed, according common folk belief, icons lose their original strength and power with the passage of time, but they can be restored by dipping the icons in the water cleansed by the cross. This may be a survival of ancient beliefs. Athenians held a ceremony called "washing": the statue of Athena was carried in procession to the coast of Faliro where it was washed with salt water to cleanse it and renew its sacred powers.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Celebrations in Guadeloupe have a different feel from elsewhere in the world. Epiphany here does not mean the last day of Christmas celebrations, but rather the first day of "Kannaval" (Carnival), which lasts until the evening before Ash Wednesday. Carnival, in turn, ends with the "grand brilé Vaval", the burning of Vaval, the king of the "Kannaval", amidst the cries and wails of the crowd.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In parts of southern India, Epiphany is called the Three Kings Festival and is celebrated in front of the local church like a fair. This day marks the close of the Advent and Christmas season and people remove the cribs and nativity sets at home. In Goa Epiphany may be locally known by its Portuguese name "Festa dos Reis". In the village of Reis Magos, in Goa, there is a fort called Reis Magos (Wise Men) or Três Reis Magos for Biblical Magi. Celebrations include a widely attended procession, with boys arrayed as the Magi, leading to the Franciscan Chapel of the Magi near the Goan capital of Panjim. Other popular Epiphany processions are held in Chandor. Here three young boys in regal robes and splendid crowns descend the nearby hill of Our Lady of Mercy on horseback towards the main church where a three-hour festival Mass is celebrated. The route before them is decorated with streamers, palm leaves and balloons with the smallest children present lining the way, shouting greetings to the Kings. The Kings are traditionally chosen, one each, from Chandor's three hamlets of Kott, Cavorim and Gurdolim, whose residents helped build the Chandor church in 1645.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In the past the kings were chosen only from among high-caste families, but since 1946 the celebration has been open to all. Participation is still expensive as it involves getting a horse, costumes, and providing a lavish buffet to the community afterwards, in all totaling some 100,000 rupees (about US$2,250) per king. This is undertaken gladly since having son serve as a king is considered a great honor and a blessing on the family.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Cansaulim in South Goa is similarly famous for its Three Kings festival, which draws tourists from around the state and India. Three boys are selected from the three neighboring villages of Quelim, Cansaulim and Arrosim to present the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh in a procession. Only a native of these villages may serve as king; outsiders are barred from the role. Throughout the year, excitement runs high in the villages to see who will be chosen. The boys selected are meticulously groomed, and must grow their hair long in time for the festival. The procession involves the three kings wearing jeweled red velvet robes and crowns, riding white horses decked with flowers and fine cloth, and they are shaded by colorful parasols, with a retinue of hundreds.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: The procession ends at the local church built in 1581, and in its central window a large white star hangs, and colored banners stream out across the square from those around it. Inside, the church will have been decorated with garlands. After presenting their gifts and reverencing the altar and Nativity scene, the kings take special seats of honor and assist at the High Mass.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: The Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala State, Epiphany is known by its Syriac name "Denha". Saint Thomas Christians, like other Eastern Christians, celebrate "Denha" as a great feast to commemorate the Baptism of Jesus in the river Jordan. The liturgical season "Denhakalam" ("Weeks of Epiphany") commemorates the second revelation at the Baptism and the subsequent public life of Jesus. "Denha" is celebrated on January 6 by the Syro-Malabar Church in two ways – "Pindiperunnal" ("Plantain trunk feast") and "Rakkuliperunal" ("Feast with a night bath").


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: The Irish call the day the Feast of the Epiphany or traditionally Little Christmas or "Women's Christmas" (Irish: "Nollaig na mBan"). On Nollaig na mBan, women traditionally rested and celebrated for themselves after the cooking and work of the Christmas holidays. The custom was for women to gather on this day for a special meal, but on the occasion of Epiphany accompanied by wine, to honor the Miracle at the Wedding at Cana.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Today, women may dine at a restaurant or gather in a pub in the evening. They may also receive gifts from children, grandchildren or other family members on this day. Other Epiphany customs, which symbolize the end of the Christmas season, are popular in Ireland, such as the burning the sprigs of Christmas holly in the fireplace which have been used as decorations during the past twelve days.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: The Epiphany celebration serves as the initial setting for – and anchors the action, theme, and climax of – James Joyce's short story "The Dead" from his 1914 collection, "Dubliners".


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In Italy, Epiphany is a national holiday and is associated with the figure of the Befana (the name being a corruption of the word "Epifania"), a broomstick-riding old woman who, on the night between January 5 and 6, brings gifts to children or a lump of "coal" (really black candy) for the times they have not been good during the year. The legend told of her is that, having missed her opportunity to bring a gift to the child Jesus together with the Biblical Magi, she now brings gifts to other children on that night.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Thousands of Jordanian Christians, tourists and pilgrims flock to Al-Maghtas site on the east bank of the Jordan River in January every year to mark Epiphany, where large masses and celebrations are held. "Al-Maghtas" meaning "baptism" or "immersion" in Arabic, is an archaeological World Heritage site in Jordan, officially known as "Baptism Site "Bethany Beyond the Jordan" (Al-Maghtas)". It is considered to be the original location of the Baptism of Jesus and the ministry of John the Baptist and has been venerated as such since at least the Byzantine period.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: The site has then seen several archaeological digs, four papal visits and state visits and attracts tourists and pilgrimage activity. Approximately 81,000 people visited the site in 2016, mostly European, American and Arab tourists.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Epiphany is known in Latvia as "Trijkungu diena" (Three Kings Day) by Catholics or "Zvaigznes diena" (Star Day) by Lutherans after the custom of star singing, and the Star of Bethlehem which led the Magi to the Christ Child. In the past bright stars of fabric were sewn onto the background of dark colored quilts, representing the night sky. Epiphany was a day of enjoyment, spent in horse-drawn open sleighs, and these quilts would then be taken along to cover the laps of the merry riders. If Epiphany Day was bright and mild and the sun "warmed the horses’ backs" it was said that the coming year would bring only peace. If the night before Epiphany saw clear starry skies, it meant Latvia could expect a fine harvest in the coming Summer. Weaving and wood-cutting were "bad luck", giving both men and women a proper holiday, and if a dog was heard barking on Epiphany one ought to look for his or her future spouse in that same direction. Special three-corner apple cakes are eaten on this day, and as in other countries, star singing, visiting and house blessings have long been popular.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Epiphany, celebrated on January 6, is the feast for the Roman Church that commemorates the visit of the Wise Men, the magi. However, in the Maronite Church, in accordance with the ancient tradition, it represents the public announcement of Jesus’ mission when he was baptized in the Jordan by John the Forerunner, also known as "John the Baptist". On the occasion, Lebanese Christians pray for their deceased.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: It is celebrated by attending church most often to the midnight mass by the maronites. The reason why it is at midnight is because the Christ will be passing to bless homes, also Lebanese Christians who gathered for the mass congratulate each other on that day by saying: "El Deyim Deyim" () which translates as "The permanent is permanent". They also mix dough made out of water and flour only and it rises outdoors with no yeast by being blessed.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Epiphany in North Macedonia is known as Vodici (Водици). On this day the priest throws a wooden cross into the water, to symbolize the baptism of Christ. Men jump into the cold water to retrieve the cross, and whoever retrieves it is believed to be blessed during the whole year. These are very festive gatherings with many spectacles attending the sites. Special food jelly from pork and beef meat and bones called "pacha" (пача) or "pivtii" (пивтии) is prepared the day before, but served on the day after Epiphany, together with warm local brandy, rakija (ракија). Epiphany is a non-working day for the Orthodox believers in North Macedonia.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In Malta, Epiphany is commonly known as "It-Tre Re" (The Three Kings). Until the 1980s, January 6 was a public holiday, but today the Maltese celebrate Epiphany on the first Sunday of the year. Children and students still take January 6 as a school holiday and Christmas decorations are lit up through this day on most public streets. The Maltese also have a long-standing custom of presenting concerts in honor of Epiphany, including the prestigious annual Epiphany Concert organized by the Malta Council for Culture and Arts, performed by the National Orchestra. In 2010, the Epiphany Concert which used to be held before a select audience, was opened to the general public following a decision by the President. The Ministry of Education and Culture therefore moved from the venue from the Palace to the historic Sacra Infermeria, also known as the Mediterranean Conference Centre. "Qagħaq tal-Għasel" or "tal-Qastanija" (Maltese honey rings) are typically served at Epiphany in Malta.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: The evening of January 5 marks the Twelfth Night of Christmas and is when the figurines of the three Biblical Magi are added to the nativity scene. Traditionally in Mexico, as with many other Latin American countries, Santa Claus doesn't hold the cachet that he does in the United States. Rather, it is the Magi who are the bearers of gifts, who leave presents in or near the shoes of small children. Mexican families also commemorate the date by eating "Rosca de reyes". In modern Mexico however, and particularly in the larger cities and in the North, local traditions are now being observed and intertwined with the greater North American Santa Claus tradition, as well as with other holidays such as Halloween, due to Americanization via film and television, creating an economy of gifting tradition that spans from Christmas Day until January 6.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Peru shares Epiphany customs with Spain and the rest of Latin America. Peruvian national lore holds that Francisco Pizarro was the first to call Lima "Ciudad de los Reyes" (City of the Kings) because the date of the Epiphany coincided with the day he and his two companions searched for, and found, an ideal location for a new capital. Even more popular in Peru than gift giving is the custom of the "Bajada de Reyes" when parties are held in honor of the taking down of family and public nativity scenes, and carefully putting them away until the next Christmas.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In the Philippines, Epiphany is known as "Three Kings' Day" and "Pasko ng Matatanda" ("Feast of the Elderly"), and marks the official close of the country's Christmas season. As a day of feasting, some Filipinos celebrate with gift-giving and greet each other "Happy Three Kings!".


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In Poland, Epiphany, or "Trzech Króli" (Three Kings) is celebrated in grand fashion, with huge parades held welcoming the Wise Men, often riding on camels or other animals from the zoo, in Warsaw, Poznań and over 2,000 other cities. The Wise Men pass out sweets, children process in renaissance wear, carols are sung, and living nativity scenes are enacted, all similar to celebrations in Italy or Spain, pointing to the country's Catholic heritage. Children may also dress in colors signifying Europe, Asia, and Africa (the supposed homes of the Wise Men) and at the end of the parade route, church leaders often preach on the spiritual significance of the Epiphany. In 2011, by an act of Parliament, Epiphany was restored as an official non-working national public holiday in Poland for the first time since it was canceled under communism fifty years earlier.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Poles though take small boxes containing chalk, a gold ring, incense and a piece of amber, in memory of the gifts of the Magi, to church to be blessed. Once at home, they inscribe "K+M+B+" and the year with the blessed chalk above every door in the house, according to tradition, to provide protection against illness and misfortune for those within. The letters, with a cross after each one, are said to stand either for the traditionally applied names of the Three Kings in Polish – Kacper, Melchior and Baltazar – or for a Latin inscription meaning "Christ bless this house." They remain above the doors all year until they are inadvertently dusted off or replaced by new markings the next year. On January 6, as in much of Europe, a Polish style Three Kings cake is served with a coin or almond baked inside. The one who gets it is king or queen for the day, signified by wearing the paper crown that decorates the cake. According to Polish tradition this person will be lucky in the coming year. Recipes vary by region. Some serve a French-type puff pastry cake with almond paste filling, others favor a sponge cake with almond cream filling, and yet others enjoy a light fruitcake.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Epiphany in Poland also signals the beginning of "zapusty" or carnival time, when "pączki" (doughnuts) and "chrust" (Angel wings) are served.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In Portugal, Epiphany, January 6, is called "dia dos Reis" (Day of the Kings), during which the traditional "Bolo Rei" (King cake) is baked and eaten. Plays and pageants are popular on this day, and parents often hold parties for their children. Epiphany is also a time when the traditional Portuguese dances known as "Mouriscadas" and "Paulitos" are performed. The latter is an elaborate stick dance. The dancers, who are usually men but may be dressed as women, manipulate sticks or staves (in imitation swords) in two opposing lines. It is a tradition too in Portugal for people to gather in small groups and to go from house to house to sing the "Reis" (meaning "Kings") which are traditional songs about the life of Jesus. The singers also bring greetings to the owners of the house. After singing for a while outside, they are invited in, and the owners of the house offer them sweets, liqueurs, and other Epiphany delicacies. These "Reis" usually begin on Epiphany eve and last until January 20.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Portuguese village of Vale de Salgueiro encourages children, some as young as five, to smoke in a tradition that does not have clear roots.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In Puerto Rico, Epiphany is an important festive holiday, and is commonly referred as "Dia de Los Tres Reyes Magos", or "Three Kings' Day". It is traditional for children to fill a box with fresh grass or hay and put it underneath their bed, for the Wise Men's horses. In Puerto Rico many artisans make commemorative historical figures of the Magi on horseback. The Three Wise Men of Puerto Rico, according to local tradition, arrive on horseback instead of camels as in other countries where the custom is also ingrained. The three kings will then take the grass to feed the horses and will leave gifts under the bed as a reward. These traditions are analogous to the customs of children leaving mince pies and sherry out for Father Christmas in Western Europe or leaving milk and cookies for Santa Claus in the United States. On the day before the feast (January 5), the "Rosario de Reyes" or "Promesa de Reyes" is celebrated with songs (aguinaldos) promised to be sung to the Kings, usually before a little table with figures of the Nativity and the Kings or with the Kings alone and their camels. This celebration is accompanied with a chicken soup, snacks, and drinks.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In Romania and Moldova, Epiphany is called "Boboteaza". In south-eastern Romania, following religious services, men participate in winter horse races. Before the race, the men line up with their horses before the priest, who will bless them by sprinkling them with green branches that have been dipped into Epiphany holy water. Sometimes people desire to have this blessing for themselves as well. Winning the Epiphany race is a great honor for both horse and rider, while the post-race celebrations, win or not, are highly festive. As in other Eastern Orthodox heritage countries, water rites play a special role on this day. A unique piece of Romanian folk wisdom holds that if a girl slips on ice–or, better yet, falls into water–on Epiphany, she will surely marry before the year is out.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In Transylvania (Erdély/Siebenbürgen), Lutheran and Reformed Christians of Hungarian and Saxon descent celebrate Epiphany with star singing and house blessing, as in Central Europe. The star singing custom had long ago spread throughout Romania and the Republic of Moldova. Here the star, called "Steaua", today resembles a stained-glass lantern and features an Orthodox icon at its center, a tradition pointing to the blending of both East and West which characterizes the two nations on the river Prut.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: The Epiphany, celebrated in Russia on January 19, marks the baptism of Jesus in the Eastern Orthodox Church. As elsewhere in the Orthodox world, the Russian Church conducts the rite of the Great Blessing of the Waters, also known as "the Great Sanctification of the Water" on that day (or the eve before). The priest-led procession could simply proceed to the font, but traditionally the worshipers would go to a nearby lake or river.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Historical records indicate that the blessing of the waters events took place at the courts of Moscow Czars since no later than 1525. According to historians, the blessing of the waters procession was the most magnificent of the annual Czar's court's ceremonies, comparable only to such special events as royal coronations and weddings. After a divine liturgy in the Kremlin's Dormition Cathedral, the procession, led by the Czar and the Patriarch of Moscow would proceed to the frozen Moskva River. An ice-hole would have been made in the ice, called "Iordan'" (in memory of the Jordan River), over which a small gazebo would have been erected and decorated with holy icons, one of which would depict the Baptism of Christ. The Patriarch would immerse his cross into the river's water; and sprinkle the Czar, his boyars, and the banners of Czar's army's regiments with the holy water. A load of holy water would then be brought back to the Kremlin, to be used in blessing the Czar's palace. On a smaller scale, similar events would take place in the parishes throughout the nation.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Believing that on this day water becomes holy and is imbued with special powers, Russians cut holes called "Iordan'" in the ice of lakes and rivers, often in the shape of the cross, to bathe in the freezing water. This practice is said to be popularized comparatively recently; it was fairly uncommon in the czarist days, but has flourished since the 1990s.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Participants in the ritual may dip themselves under the water three times, honoring the Holy Trinity, to symbolically wash away their sins from the past year, and to experience a sense of spiritual rebirth. Orthodox priests are on hand to bless the water, and rescuers are on hand to monitor the safety of the swimmers in the ice-cold water. Others limit their participation in the Epiphany rites to those conducted inside churches, where priests perform the Great Blessing of Waters, both on Epiphany Eve and Epiphany (Theophany) proper. The water is then distributed to attendees who may store it to use in times of illness, to bless themselves, family members, and their homes, or to drink. Some Russians think any water – even from the taps on the kitchen sink – poured or bottled on Epiphany becomes holy water, since all the water in the world is blessed this day. In the more mild climate of the southern city of Sochi meanwhile, where air and water temperatures both hover in the low to mid 10-degree Celsius range (50 degrees Fahrenheit) in January, thousands of people jump into the Black Sea at midnight each year on Epiphany and begin to swim in celebration of the feast.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In Slovenia, especially in the Western part of the country, during the first day of the year and on Epiphany, children go from house to house because villagers will give them almonds, dried figs, nuts, cookies or other good things that they have at home.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In Spain and some Latin American countries, Epiphany day is called "El Día de Reyes" i.e., the day when a group of Kings or Magi, as related in the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, arrived to worship and bring three gifts to the baby Jesus after following a star in the heavens. In Spanish tradition on January 6, three of the Kings: Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthazar, representing Arabia, the Orient, and Africa, arrived on horse, camel and elephant, bringing respectively gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus. Before going to bed on the eve of January 6, children polish their shoes and leave them ready for the Kings' presents to be put in them. The next morning presents will "appear" under their shoes, or if the children are deemed to have misbehaved during the year, coal (usually a lump of hard sugar candy dyed black, called Carbón Dulce). Most towns in Spain arrange colorful parades representing the arrival of the "Reyes Magos" to town so children can see them on their camels or carriages before they go to bed. The oldest of these parades is held in Alcoi, Alacant – Alicante (Valencian Community) which has hosted an annual parade since 1885. Sweet wine, nibbles, fruit and milk are left for the Kings and their camels. In Spain, children typically receive presents on this day, rather than on Christmas, though this tradition has changed lately, and children now receive presents on both days. The Epiphany bread/cake is known as "Roscón", "Tortell de Reis" in Catalan, and in Mexico as "Rosca de reyes".


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Epiphany is a public holiday in Sweden, where it is known as "trettondedag jul" ("Thirteenth Day Yule"), as January 6 is the thirteenth day after Christmas Eve, the main day on which Christmas is celebrated in Sweden. However, the end of the Christmas celebration is on January 13, St. Knut's Day, more commonly known as "Twentieth Day Yule" (or "Twentieth Day Knut").


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In Louisiana, Epiphany is the beginning of the Carnival season, during which it is customary to bake King Cakes, similar to the Rosca mentioned above. It is round in shape, filled with cinnamon, glazed white, and coated in traditional carnival color sanding sugar. The person who finds the doll (or bean) must provide the next king cake. The interval between Epiphany and Mardi Gras is sometimes known as "king cake season", and many may be consumed during this period. The Carnival season begins on King's Day (Epiphany), and there are many traditions associated with that day in Louisiana and along the Catholic coasts of Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. King cakes are first sold then, Carnival krewes begin having their balls on that date, and the first New Orleans krewe parades in street cars that night.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In Colonial Virginia, Epiphany, or 12th Night, was an occasion of great merriment, and was considered especially appropriate as a date for balls and dancing, as well as for weddings. On 12th Night, Great Cake was prepared, consisting in two giant layers of fruitcake, coated and filled with royal icing. Custom dictated that the youngest child present cut and serve the cake and whoever found the bean or prize in the Twelfth Night cake was crowned "King of the Bean" similar to the European king cake custom.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In Erie, Pennsylvania, as part of an Epiphany party a king is hidden in a cake, and whichever child finds the king in the cake is crowned king for the day.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Tarpon Springs, Florida is known for elaborate religious ceremonies related to the Greek Orthodox Church, the most notable being the Epiphany celebration. The Metropolitan of Atlanta usually presides over the blessings, sometimes joined by the Archbishop of America. The blessings conclude with the ceremonial throwing of a wooden cross into the city's Spring Bayou, and boys ages 16 to 18 diving in to retrieve it. Whoever recovers the cross is said to be blessed for a full year. Following the blessings, the celebration moves to the Sponge Docks where food and music are made part of the festivities. Tarpon Springs has given itself the nickname Epiphany City. The celebration attracts Greek Americans from across the country, and the city's population is known to triple in size for that day.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: In Manitou Springs, Colorado, Epiphany is marked by the Great Fruitcake Toss. Fruitcakes are thrown, participants dress as kings, fools, etc., and competitions are held for the farthest throw, the most creative projectile device, etc. As with customs in other countries, the fruitcake toss is a sort of festive symbolic leave-taking of the Christmas holidays until next year, but with humorous twist, since fruitcake is considered with a certain degree of derision in most of the United States, and is the source of many jokes.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: On January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany has long been an important celebration in Wales, known there as "Ystwyll". In Glamorganshire, a huge loaf or cake was prepared, which was then divided up into three parts to represent Christ, the Virgin Mary and the Biblical Magi. A large company of neighbors was invited to be present at the dividing of the cake in which rings were concealed. Whoever discovered a ring in his piece of cake (or bread) was elected as King or Queen and presided over the day's festivities. January 6 was the old-calendar Christmas Day and many of the festivities connected with it lasted well over a century after the new calendar was introduced in 1752.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Wales shares other Twelfth Night customs with its neighbor, England, including the Yule log, and the wassail to wish farmers a good harvest in the coming year, but here the Yule log's ashes were saved then buried along with the seeds planted in the ensuing spring to ensure a good harvest, while the wassail bowl was taken to the house of newlyweds or to a family which had recently come to live in the district and songs sung outside the house door. Those inside the house would recite or sing special verses, to be answered by the revelers outside.


title: Epiphany (holiday)

text: Another Welsh custom associated with Epiphany was the Hunting of the Wren. A group of young men would go out into the countryside to capture a wren (the smallest bird in the British Isles after the goldcrest/firecrest). The bird would then be placed in a small, decorated cage and carried around from house to house and shown in exchange for money or gifts of food and drink. (If a wren could not be found then a sparrow would have to undergo the ritual.)


title: Happiness

text: Happiness, in the context of mental or emotional states, is positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishing and eudaimonia.


title: Happiness

text: Since the 1960s, happiness research has been conducted in a wide variety of scientific disciplines, including gerontology, social psychology and positive psychology, clinical and medical research and happiness economics.


title: Happiness

text: "Happiness" is subject to debate on usage and meaning, and on possible differences in understanding by culture.


title: Happiness

text: Some usages can include both of these factors. Subjective well-being (swb) includes measures of current experience (emotions, moods, and feelings) and of life satisfaction. For instance Sonja Lyubomirsky has described happiness as ""the experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combined with a sense that one's life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile."" Eudaimonia, is a Greek term variously translated as happiness, welfare, flourishing, and blessedness. Xavier Landes has proposed that happiness include measures of subjective wellbeing, mood and eudaimonia.


title: Happiness

text: These differing uses can give different results. For instance the correlation of income levels has been shown to be substantial with life satisfaction measures, but to be far weaker, at least above a certain threshold, with current experience measures. Whereas Nordic countries often score highest on swb surveys, South American countries score higher on affect-based surveys of current positive life experiencing.


title: Happiness

text: The implied meaning of the word may vary depending on context, qualifying happiness as a polyseme and a fuzzy concept.


title: Happiness

text: A further issue is when measurement is made; appraisal of a level of happiness at the time of the experience may be different from appraisal via memory at a later date.


title: Happiness

text: People have been trying to measure happiness for centuries. In 1780, the English utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham proposed that as happiness was the primary goal of humans it should be measured as a way of determining how well the government was performing.


title: Happiness

text: Today, happiness is typically measured using self-report surveys. Self-reporting is prone to cognitive biases and other sources of errors, such as peak–end rule. Studies show that memories of felt emotions can be inaccurate. Affective forecasting research shows that people are poor predictors of their future emotions, including how happy they will be.


title: Happiness

text: Happiness economists are not overly concerned with philosophical and methodological issues and continue to use questionaries to measure average happiness of populations.


title: Happiness

text: Since 2012, a World Happiness Report has been published. Happiness is evaluated, as in "How happy are you with your life as a whole?", and in emotional reports, as in "How happy are you now?," and people seem able to use happiness as appropriate in these verbal contexts. Using these measures, the report identifies the countries with the highest levels of happiness. In subjective well-being measures, the primary distinction is between cognitive life evaluations and emotional reports.


title: Happiness

text: The UK began to measure national well-being in 2012, following Bhutan, which had already been measuring gross national happiness.


title: Happiness

text: Academic economists and international economic organizations are arguing for and developing multi-dimensional dashboards which combine subjective and objective indicators to provide a more direct and explicit assessment of human wellbeing. There are many different contributors to adult wellbeing, that happiness judgements partly reflect the presence of salient constraints, and fairness, autonomy, community and engagement are key aspects of happiness and wellbeing throughout the life course. Although these factors play a role in happiness, they do not all need to improve simultaneously to help one achieve an increase in happiness.


title: Happiness

text: Philosophy of happiness is often discussed in conjunction with ethics. Traditional European societies, inherited from the Greeks and from Christianity, often linked happiness with morality, which was concerned with the performance in a certain kind of role in a certain kind of social life.


title: Happiness

text: Happiness remains a difficult term for moral philosophy. Throughout the history of moral philosophy, there has been an oscillation between attempts to define morality in terms of consequences leading to happiness and attempts to define morality in terms that have nothing to do with happiness at all.


title: Happiness

text: Connections between happiness and morality have been studied in a variety of ways in psychology. Empirical research suggests that laypeople's judgments of a person's happiness in part depend on perceptions of that person's morality, suggesting that judgments of others' happiness involve moral evaluation. A large body of research also suggests that engaging in prosocial behavior can increase happiness.


title: Happiness

text: Ethicists have made arguments for how humans should behave, either individually or collectively, based on the resulting happiness of such behavior. Utilitarians, such as John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham, advocated the greatest happiness principle as a guide for ethical behavior.


title: Happiness

text: Aristotle described "eudaimonia" (Greek: ) as the goal of human thought and action. Eudaimonia is often translated to mean happiness, but some scholars contend that "human flourishing" may be a more accurate translation. Aristotle's use of the term in Nicomachiean Ethics extends beyond the general sense of happiness.


title: Happiness

text: In the "Nicomachean Ethics", written in 350 BCE, Aristotle stated that happiness (also being well and doing well) is the only thing that humans desire for their own sake, unlike riches, honour, health or friendship. He observed that men sought riches, or honour, or health not only for their own sake but also in order to be happy. For Aristotle the term "eudaimonia", which is translated as 'happiness' or 'flourishing' is an activity rather than an emotion or a state. Eudaimonia (Greek: εὐδαιμονία) is a classical Greek word consists of the word "eu" ("good" or "well-being") and "daimōn" ("spirit" or "minor deity", used by extension to mean one's lot or fortune). Thus understood, the happy life is the good life, that is, a life in which a person fulfills human nature in an excellent way. Specifically, Aristotle argued that the good life is the life of excellent rational activity. He arrived at this claim with the "Function Argument". Basically, if it is right, every living thing has a function, that which it uniquely does. For Aristotle human function is to reason, since it is that alone which humans uniquely do. And performing one's function well, or excellently, is good. According to Aristotle, the life of excellent rational activity is the happy life. Aristotle argued a second-best life for those incapable of excellent rational activity was the life of moral virtue. The key question Aristotle seeks to answer is "What is the ultimate purpose of human existence?" a lot of people are seeking pleasure, health, and a good reputation. It is true that those have a value, but none of them can occupy the place of the greatest good for which humanity aims. It may seem like all goods are a means to obtain happiness, but Aristotle said that happiness is always an end in itself.


title: Happiness

text: Friedrich Nietzsche critiqued the English Utilitarians' focus on attaining the greatest happiness, stating that "Man does not strive for happiness, only the Englishman does". Nietzsche meant that making happiness one's ultimate "goal" and the aim of one's existence, in his words "makes one contemptible." Nietzsche instead yearned for a culture that would set higher, more difficult goals than "mere happiness." He introduced the quasi-dystopic figure of the "last man" as a kind of thought experiment against the utilitarians and happiness-seekers. these small, "last men" who seek after only their own pleasure and health, avoiding all danger, exertion, difficulty, challenge, struggle are meant to seem contemptible to Nietzsche's reader. Nietzsche instead wants us to consider the value of what is difficult, what can only be earned through struggle, difficulty, pain and thus to come to see the affirmative value suffering and "unhappiness" truly play in creating everything of great worth in life, including all the highest achievements of human culture, not least of all philosophy.


title: Happiness

text: Theories on how to achieve happiness include "encountering unexpected positive events", "seeing a significant other", and "basking in the acceptance and praise of others".


title: Happiness

text: Research on positive psychology, well-being, eudaimonia and happiness, and the theories of Diener, Ryff, Keyes, and Seligmann covers a broad range of levels and topics, including "the biological, personal, relational, institutional, cultural, and global dimensions of life." The psychiatrist George Vaillant and the director of longitudinal Study of Adult Development at Harvard University Robert J. Waldinger found that those who were happiest and healthier reported strong interpersonal relationships. Research showed that adequate sleep contributes to well-being. Good mental health and good relationships contribute more than income to happiness. In 2018, Laurie R. Santos course titled ""Psychology and the Good Life"" became the most popular course in the history of Yale University and was made available for free online to non-Yale students.


title: Happiness

text: Some commentators focus on the difference between the hedonistic tradition of seeking pleasant and avoiding unpleasant experiences, and the eudaimonic tradition of living life in a full and deeply satisfying way. Kahneman has said that "“When you look at what people want for themselves, how they pursue their goals, they seem more driven by the search for satisfaction than the search for happiness.”


title: Happiness

text: Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a pyramid depicting the levels of human needs, psychological, and physical. When a human being ascends the steps of the pyramid, self-actualization is reached. Beyond the routine of needs fulfillment, Maslow envisioned moments of extraordinary experience, known as peak experiences, profound moments of love, understanding, happiness, or rapture, during which a person feels more whole, alive, self-sufficient, and yet a part of the world. This is similar to the flow concept of Mihály Csíkszentmihályi. The concept of flow is the idea that after our basic needs are met we can achieve greater happiness by altering our consciousness by becoming so engaged in a task that we lose our sense of time. Our intense focus causes us to forget any other issues, which in return promotes positive emotions.


title: Happiness

text: Erich Fromm said ""Happiness is the indication that man has found the answer to the problem of human existence: the productive realization of his potentialities and thus, simultaneously, being one with the world and preserving the integrity of his self. In spending his energy productively he increases his powers, he „burns without being consumed."""


title: Happiness

text: Self-determination theory relates intrinsic motivation to three needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness.


title: Happiness

text: Ronald Inglehart has traced cross-national differences in the level of happiness based on data from the World Values Survey. He finds that the extent to which a society allows free choice has a major impact on happiness. When basic needs are satisfied, the degree of happiness depends on economic and cultural factors that enable free choice in how people live their lives. Happiness also depends on religion in countries where free choice is constrained.


title: Happiness

text: Sigmund Freud said that all humans strive after happiness, but that the possibilities of achieving it are restricted because we "are so made that we can derive intense enjoyment only from a contrast and very little from the state of things."


title: Happiness

text: Since 2000 the field of positive psychology has expanded drastically in terms of scientific publications, and has produced many different views on causes of happiness, and on factors that correlate with happiness. Numerous short-term self-help interventions have been developed and demonstrated to improve happiness.


title: Happiness

text: Various writers, including Camus and Tolle, have written that the act of searching or seeking for happiness is incompatible with being happy.


title: Happiness

text: John Stuart Mill believed that for the great majority of people happiness is best achieved en passant, rather than striving for it directly. This meant no self-consciousness, scrutiny, self-interrogation, dwelling on, thinking about,


title: Happiness

text: imagining or questioning on one's happiness. Then, if otherwise fortunately circumstanced, one would "inhale happiness with the air you breathe."


title: Happiness

text: William Inge said that "on the whole, the happiest people seem to be those who have no particular cause for being happy except the fact that they are so." Orison Swett Marden said that "some people are born happy."


title: Happiness

text: Cognitive behavioral therapy is a popular therapeutic method used to change habits by merely changing thoughts. It focuses on emotional regulation and uses a lot of positive psychology practices. It is often used for people with depression or anxiety, and works towards how to lead a happier life.


title: Happiness

text: There is a wealth of cross-sectional studies on happiness and physical health that shows consistent positive relationships. Follow-up studies appear to show that happiness does not predict longevity in sick populations, but that it does predict longevity among healthy populations.


title: Happiness

text: Low mood is correlated with many negative life outcomes such as suicide, poor health, substance abuse, and low life expectancy. By extension, happiness protects from those negative outcomes.


title: Happiness

text: June Gruber argued that happiness may trigger a person to be more sensitive, more gullible, less successful, and more likely to undertake high risk behaviours. She also conducted studies suggesting that seeking happiness can have negative effects, such as failure to meet over-high expectations. Iris Mauss has shown that the more people strive for happiness, the more likely they will set up too high of standards and feel disappointed. One study shows that women who value happiness more tend to react less positively to happy emotions. A 2012 study found that psychological well-being was higher for people who experienced both positive and negative emotions.


title: Happiness

text: Jeremy Bentham believed that public policy should attempt to maximize happiness, and he even attempted to estimate a "hedonic calculus". Thomas Jefferson put the "pursuit of happiness" on the same level as life and liberty in the United States Declaration of Independence. Presently, many countries and organizations regularly measure population happiness through large-scale surveys, e.g., Bhutan.


title: Happiness

text: Richer nations tend to have higher measures of happiness than poorer nations. The relationship between wealth and happiness is not linear and the same GDP increase in poor countries will have more effect on happiness than in wealthy countries.


title: Happiness

text: Some political scientists argue that life satisfaction is positively related to the social democratic model of a generous social safety net, pro-worker labor market regulations, and strong labor unions. Others argue that happiness is strongly correlated with economic freedom, preferably within the context of a western mixed economy, with free press and a democracy.


title: Happiness

text: Personal happiness can be affected by cultural factors. Hedonism appears to be more strongly related to happiness in more individualistic cultures.


title: Happiness

text: One theory is that higher SWB in richer countries is related to their more individualistic cultures. Individualistic cultures may satisfy intrinsic motivations to a higher degree that collectivistic cultures, and fulfilling intrinsic motivations, as opposed to extrinsic motivations, may relate to greater levels of happiness, leading to more happiness in individualistic cultures.


title: Happiness

text: Cultural views on happiness have changed over time. For instance Western concern about childhood being a time of happiness has occurred only since the 19th century. Not all cultures seek to maximize happiness, and some cultures are averse to happiness. It has been found in Western cultures that individual happiness is the most important. Some other cultures have opposite views and tend to be aversive to the idea of individual happiness. For example, people living in Eastern Asian cultures focus more on the need for happiness within relationships with others and even find personal happiness to be harmful to fulfilling happy social relationships.


title: Happiness

text: People in countries with high cultural religiosity tend to relate their life satisfaction less to their emotional experiences than people in more secular countries.


title: Happiness

text: Happiness forms a central theme of Buddhist teachings. For ultimate freedom from suffering, the Noble Eightfold Path leads its practitioner to Nirvana, a state of everlasting peace. Ultimate happiness is only achieved by overcoming craving in all forms. More mundane forms of happiness, such as acquiring wealth and maintaining good friendships, are also recognized as worthy goals for lay people (see "sukha"). Buddhism also encourages the generation of loving kindness and compassion, the desire for the happiness and welfare of all beings.


title: Happiness

text: In Advaita Vedanta, the ultimate goal of life is happiness, in the sense that duality between Atman and Brahman is transcended and one realizes oneself to be the Self in all.


title: Happiness

text: Patanjali, author of the Yoga Sutras, wrote quite exhaustively on the psychological and ontological roots of bliss.


title: Happiness

text: The Chinese Confucian thinker Mencius, who had sought to give advice to ruthless political leaders during China's Warring States period, was convinced that the mind played a mediating role between the "lesser self" (the physiological self) and the "greater self" (the moral self), and that getting the priorities right between these two would lead to sage-hood. He argued that if one did not feel satisfaction or pleasure in nourishing one's "vital force" with "righteous deeds", then that force would shrivel up (Mencius, 6A:15 2A:2). More specifically, he mentions the experience of intoxicating joy if one celebrates the practice of the great virtues, especially through music.


title: Happiness

text: Happiness or "simcha" () in Judaism is considered an important element in the service of God. The biblical verse "worship The Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs," () stresses joy in the service of God. A popular teaching by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, a 19th-century Chassidic Rabbi, is ""Mitzvah Gedolah Le'hiyot Besimcha Tamid"," it is a great mitzvah (commandment) to always be in a state of happiness. When a person is happy they are much more capable of serving God and going about their daily activities than when depressed or upset.


title: Happiness

text: The primary meaning of "happiness" in various European languages involves good fortune, blessing, or a similar happening. The meaning in Greek philosophy refers primarily to ethics.


title: Happiness

text: In Christianity, the ultimate end of human existence consists in felicity, Latin equivalent to the Greek "eudaimonia" ("blessed happiness"), described by the 13th-century philosopher-theologian Thomas Aquinas as a Beatific Vision of God's essence in the next life.


title: Happiness

text: According to Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas, man's last end is happiness: "all men agree in desiring the last end, which is happiness." Aquinas agreed with Aristotle that happiness cannot be reached solely through reasoning about consequences of acts, but also requires a pursuit of good causes for acts, such as habits according to virtue.


title: Happiness

text: According to Aquinas, happiness consists in an "operation of the speculative intellect": "Consequently happiness consists principally in such an operation, viz. in the contemplation of Divine things." And, "the last end cannot consist in the active life, which pertains to the practical intellect." So: "Therefore the last and perfect happiness, which we await in the life to come, consists entirely in contemplation. But imperfect happiness, such as can be had here, consists first and principally in contemplation, but secondarily, in an operation of the practical intellect directing human actions and passions."


title: Happiness

text: Human complexities, like reason and cognition, can produce well-being or happiness, but such form is limited and transitory. In temporal life, the contemplation of God, the infinitely Beautiful, is the supreme delight of the will. "Beatitudo", or perfect happiness, as complete well-being, is to be attained not in this life, but the next.


title: Happiness

text: Al-Ghazali (1058–1111), the Sufi thinker, wrote that "The Alchemy of Happiness", is a manual of religious instruction that is used throughout the Muslim world and widely practiced today.


title: Happiness

text: , no evidence of happiness causing improved physical health has been found; the topic is being researched at the Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.


title: Happiness

text: A positive relationship has been suggested between the volume of the brain's gray matter in the right precuneus area and one's subjective happiness score.


title: Happiness

text: Sonja Lyubomirsky has estimated that 50 percent of a given human's happiness level could be genetically determined, 10 percent is affected by life circumstances and situation, and a remaining 40 percent of happiness is subject to self-control.


title: Happiness

text: When discussing genetics and their effects on individuals it is important to first understand that genetics do not predict behavior. It is possible for genes to increase the likelihood of individuals being happier compared to others, but they do not 100 percent predict behavior.


title: Happiness

text: At this point in scientific research, it has been hard to find a lot of evidence to support this idea that happiness is affected in some way by genetics. In a 2016 study, Michael Minkov and Michael Harris Bond found that a gene by the name of SLC6A4 was not a good predictor of happiness level in humans.