3 January 6, the twelfth day after Christmas, is the feast of the Epiphany in the Christian calendar. In the eastern church it is celebrated in honor of the baptism of the infant Jesus. In the western churches it is usually taken to mark the adoration of the Magi; that is, the first manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. In England, even to this day, the sovereign marks the occasion by special offerings of gold, myrrh and frankincense, in ceremonies of great beauty and antiquity.
The evening before Epiphany is Twelfth Night, a happy event celebrated differently in various parts of the English-speaking world. The people of Herefordshire, for example, light twelve bonfires at once, in honor of the Apostles.
Other Christians, however, have celebrated January 6 as the actual birthday of Jesus. This still is the case in the Armenian Church, and was so in some parts of the Appalachian highlands as recently as the 1930s.
4 Newman, I. White, Frank C. Brown, et al., The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore (7 vols., Durham, N.C., 1952-64), I, 2416.
5lbid., I, 224.