Talk:Epiphany (holiday)

Revelation of the Magi should not link here

Revelation of the Magi is a book by Brett Landau. That title should not redirect here. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.60.126.246 (talk) 21:47, 25 December 2017 (UTC)

Landau does not have an article, and the term was in-use well before Landau's book was published. Unless you can make a case for an article, there's no reason the redirect shouldn't point here. Walter Görlitz (talk) 07:50, 29 December 2017 (UTC)

I think that "revelation of the magi" should have a disambiguation page. The "Revelation of the Magi" is a Christian pseudepigraphon, as well as a book by it's translator, Brent C. Landau (Revelation of the Magi: The Lost Tale of the Wise Men's Journey to Bethlehem) based on it. When searching "revelation of the magi" on Google and Bing, the results talk of the 2, not the Epiphany. I've never heard of the phrase "Revelation of the magi" being used as another term of the Epiphany (although, yes WP:NWFCTM applies), but I don't see any results relating to it when I search it up. It's not even listed as another name in the article or on Britannica or any site I searched. The only thing coming close to it is this from worldhistory.org

"Another Greek term, epiphaneia ("appearance" or "manifestation") contributed to the English word 'epiphany,' a revelation."

Which I ... guess that would make "revelation of the magi" synonymous with the Epiphany? Or could you provide some examples for the Epiphany being called the Revelation of the Magi?

the WP:PRIMARYTOPIC would be about the Christian pseudepigraphon, not another name for the Epiphany, i think. And creating an article isn't a bad idea, one for the book and one for the pseudepigraphon. thoughts? — I'ma editor2022 ^{(🗣️💬 |📖📚)} 20:05, 8 January 2024 (UTC)

Gingerbread tradition in Finland

The section "Finland" says:

Piparkakut or Finnish gingerbread cookies, in the shape of a star, are a treat typically served on this day. These cookies are broken in the palm of one's hand, while making a silent wish. If a piparkakku star should break into three pieces, and all three are eaten without speaking a word, it is said that the wish will come true.

I have lived in Finland all my life and have never heard of this tradition. Neither apparently has any other Finn. This came to my attention because of a question at the reference desk on the Finnish Wikipedia, where a user asked if anyone had ever heard of this tradition. Apparently the mention about this tradition was added ten years ago and marked as unsourced eight years ago, and it has been unsourced ever since. Has anyone ever heard of this tradition or can it finally be removed as unsourced for almost a decade? JIP | Talk 01:06, 6 January 2021 (UTC)

Astronomical Connection

My understanding is that the Epiphany is the first day where the derivative of the day length is enough that you notice the day getting longer.

Thus it seems like a revelation and caps off the "12 days of Christmas". You might wonder why Christmas isn't quite aligned with the solstice and it's because the Epiphany is aligned against an astronomical event and the Christmas season is aligned iwth that. I'd like to see that elaborated in this article. 50.48.95.209 (talk) 22:54, 6 January 2025 (UTC)

Edits by User:TheJoyfulTentmaker

User:TheJoyfulTentmaker has added the Arabic name for the holiday twice to this English Wikipedia article. I would ask that he please gain consensus for doing this. "Eid al-Ghitas" is not an English-language name used for the Epiphany and I think that is should not be in the lede. I invite others to comment here to share their comments. I am pinging User:Pbritti and User:Indyguy to this discussion as they are both heavily involved in editing WikiProject Christianity-related articles. Thanks, Anupam^Talk 04:28, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

Yeah, looks like there isn't a good case for including that language's name in the lead. I'm unaware of the Epiphany being something particularly celebrated by Arab Christians compared to other apostolic traditions. ~ Pbritti (talk) 04:33, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

Hi, thanks for starting this discussion. I added two English sources, and there are many more with various spelling variations of Eid al-Ghitas (Ghettas, Ghits, Ghitas, and it has even entered Turkish as Kiddes.) Why wouldn't it belong to the lede? Epiphany isn't an originally English word either. Both Epiphany and Eid al-Ghitas are borrowed from other languages, but used in English sources. TheJoyfulTentmaker (talk) 04:42, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

@A455bcd9: I'd be curious about your thoughts, if you have time. TheJoyfulTentmaker (talk) 04:46, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

Hi @TheJoyfulTentmaker. I agree with other editors: it's not needed in the lede. In Epiphany_(holiday)#Oriental_Orthodox we mention the local names so we can add the Arabic one there. a455bcd9 (Antoine) (talk) 09:13, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

The mention in the section on Egypt seems appropriate to me. However, I don't think it belongs in the Etymology section because that is talking about the derivation of the English term Epiphany. Unless there is a reliable source stating that the English word is derived from the Arabic one (which I strongly doubt), it's not pertinent in that section. Indyguy (talk) 04:54, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

WP:UEIA "The body of each article, preferably in its first paragraph, should list all frequently used names by which its subject is widely known. " ... And adding more English-language sources that use Al Ghitas. I don't understand why you believe it should be removed from the lead. [1], [2], [3], [4]. TheJoyfulTentmaker (talk) 05:18, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

References