Epiphany
Epiphany was traditionally a Christian feast to celebrate the 'shining forth' or revelation of God to humanity in human form, in the person of Jesus Christ. It included the birth of Jesus Christ; the visit of the three Magi, Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar arrived in Bethlehem; and all of Jesus' childhood events, up to his baptism in the Jordan by John the Baptist. The feast was initially based on, and viewed as a fulfillment of, the Jewish Feast of Lights. This was fixed on January 6, but over time the western churches decided to celebrate Christmas on December 25. The eastern churches continued to treat 6th January as the day marking Jesus's birth. This has given rise in the west to the notion of a twelve day festival, starting on 25th December, and ending on 6th January, called the twelve days of Christmas.
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 Holy Trinity at the time of his baptism. Usually called the Feast of the Theophany,it is one of the great feasts of the liturgical year; "theophany" is Greek for "God shining forth".
The Irish call this day Little Christmas.
An Epiphany is therefore any turning point in a project or scheme, usually for the good.
Epiphany can also refer to a web browser for Unix-like systems. See Epiphany web browser.
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