According to legend, when the robber Kneißl found out on a Monday that he was about to be executed, he said: “De Woch is catching it scho guad o.” The saying of Bazis, who is sometimes revered as a folk hero in Bavaria and who showed it to the big-headed, is gallows humor par excellence. Well, the gallows no longer threaten you these days, but when you look at the lousy weather, rising corona numbers and Monday strollers, a similarly inspired thought could occur at the moment: “The year is starting well.”
You have to be a child in Spain. Not only is the weather better than on the Munich gravel plain, the Niños in Andalusia, Castile or the Canary Islands can now look forward to the Christmas presents on January 6th – Epiphany. In a way, this is more logical than handing over presents on Christmas Eve, because according to biblical tradition, the trio from the Orient actually brought presents for the baby Jesus: gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Around Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, as they were later called, there are, however, various inconsistencies and different traditions. In the course of history there was once talk of three magicians from the Orient, three wise men or astrologers, only later did they become three kings. But even the number was not always clear: sometimes there were only two, sometimes four wise men or even twelve Persian priests. That with the Orient was also put into perspective when the three stood for the continents of Africa, Europe and Asia at some point.
The disadvantage of this tradition: when boys and girls dress up as carolers and rush from house to house on January 6th, the child who portrayed the (black) Caspar representing Africa has often smeared make-up on their faces. People who are morally up-to-date refer to this as blackfacing, so they embed it in a racist context. In the meantime, the Federation of German Catholic Youth recommends renouncing the tradition of blackening the face (even if it has a positive connotation).
However, even as a careful and discriminatory person, you shouldn’t be too strict if you see a little king with a blackened face on the streets of our congregations on January 6th. In Ismaning or Unterföhring it would also be part of the coat of arms incarnated (on each of which a crowned moor can be seen). Regardless of this, in times of pandemics it is not that easy to organize the carol-singing campaigns appropriately. Per aspera ad astra: through hardship to the stars. It is clear that singing and blessing take place outdoors, whether in Ottobrunn, Pullach or Planegg. Whoever opens the door to the little protagonists – be it three wise men or three kings – can look forward to a sonorous live experience. And feel gifted.