Sunday, December 16, 2007 Sun.Star Essay: Gift of giving
TODAY, your maninay, on arriving at the gate of your house, comes down from her car or a cab and hands over the gifts wrapped in tinsels and ribbons with wrappers printed in dancing colors that St. Joseph would not have recognized. It’s evening and the whole house is a-glitter in holiday lights (fed on by modern electricity), attractive for the fragrance of special food, the lilt of a Christmas tune in the cool air.
It looks like a television ad.
It was a different picture years ago. There was a time in some places in the world when the gift-giver did not knock on the door but quietly left the gifts behind.
Across the lonely dark fields lighted only by the tropical moon and a few shy stars, the thoughtful stranger rode on a horse, marking the sight of the native bamboo-stick-and-paper parol hanging by the window as his guide. As in the old Filipino setting, the wise men, or Tatlong Hari, put the gifts they carried inside the wooden fodder container of the horses, or pasungan, out in one side of the yard, at least according to Grandma.
In some other provinces, the children entering their house left their shoes outside the door for the wise men to fill with candies and coins.
The lifestyle is different through the years but some deep-seated bidding stays the same in the story: give and love.
Imagine the Kings (or Three Wise Men, the Magi, Tres Reyes) who came to Jerusalem on camels to visit the King of kings. I once wrote about the Three Kings for a Manila magazine and looked up the trail they made, thinking it must have taken years for them to cross from somewhere in Persia to Jerusalem. It’s said that the distance was about 1200 miles and in a slow journey by camels, it would have taken almost a year to reach Jerusalem!
Long before the birth of Christ, there were a group of wise men---among them astrologers and farmers---who watched out for the appearance of a guiding star, following the prophecy about one, and the birth of the Messiah. There were, in fact, generations of wise men in Persia who climbed and entered a mountain cave, spending days in prayer there every year for hope of the star appearing. It was probably like a mission inherited by wise families of wise families.
In 6 B.C. a child-star appeared, according to a magnificent story that has stayed strong as a tradition through the years of Christianity. The boy child appeared with a cross lighting up behind him, and said, “The King of the Jews is born in Judea. Go quickly to worship him.”
There are probably legends in the men’s journey from Persia to Jerusalem, on to Bethlehem. One is about a shepherdess named Madelon who came across the wise men on their way to Bethlehem. She saw the gold, myrrh and frankincense gifts of the Magi and cried because she had none to give the infant Christ. But lo, and behold! there was an angel standing near her who waved a wand and, suddenly, flowers lined the magical road to Bethlehem. Then the girl gathered the white roses along the way to make a bouquet for Christ and rushed after the wise men for they knew where the Messiah was.
The Magi were a sacred caste, priests for Persia, and not quite kings. Their act of adoration for the newborn Christ and Messiah of the Jews reflected “hope of divine welcome and forgiveness.”
And there were not just three wise men but probably 12 who were told a star would appear to them with a message. The gifts they carried were probably more than gold, myrrh and frankincense.
It can be a long story but we’re talking of its significance---the men and the gifts---that encompasses their number and richness.
From out of the Magi’s story has come the views on gift-giving, the lessons on forgetting in order to forgive. Once a year, the feast of the Epiphany on January 6, or first Sunday after the New Year, carries the message of love and beauty within.
In the Christian culture, it inspires gift-giving, as God gave man his gift of Christ.
