STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Join the pilgrimage to St. Thomas Episcopal Church on Monday in commemoration of the journey the Magi made to see the Christ Child.

Members of St. Thomas will observe Epiphany (El Dia de los Reyes Magos) with a bilingual service at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 6, with neighbors from the Hispanic community. The service will be followed by a free dinner prepared by students involved with The Community Table.

There will be toys and crowns and games and all are welcome, said Marcia Liebich, one of the organizers.

There’ll be Christmas carols in English and Spanish, prayers, a short sermon and Communion. Attendees will be given paper crowns donating justice, faith and power, according to their color. There will also be Three Kings Cake, a sweet bread-like cake shaped like a ring and garnished with the same colors as the crowns.

Sometimes the cake is also garnished with candied fruits representing jewels. Always, it has a tiny doll representing the Baby Jesus baked inside.

”Epiphany marks the 12th day of Christmas and it’s a bigger deal in the Catholic church than Protestant churches,” said Don Liebich, a member of St. Thomas. “The Episcopal Church is an offshoot of the Catholic Church so we commemorate it, too.”

Dia de los Reyes, or the Day of Kings, is much celebrated in Mexico and some Latin American countries. There they see the Magi as bearers of gifts, taking precedence over Santa. Children leave their shoes by the door, along with grass and water—not for Rudolph, but for the Wise Kings’ camels. Come morning, they rush to where their shoes are, expecting to find gifts left by the kings.

The celebration marks the year-plus journey of the Three Wise Men from Persia, now known as Iran, to worship the Christ Child. They were not Jewish, said the Rev. Jonah Kendall, but they studied Jewish scripture and they understood that Jesus was God’s son. They also were students of the constellations and, so, when an unusual star appeared in the heavens, they loaded up their food, camping supplies frankincense, incense and myrrh and followed the star.

St. Thomas Episcopal Church members began hosting the Epiphany celebration four years ago as a way to engage with the Hispanic community in the Wood River Valley.

“We did a survey with the congregation as to what we should be doing differently to be more engaged in the community. And they came up with three things: Tackling food insecurity, which we’re doing by handing out free meals on Wednesdays nights; addressing affordable housing, and addressing issues in the Hispanic community,” Liebich said. “We started participating in events the Community Table was doing around the valley and Herbert Romero encouraged us to offer St. Thomas as a venue for events, as well.”