Sunday, January 22, 2012

Where are the bodies of the Magi?

Where are the bodies of the Magi?


Arminia, own photo
Tomb of the Magi in Germany Cathedral

Supposed remains of the Magi
 
If someone thought the story of the Magi or Kings who visited Jesus at his birth, was a tall tale or a myth or an invention of the Church should go to the cathedral of Cologne (Germany) and see a golden casket where they say that the relics of the Magi are lying. 

Marco Polo left us on record, in his Book of Wonders, in another location.  
According to his informants, placed in the city of Sava, located in the arid lands of ancient Persia where they departed for Jerusalem, where they were supposedly buried Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar, "in three large and beautiful graves, above each grave is a house square, round on top, well worked, and they are next to each other. " In Sava, Saveh today in Iran, there remains no trace of these tombs, if they ever existed.

The story of how they came to the city of Cologne is very bizarre. The first person who found these bodies incorrupt was St. Helena, mother of Constantine in the fourth century, a real Indiana Jones when infused knowledge reached by all kinds of Christian relics. They were brought to Constantinople and there were kept in a sarcophagus of granite. In the reign of Emperor Manuel appeared a Greek religious saint named, Eustorgio, who was elected bishop of Milan and the emperor then gave the three bodies in order to take them to this Italian city in the early twelfth century.

According to tradition, the stay was short-lived and tranquility of the Magi in Milan (which by then were uncorrupted) as the Emperor of Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, sacked the city in 1162, transferring the remains to Cologne and there continue for now. Well, not all. After centuries of claims by the Milanese authorities, in an effort to recover these mortuary remains, in the early twentieth century, a tibia, a humerus and sternum were carried solemnly to the church of San Eustorgio and placed in its old sarcophagus. That said, do not analyze them in case.

Why is celebrated on January 6th?

Clearly, if the child Jesus was born on December 25 (which did not) the year I (did not) kings of Babylon could not come to Jerusalem on January 6, even turbo that had the camels. Or the 9th of January, as claimed by the Armenian Gospel of the Infancy, which "had left their country for nine months" (Chapter XI). In contrast, the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy (also called Arabic Gospel of Pseudo-John) says something more unusual and unlikely "part of Persia at first cockcrow, came to Jerusalem at daybreak (Chapter VII). The closest thing I know that is the teleportation.

And it is still rare for the January 6 is the Epiphany, a Greek word which means "manifestation", and is awarded for good Kings Day, which began to celebrate the early third century by Eastern Christians Constantinople, to coincide with the pagan festival of the birth of the god Aion, begotten of the virgin Kore, a symbol of new times. Also on the same date in Rome celebrated the wonders of the god Dionysus for his devotees. So you had to Christianize the January 6, and later took on 25 December. And we're going to be made.

In the West began to celebrate this century in 450 V when the said Pope Leo I Epiphany defined as the "Feast of the Magi", period. Gradually other elements were added to the ride. The custom of their "funny majesties" bring gifts emerged in the mid-nineteenth century to counter the tradition of St. Nicholas, a bishop of the Eastern Church who lived in the fourth century in Asia Minor known for his generosity to children, whose name day is the 6th of December. The skinny Saint Nicholas, by these twist of fate, eventually became the plump Santa Claus.

Both sides compete each year to deliver gifts to the little house on different days. According to statistics from Servimedia, conducted in 2006, 46% d and the children receive gifts on Epiphany, or 16% of Santa Claus are exclusively on Dec. 25 and the remaining 38% are very fortunate to receive gifts of both. It is the mystery and fantasy of those days where 34% of children 4 to 8 years blindly claim to have seen the Magi or Santa Claus in person leaving gifts in their homes. And therefore, because of the 4,000 children interviewed between 4 and 12 years, 55% claimed that unblinking Santa Claus or the Three Kings come into their homes using their magic, while 25% say they do through the window and 20% believe that slip down the chimney, though, depending on the size of the belly of Santa Claus.

Kings Roscón

And in the cuisine, a Spanish or Mexican will not pass these days without a piece of Roscón of Kings. The custom of a sweet surprise inside seems to date from the time of the ancient Roman empire, with its feasts Saturnalia. When you touch the dry bean made him the "King of the Bean" and there is, according to some scholars, the term "silly bean."

Like the tradition of eating 12 grapes on New Year's Eve Roscón of the Kings also has a Spanish origin. Legend has it that a pastry chef named Aragonese Court of the French King Louis XV who used to invite kings, princes and foreign ambassadors on 6 January each year.

They regaled with cakes but were almost always of the same class, until he asked his cook to devise a new one. Then he remembered a cake that was made ​​in Zaragoza in his youth. Make a thread bread decorated with candied fruits which introduced a doubloon, a symbol of wealth and prosperity for the one who is lucky touch in tasting sweet. The king added that he who would play the currency should pay the next year developing the roscón and invite everyone to eat. It was a success and given the rank of the guests was called "twisted roll of kings." From France to Spain passed the tradition of the hand and the taste of King Philip V, although there was a precedent: the Roscón Christmas.
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