The Feast of the Epiphany is one that fires the imagination of children. Strangely dressed men coming from far away, discovering a treasure lying right under everyone else's noses. How similar this is to stories of treasure maps, paupers discovered to be princes, and lost rings or oil lamps. Surely the Epiphany of our Lord is the inspiration for all these other stories!
And how much the Feast of the Epiphany has in common with our own lives, with those moments when we suddenly discover an overlooked treasure - a wonderful antique store find, a serendipitous garden arrangement, an interesting book or photo album. Even our families can be subject of 'Epiphany moments' when we see a child, a friend, a relative, or even our spouses, for a moment, as the marvellous child of God that they are. Truly, the Christ Child is discovered in each of us at the Feast of the Epiphany!
The following images can be used in several ways.
First, they can be printed out and coloured. (You may want to download them to a graphics or word processing program first, in order to ensure page breaks)
Second, they can be printed as above and used as templates or patterns for collage or mosaics. Glue the image onto stiff cardboard first. (A cereal box is a good source of the right weight of cardboard.) Some suggestions for mosaic materials are:
- Coloured construction paper torn into tiny pieces.
- Old Christmas cards or other cards cut or torn into tiny pieces.
- Eggshells, washed, dried and tossed with a small amount of paint or food colour.
- Pasta shells, coloured as the eggshells or painted when the mosaic is finished.
Third, the images can be printed and coloured as suggested above, each character cut out and glued onto stiff cardboard, and small semi-circular stands made so that the figures stand up alone. (You will have to 'fill in' some parts of each figure where they overlap another.) Children can then act out the Epiphany.
Now for the images:
