According to Scottish custom, the first Monday of the new year was the time to give children and servants a small gift, or handsel. Literally something given into the hands of someone else, the gift itself was less important than the good luck it signified. The handsel was popular as a new year’s gift from the 14th to 19th centuries, but it also had a broader application to mark any new situation. It continues today in the form of a housewarming gift to someone moving into a new home.
Epiphany, which is also known as Three Kings Day, is celebrated on this date. According to the New Testament’s Gospels, it was on this date that the Magi, the three wise men or kings, venerated and brought gifts to the infant Jesus. The word epiphany is not specific to Christianity, as Zeus’s alias, Epiphanes, can attest. It comes from the Greek epiphaneia, meaning “manifestation.”
In many countries, Three Kings Day is a traditional time of gift giving. Bake a King Cake with a lucky bean inside! Whoever finds the bean is the king of the feast. Alternatively, make yourself a delicious Epiphany Tart—a Victorian-era jam tart!
Born
Joan of Arc(French heroine)–
Jedediah Smith(explorer)–
Clarence King(founder of the U.S. Geological Survey)–
Carl Sandburg(poet)–
Tom Mix(actor)–
Loretta Young(actress)–
Cary Middlecoff(golfer)–
Earl Scruggs(musician)–
E.L. Doctorow(writer)–
Bonnie Franklin(actress)–
Rowan Atkinson(actor)–
Nigella Lawson(chef)–
Died
Theodore Roosevelt(26th U.S. president)–
Robert H.W. Welch, Jr.(founder of the John Birch Society)–
Rudolph Nureyev(ballet dancer)–
Dizzy Gillespie(musician)–
Lou Rawls(singer)–
Pat Harrington(actor)–
Events
George Washington married Martha Dandridge Custis –
Albany designated the permanent capital of NY state –
Indianapolis designated as the capital of the state of Indiana –
S.F.B. Morse demonstrated his completed telegraph at the Speedwell Iron Works –
James Plimpton received a patent for improved roller skates –
Pendleton Act reformed U.S. civil service, initiating competitive examinations for placement –
First women’s six-day bicycle race began, N.Y.C. –
New Mexico admitted to the Union as the 47th state –
President FDR delivered his Four Freedoms speech to the U.S. Congress, summarizing the goals Americans were ready to defend –
First around-the-world commercial flight completed by Pan American Airways –
George H. W. Bush and Barbara Pierce were married –
U.S. and South Vietnamese troops launched a major offensive against the Viet-Cong stronghold in the Mekong River delta, the first direct commitment of U.S. troops to combat in that area (Vietnam War) –
Schoolhouse Rock! premiered –
Global Television Network in Ontario began programming –
First quadruplets to be conceived in a test tube were born to an Australian woman –
A baby lion-tailed macaque named Bosco was born at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington. Lion-tailed macaques are among the most threatened of all macaque species. –
Defending women’s figure skating national champion Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the right kneecap in an off-ice attack by an unidentified assailant at the U.S. Olympic trials in Detroit, Michigan –
NASA unveiled a breathtaking snapshot of the surface of Mars shot in color by its Spirit rover. The new color image was the sharpest photograph ever taken on Mars –
Weather
Seattle, Washington, received 4 feet of snow, many barns were destroyed –
Last day of severe Arctic outbreak in Midwest and South: -10 degrees F, Atlanta, Georgia –
14.9 inches of snow fell in Chicago, Illinois –
Sixty-nine degrees F, Boston, Massachusetts –
Temperatures in Miami, Florida, dropped to 35°F, causing iguanas to enter a state of hibernation and fall out of trees. –
