Sorry, Joe: Original Jan. 6 Committee Were Three Wise Men

Wise men are in short supply on Capitol Hill. Never has this common knowledge been as apparent as during the last two years.

Today’s date, Jan. 6, has been the target of a tone-deaf, religiously illiterate attempt to mark it as a Day of Infamy such as Dec. 7 or Sept. 11. House Democrats created and so-named and now-disbanded Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (or in shorthand the January 6th committee) to allegedly get to the bottom of what led to the 2021 capitol break-in.

What the committee truly was, as reported on and commented about here expertly and numerous times, was an attempt to defame supporters of Donald Trump and beat back the MAGA movement, election reform advocates of all stripes, and any and all supporters of revived Americanism by branding them as supporters of terrorism. The inquisitions and criminal accusations stemming from the ad hoc committee made U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy‘s Un-American Affairs committee pale by comparison. It may have been a federal order away from the Spanish Inquisition.

Since then and following repetitions of the mainstream press, “January 6th” has become a household word for anything but the holy occasion is is for many of the faithful and anyone who celebrates the birth of the Christ-child at all. Regrettably, even Christian institutions gave the mainstream press and the political talking crowd a free pass to tarnish the date. Some even joined in on the beating as if a grievous national sin was committed (even if it was criminal trespass on behalf of those breaking and entering).

What Jan. 6 truly represents on our calendar is a major Christian holiday in the Eastern tradition, and for the West the actual conclusion of the Christmas season. Maybe your family has a tradition of their own — but there’s a good chance it’s just another day at work being the first Friday of this trip around the sun. Thanks to the commercialization of the holiday, we’ve been hearing Christmas tunes since as early as late September and throughout “the holiday season.” (Another 12 days after Christmas Day? We’re tired, boss.)

Before you pack away the greenery and turn off the Christmas lights, consider this: today is Christmas Day to 300 million Orthodox Christians across the world. It’s also the canonical Twelfth Day of Christmas, of “twelve drummers drumming” fame. It’s an important day, though not up there with Easter and Mother’s Day in terms of its popular embrace.

You may have heard (or celebrated) this day in its many forms. It’s Orthodox Christmas, but also “Little Christmas” in a scant number of immigrant traditions. It’s also the Epiphany, the day in which the Catholic tradition and others celebrate the revelation (or theophany) of Jesus of Nazareth as God in human flesh.

In Western Christianity, the day commemorates the visit of the three Magi or the Wise Men to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Admittedly, the Bible doesn’t number the Magi, but tradition has there being three who sought out the bright-star phenomenon marking the location of the birth of Christ. Some traditions have it that these men were kings of various nations — hence the holiday is known as Three Kings Day in many quarters. It’s a big deal for the illegal immigrants the Biden Administration is letting through our porous southern border in the form of Día de Los Reyes today (expect it to grow in popularity as their population grows).

In the Eastern Christian tradition, Jan. 6 represents the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan and his manifestation to the world as the Son of God. (Some following the “old calendar” might celebrate this on Jan. 19.)

Many churches will celebrate it on the first Sunday after the new year. Around this time, there are numerous traditions such as taking a swim in icy water or a “polar plunge” (maybe a reference to the celebration of Christ’s baptism), chalking one’s doorframe with a welcome message for the Wise Men, eating a Three Kings Cake together, or simply attending a church service if available. Some have revived the medieval custom of a Boar’s Head festival and related wassailing — we’ll save the history lesson there but it’s a lot of fun if you can find one of those.

Superstition has it that you can take down your Christmas decorations on Jan. 6, but you have to leave the greenery up until Feb. 2, an obscure holiday called Candlemas, or it’s bad luck.

Back to the Grinches Who Stole Epiphany (looking at you, Liz Cheney and Nancy Pelosi): They didn’t have the decency to refer to the Capitol break-in as the “Three Kings Day Riot” or “the Epiphany Uprising.” No, just “January 6th.” Even the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre gave more respect to the holiday (e.g. not the Feb. 14th Massacre). And around this writer’s neck of the woods, in Austin, a major rain event in 1981 is still referred to as the Memorial Day Flood.

Perhaps it suits the Democratic attack machine to have a whole calendar day supposedly dedicated to conservatives behaving badly, and to gin up exaggerations of what really transpired. Today we’ll hear it again, though the committee is now disbanded a new, Republican-led Congress will never look back. Expect much blather from the talking heads about even the most modest of Republicans “attempting to overturn the election” and ironically thanking woke mobs for “saving Democracy.” And again, nothing will be said about the Twitter Files and a recent docu-dump by Elon Musk connecting federal agencies to actual attempts to affect the outcome of an election.

Two years after the Capitol break-in, President Joe Biden is keeping the urban legends going about the “insurrection.” According to CNN, the second anniversary of the break-in will be accompanied by giving medals to the heroes who protected the Capitol that day. For the first time in his presidency, Biden will give the Presidential Citizens Medal to 12 (an auspicious number given the day) persons including law enforcement officers who were injured by the crowds and posthumously to the one Capitol Police officer who died of a heart attack afterward. Expect a dog and pony show with plenty of digs at the 20 Republicans who won’t give up their attempts to bring in a more conservative House Speaker. All the while, numerous political prisoners of the break-in still have yet to see justice.

Today, as you cringe at the foolishness of the Biden Administration, the totalitarianism of federal bureaucracy, and the near-absolute spiritual illiteracy of the mainstream press, just hum a Christmas carol or two. We recommend “We Three Kings of Orient Are” as a familiar one to bring a little peace to your Little Christmas. Spread it around, regardless of your opinions of the capitol break-in.

We also pray for an epiphany for those who have absolutely no knowledge that Jan. 6 is a day for peace on earth, not the needless dividing of a nation.