Epiphany

Tomorrow, January 6th, is Epiphany.It is a commemoration of the arrival of the Magi, or Wise men, to see Jesus. In the Middle Ages a whole legend developed based on a few sentences in Matthew. The magi were promoted to kings and given names: Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar. There is little known about the magi, but people who study such things think they may have been from Persia (Iran) and were skilled in medicine and astrology. Some say that they probably arrived as much as two years after Jesus' birth. The gifts they brought were symbolic. Gold was for kingship, frankincense was for priesthood, and myrrh was for death.
I once heard a man from Ethiopia talk about the Magi and he said the Magi were from Ethiopia and that it took them four years to travel to and from Palestine and the result was that the calender in Ethiopia is years behind the calender in other places. I have never bothered to check the facts because it might mess up a good story.
Frankincense is a resin derived from several members of the Bosweillia genus. They are trees that grow in Oman, Yemen and Somalia. The trees often grow in such inhospitable places that they appear to be growing out of rock. The bark is scrapped and the resin oozes out and hardens into "tears". The resin may be harvested 2 or 3 times a year, but too frequent harvesting causes a decline in the trees as you might imagine.It is used in incense and perfume.
Myrrh is the dried sap of the Commiphora tree and also grows in the same region of the middle east as frankincense trees. Myrrh was used in embalming ointment but is now used in many cosmetics.In ancient times it was worth more than it's weight in gold.It was used to mask the odor of charring bodies at Roman funerals.