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Epiphany

Time And Calendar
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A Christian feast on 6 January commemorating the revelation of Christ to the Magi. It can also mean a sudden moment of insight in poetry.

Detailed Definition
Epiphany is observed on 6 January and traditionally recalls the Magi's recognition of the infant Christ. Its imagery of a guiding star, difficult journey, gifts, and revelation has made it valuable in devotional and narrative poetry. More broadly, an epiphany is a sudden illuminating perception, so poets may use the feast's calendar setting to join spiritual discovery with an ordinary moment in winter, when insight breaks through obscurity.
Example
Example in poetry:
At Epiphany, the speaker sees ordinary snow suddenly as a form of revelation; T. S. Eliot’s “Journey of the Magi” reimagines the Epiphany story through a traveler’s difficult memory; A poet may use Epiphany to describe a moment when knowledge arrives with spiritual force; “The star over Epiphany’s roofline taught the lost road home” draws on the Magi’s guiding star
Additional Notes
Beyond its religious meaning, an epiphany is a sudden realization. In lyric poetry, it may describe the moment when an ordinary image reveals unexpected significance.
Other Meanings of “Epiphany”
Also Known As
Twelfth Day Three Kings' Day
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