Austria Village Door with Epiphany House Blessing
While visiting Austria and Germany in August of 2014, I noticed curious chalk markings, seen in the photo above, on many buildings in the small villages we passed through. Given the prominence of churches in these villages, I immediately assumed the writing had a religious significance, but knew little else. As it turns out the practice is a Catholic tradition called an Epiphany house blessing, with the numbers and letters having a specific meaning centered around the current year.
20 + C + M + B +14
The 20 and 14 represent the year in which the blessing occurred, 2014, while CMB apparently has two different meanings. In one interpretation, they represent the names of the three magi (kings or wise men), in the Biblical Gospel of Matthew that visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar. In the second interpretation they are an abbreviation of the Latin wordsChristus mansionem benedicat, “May Christ bless the house.”
Austria Village Door with Epiphany House Blessing
The marking tradition generally happens during the Feast of the Epiphany holiday, which occurs on January 6th each year.