Chalking the door is a Christian Epiphanytide tradition used to bless one's home. It is normatively in the pattern of four crosses positioned in between the traditional initials of the three wise men, which are surrounded by the first two and last two digits of the current year (e.g.  ✝ C ✝ M ✝ B ✝ ). The practice of chalking the door originated in medieval

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, though it has spread throughout worldwide

Christendom The terms Christendom or Christian world commonly refer to the global Christian community, Christian states, Christian-majority countries or countries in which Christianity is dominant or prevails.SeMerriam-Webster.com : dictionary, "Christen ...

Epiphany

Either on

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...

(5 January), the twelfth day of

Christmastide Christmastide, also known as Christide, is a season of the liturgical year in most Christianity, Christian churches. For the Catholic Church, Lutheran Church, Anglican Church, Methodist Church and some Orthodox Churches, Christmastide begins ...

and eve of the feast of the Epiphany, or on Epiphany Day (6 January) itself, many Christians (including

Anglicans Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

, Episcopalians,

Lutherans Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...

, Methodists,

Presbyterians Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

and

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, among others) write on their doors or lintels with

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...

in a pattern such as " ✝ C ✝ M ✝ B ✝ ". The numbers in this example refer to the calendar year and the crosses to

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

. The letters C, M, and B stand for the traditional names of the

biblical Magi In Christianity, the Biblical Magi ( or ; singular: ), also known as the Three Wise Men, Three Kings, and Three Magi, are distinguished foreigners who visit Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh in homage to hi ...

(

Caspar Caspar is a masculine given name. It may refer to: People * Caspar (magus), a name traditionally given to one of the Three Magi in the Bible who brought the baby Jesus gifts *Caspar Austa (born 1982), Estonian cyclist *Caspar Badrutt (1848–1904) ...

, Melchior and

Balthazar Balthazar, Balthasar, Baltasar, or Baltazar may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Balthazar (novel), ''Balthazar'' (novel), by Lawrence Durrell, 1958 * ''Balthasar'', an 1889 book by Anatole France * ''Professor Balthazar'', a Croatian a ...

), or alternatively for the Latin

blessing In religion, a blessing (also used to refer to bestowing of such) is the impartation of something with doctrines of grace, grace, Sacred, holiness, spiritual Redemption (theology), redemption, or Will of God, divine will. Etymology and Germani ...

('May Christ bless this house'), or IIIK referring to the three kings . Chalking the door is done most commonly on Epiphany Day itself. However, it may be done on any day within the

Epiphany season The Epiphany season, also known as Epiphanytide or the time of Sundays after Epiphany, is a liturgical period, celebrated by many Christian denomination, Christian Churches, which immediately follows the Christmastide, Christmas season. It begi ...

. In some localities, the chalk used to write the Epiphanytide pattern is blessed by a Christian priest or minister on Epiphany Day, then taken home to write the pattern. The Christian custom of chalking the door has a biblical precedent as the

Israelites Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...

in the

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

marked their doors in order to be saved from death; likewise, the Epiphanytide practice serves to protect Christian homes from evil spirits until the next Epiphany Day, at which time the custom is repeated. Families also perform this act to represent the hospitality of the

Holy Family The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The subject became popular in art from the 1490s on,Ainsworth, 122 but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de La ...

to the Magi (and all

Gentile ''Gentile'' () is a word that today usually means someone who is not Jewish. Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, have historically used the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is used as a synony ...

s); it thus serves as a house blessing to invite the presence of

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

in one's home. In 20th century

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, the practice of chalking the door continued among believers as another way of asserting their Christian identity, despite the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

state atheism State atheism or atheist state is the incorporation of hard atheism or non-theism into Forms of government, political regimes. It is considered the opposite of theocracy and may also refer to large-scale secularization attempts by governments ...

and anti-religious campaigns.

Gallery

File:Chalked door for Epiphany.jpg, Epiphany season door chalking on an apartment door in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

File:Epiphany Season door chalking.jpg, Epiphany season door chalking on an apartment door in the Midwestern US File:C+M+B 2009 an der Tür der Villa Reepschlägerbahn 30, Bild 001.JPG, Epiphany season door chalking at the Villa Reepschlägerbahn in Germany File:"Christ Bless This House" Chalk Marking on the West Face of the Church of St Michael, Welling.jpg, Epiphany door chalking at the Anglican Church of St Michael in Welling,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

File:Sexten Schmiedenstraße 20 008 2019 09 26.jpg, Epiphany door chalking in Sexten, Italy File:Bonifatiuskirche HD Eingang Februar 2012.JPG, Epiphany door chalking in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

, Germany File:001 2013 09 15 Eingaenge und Tueren.jpg, Epiphany door chalking in Mittelberg, Austria

Footnotes

References

External links

Epiphany Door Chalking
by Christ the King Anglican Church
The Chalking of the Doors, Explanative Graphic
by St Andrew's Episcopal Church
An Epiphany Blessing of Homes and Chalking the Door
by Discipleship Ministries of The United Methodist Church
Chalking the Door: An Epiphany House Blessing 2016
by the Roman Catholic

Order of Carmelites The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a Mendicant orders, mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men ...

{{Christmas Christmastide Epiphany (holiday) Chalk Religious rituals Sacramentals