Star singers, also known as Epiphany singers, or Star boys' singing procession (England), are children and young people walking from house to house with a star on a rod and often wearing crowns and dressed in clothes to resemble the Three Magi (variously also known as Three Kings or Three Wise Men). The singing processions have their roots in an old medieval ecclesiastical play, centred on the Biblical Magi of the Christmas story in the Gospel of Matthew (Mt 2,1-28), appropriate to Epiphany. It is observed usually during the period between 27 December and 6 January (the feast of the Epiphany).
In Scandinavia and Central Europe a special set of songs, distinct from Christmas carols has developed in this context. In England, the liturgical drama developed from being performed by cathedral schoolboys in the 16th century to become a more secular mystery drama, containing also some ordinary Christmas songs and carols. Historically performed by boys and male adolescents only, it is nowadays performed by children and young people of both sexes in most regions where the tradition is alive.
