When we first arrived in Embken, we noticed that many doors, including the one to our apartment had letters written either on the door or above it. The letters were: 20*C+M+B*09. Sometimes, as in the case of our own door, the last two numbers were 08, but most were 09. Once we started noticing it, we noticed it every where we went. In every village we walked to, and even in the bigger cities we noticed it. We wondered if it were some sort of superstitious thing and, if so, what it meant. I finally got around to asking Mary, our landlady, what it meant. It isn't a superstitious thing at all. Every year at Christmas time, or maybe the New Year (I wasn't clear on that), people come around to every one's house dressed as the Three Wise Men and collect money for children's charities. If you give them money, they mark your door in chalk with the above sign to show that you gave. The letters stand for the names of the Three Wise Men, Caspar of Tarsus, Melchior of Persian, and Balthasar of Saba. And the numbers are the year that you gave. Mary looked a little embarrassed and said that she had been gone this past year when they came and that is why the mark on our door ended in the 08.
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