What are the Twelve Days of Christmas? Everybody knows the traditional song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” which starts with “On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me - a partridge in a pear tree…….” The origin of this song and its ‘story’ are enough to fill an article in itself, as are the modern-day parodies of the song, but before I tackle that, let’s look at when and what ARE the actual Twelve Days of Christmas?
It shouldn’t surprise anyone to learn that the Twelve Days of Christmas appear to have both religious and historical connotations, and that contradictions abound, as seems to be the case with most Christmas traditions, which span and evolve across time periods and countries around the world.
Historically , the Twelve Days of Christmas are generally considered to be festive days beginning on either Christmas Eve (24th December), Christmas Day (25th December) or the 26th December (Boxing Day/St Stephens Day – see previous blog entry) and run for twelve days up till around the 5th or 6th of January, depending on when you start to count from.
In England in the Middle Ages (roughly from 400 AD to late 1400s), this period was one of continuous feasting and merrymaking, which climaxed on the Twelfth Night, the traditional end of the Christmas season. In Tudor England (c. 1458-1603), the Twelfth Night itself was forever solidified in popular culture when William Shakespeare used it as the setting for one of his most famous stage plays, titled “Twelfth Night”, written around 1601-02.
Nowadays, the Twelfth Day is considered by many to be the last day for decorations to be taken down, and it is held to be bad luck to take decorations down after this date. This is in contrast to the custom in Elizabethan England, however, when decorations were left up until Candlemas (the presentation of Jesus to the Temple celebrated on 2nd February); this tradition is still done in some other Western European countries such as Germany.
From a religious perspective, the twelve days are also sometimes called Christmastide which is part of the liturgical year of most Christian churches, which pretty much accounts for the different starting and ending times of the Twelve Days. Suffice it to say that I’ve found mention of various religious festivities during this period of time including:
In England in the Middle Ages (roughly from 400 AD to late 1400s), this period was one of continuous feasting and merrymaking, which climaxed on the Twelfth Night, the traditional end of the Christmas season. In Tudor England (c. 1458-1603), the Twelfth Night itself was forever solidified in popular culture when William Shakespeare used it as the setting for one of his most famous stage plays, titled “Twelfth Night”, written around 1601-02.
Nowadays, the Twelfth Day is considered by many to be the last day for decorations to be taken down, and it is held to be bad luck to take decorations down after this date. This is in contrast to the custom in Elizabethan England, however, when decorations were left up until Candlemas (the presentation of Jesus to the Temple celebrated on 2nd February); this tradition is still done in some other Western European countries such as Germany.
From a religious perspective, the twelve days are also sometimes called Christmastide which is part of the liturgical year of most Christian churches, which pretty much accounts for the different starting and ending times of the Twelve Days. Suffice it to say that I’ve found mention of various religious festivities during this period of time including:
• St Stephen’s Day – 26th December or thereabouts – see previous blog entry
• St John the Evangelist's Day December 27 (or in other churches 29 December for Armenians, or 30 December for Coptics)
• The Feast of the Holy Innocents Day or Childermas (Child’s Mass) on December 28th for Church of England, Roman Catholic and Lutheran Churches, or 27th December for West Syrian Churches or 29th December for the Eastern Orthodox Churches
• The Eastern Orthodox Church has an All Night Vigil on 31st December
• Feast of the Circumcision [and/or Naming] of our Lord – 1st January or the first Sunday between January 2nd and 5th, or if there is no Sunday during that period of time, on the 2nd January – at least in the Roman Catholic Church prior to the reform of 1955. [Yes, you read that right – they continue to reform and change all these religious feasts and stuff – how can anyone keep track of them?]
But it doesn’t end there.
Next comes Epiphany, aka Theophany.
Now I don’t know where to start with Epiphany because it seems to be held on different days and has different meanings for different churches. For example, Western Christianity celebrates Epiphany on 6th January as the visit of the Magi (the Three Wise Men) to the baby Jesus when they gave him gifts …….which explains in part why some cultures give their Christmas presents on or about Epiphany, rather than on 25th December.
To Eastern Christians it apparently commemorates the baptism of Jesus.
To the Eastern Orthodox Churches who continue to follow the Julian calendar for religious purposes (as opposed to the Gregorian calendar which is commonly used for everything else), it is the nativity, because the 25th December in the Julian calendar is the same as the 6th or 7th January in the Gregorian calendar. This simple comment could lead me off onto a whole different tangent about the relativity of time and calendars etc. etc. which I could even link to my theory on how “Santa Claus” gets around the world delivering gifts in one night, but to be honest – this discussion has already gone off on many different tangents, so I’m just going to take the words of others who have written these ‘facts’ in other books.
To the Eastern Orthodox Churches who continue to follow the Julian calendar for religious purposes (as opposed to the Gregorian calendar which is commonly used for everything else), it is the nativity, because the 25th December in the Julian calendar is the same as the 6th or 7th January in the Gregorian calendar. This simple comment could lead me off onto a whole different tangent about the relativity of time and calendars etc. etc. which I could even link to my theory on how “Santa Claus” gets around the world delivering gifts in one night, but to be honest – this discussion has already gone off on many different tangents, so I’m just going to take the words of others who have written these ‘facts’ in other books.
BUT, did you really think it was going to end there??????
In the 1970 revision of the Roman Catholic calendar of saints, Epiphany is celebrated on January 6 for countries where the feast is a Holy Day of Obligation [I don’t know what this is, and I don’t wanna know, and wish now I’d never started this article!!!!]
In other countries, however, it is celebrated on the Sunday after January 1. Christmastide then apparently ends with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which is always on the Sunday after Epiphany (unless, where Epiphany is not a holy day of obligation, Epiphany is celebrated on January 7 or 8, in which case Baptism of the Lord is celebrated on the following Monday). Somewhere I read the date “13th January” for the baptism of Christ at least for the Roman Catholic Church, so let’s add that into the mix.
Now, thinking about these Feast Days, I’d like to know how the church(es) equate them to what is recorded in the Bible about the early life of Jesus Christ. For example:
1. He was born (let’s use the arbitrary date of December 25th for this, though this, of course is yet another 'date' that has been questioned by those who doubt that Jesus would have been born in the middle of winter because shepherds usually aren't out in the fields with their sheep at that time of year).
In the 1970 revision of the Roman Catholic calendar of saints, Epiphany is celebrated on January 6 for countries where the feast is a Holy Day of Obligation [I don’t know what this is, and I don’t wanna know, and wish now I’d never started this article!!!!]
In other countries, however, it is celebrated on the Sunday after January 1. Christmastide then apparently ends with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which is always on the Sunday after Epiphany (unless, where Epiphany is not a holy day of obligation, Epiphany is celebrated on January 7 or 8, in which case Baptism of the Lord is celebrated on the following Monday). Somewhere I read the date “13th January” for the baptism of Christ at least for the Roman Catholic Church, so let’s add that into the mix.
Now, thinking about these Feast Days, I’d like to know how the church(es) equate them to what is recorded in the Bible about the early life of Jesus Christ. For example:
1. He was born (let’s use the arbitrary date of December 25th for this, though this, of course is yet another 'date' that has been questioned by those who doubt that Jesus would have been born in the middle of winter because shepherds usually aren't out in the fields with their sheep at that time of year).
2. Baby Jesus was circumcised and named – which happens eight days after birth in the Jewish religion – this is something else that needs to be kept in mind – Jesus was born Jewish.
3. He was visited by the Magi (let’s use January 6th for this date – 12 days after birth).
4. God warned Joseph in a dream to take his family and escape to Egypt because King Herod was about to order order the killing of all children under the age of two years (according to the Gospel of Matthew). Perhaps this happened a year or two after Jesus was born, and Herod simply got caught up in bureaucracy in the interim – but it certainly could not have happened 2, 3 or 4 days after Jesus was born, because the Magi didn’t arrive until 12 days after he was born and they were the ones who were supposed to get back to Herod – so why is Holy Innocents Day celebrated so close to Christmas Day?
5. 30+ years later, when He was about to start His mission, he was baptised by John the Baptiser as an adult – some time between 6th January and 13th January perhaps, if you go by the dates the churches celebrate. It should be remembered that John the Baptiser (more commonly called Baptist) was conceived six months earlier than Jesus was by Elizabeth, an elderley barren woman who was a ‘kinswoman’ to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mind you, then you have those secret sects that believe John the Baptiser was the real “Christ” but I’m not going to go there, either.
6. Jesus was presented to the temple (as a baby) around 2nd February, if you follow the Elizabethan rite of Candlemas (mentioned above).
Now granted all these things obviously took place in different years – after all Jesus was an adult when he was baptised – so why did the churches lump all the dates into Christmastide? Perhaps it was convenience.
Suffice it to say that the Twelve Days of Christmas, starting around 24th-26th December and ending roughly around 5th-7th January, is a time of many religious ‘feasts’ and has traditionally/historically been a time of festivity around the world – so let’s take the middle road and say it starts on 25th December (in the Gregorian calendar) and ends by 6th January – the twelfth day.
But guess what? This discussion of the Twelve Days of Christmas doesn’t end there.
With the onset of more Americanized and secular traditions throughout the past two centuries (such as the American "Santa Claus"), the rise in popularity of Christmas Eve itself as a holiday, and of New Year's Eve parties, the traditions of the Twelve Days of Christmas occurring after Christmas Day have largely been replaced with post-Christmas sales, raucous New Year’s parties and preparing New Year’s Resolutions. The Twelve Days, in modern society, are therefore being shifted to pre-Christmas, ending on Christmas Day – starting, therefore, on the 14th December.
To fit in with this ‘new’ version of the Twelve Days of Christmas there have been some interesting parodies of the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”.
One of my favourites is the “Twelve Pains of Christmas” – the Bob Rivers Mix with Runescape characters. Unfortunately, it seems that version has now been taken down off Youtube, but if your' happy to simply listen to the lyrics, there are plenty of versions created with different characters on Youtube.
Considering the stress that is often associated with Christmas, erhaps we should consider celebrating the “Twelve Days” twice – the period before Christmas (traditionally known as Advent – do I dare go there?) could become known as “The Twelve Pains of Christmas” and then we stick to the ‘traditional’ twelve days occurring after Christmas.
Now granted all these things obviously took place in different years – after all Jesus was an adult when he was baptised – so why did the churches lump all the dates into Christmastide? Perhaps it was convenience.
Suffice it to say that the Twelve Days of Christmas, starting around 24th-26th December and ending roughly around 5th-7th January, is a time of many religious ‘feasts’ and has traditionally/historically been a time of festivity around the world – so let’s take the middle road and say it starts on 25th December (in the Gregorian calendar) and ends by 6th January – the twelfth day.
But guess what? This discussion of the Twelve Days of Christmas doesn’t end there.
With the onset of more Americanized and secular traditions throughout the past two centuries (such as the American "Santa Claus"), the rise in popularity of Christmas Eve itself as a holiday, and of New Year's Eve parties, the traditions of the Twelve Days of Christmas occurring after Christmas Day have largely been replaced with post-Christmas sales, raucous New Year’s parties and preparing New Year’s Resolutions. The Twelve Days, in modern society, are therefore being shifted to pre-Christmas, ending on Christmas Day – starting, therefore, on the 14th December.
To fit in with this ‘new’ version of the Twelve Days of Christmas there have been some interesting parodies of the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”.
One of my favourites is the “Twelve Pains of Christmas” – the Bob Rivers Mix with Runescape characters. Unfortunately, it seems that version has now been taken down off Youtube, but if your' happy to simply listen to the lyrics, there are plenty of versions created with different characters on Youtube.
Considering the stress that is often associated with Christmas, erhaps we should consider celebrating the “Twelve Days” twice – the period before Christmas (traditionally known as Advent – do I dare go there?) could become known as “The Twelve Pains of Christmas” and then we stick to the ‘traditional’ twelve days occurring after Christmas.
