This is part one of the “Twelve Posts of Christmas,” a series exploring twelve traditions of the Christmas season.
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! I have exciting (or horrifying) news for all — Christmas is not just one day, but twelve! As popularized by the frustratingly catchy song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” Christmas traditionally begins at sunset on Christmas Eve, December 24, and ends on the aptly-named eve of Twelfth Night, January 5. (In Christian liturgical tradition, sunset — not midnight — marks the end of one day and the beginning of another.) I think it is safe to say that the Medievals knew how to throw a good, long party.
To ring in the Christmas season, I will be adding a festive morsel of holiday lore to The Corner each day of Christmastide. The Twelve Posts of Christmas will thus pay homage to the traditional calendar of the Christmas season.
The English tune, “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” encapsulates the length and heavy feasting of ye olde holiday celebrations — in the song, the word “Christmas” signifies a twelve-day period. The entire song is quite befuddling for the modern listener, and the meaning of its lyrics remains evasive. While I could somewhat imagine receiving birds as gifts, I never quite believed that the singer’s “true love” gave her dozens of human beings who were separately milking, dancing, piping, etc. (I personally prefer the theory that each day of Christmas represents a different bird of game Medieval lords would have munched in England — some fowl are just referred to in thicker metaphorical language than others.)
Regardless of its exact meaning, the beloved tune lends itself particularly well to spin-offs, satire, and spoofs. Rich Lowry annually drafts an, um, alternative version of the tune to be sung by the attendees at the National Review Office Holiday Party. (The humorous cacophony which ensued at this year’s gathering was redeemed only by the angelic warbling of Madeleine Kearns.)
So, to the original question, why exactly are there twelve days of Christmas? Wasn’t the baby Jesus born in one evening? Wouldn’t it be a bit selfish to ask Santa for twelve visits to the same home? (If you follow my Twelve Posts of Christmas, there will be more on Santa later.)
While it may feel like Christmastide has been upon us for some time, with Mariah Carey’s otherworldly vocals screeching out of every tinny, store speaker and North Pole merchandise glinting from every overstocked corner, Christmas has only just arrived. Liturgically, the season of Advent — the word literally means “to come” or “coming” — is a time of expectant waiting and quiet preparation for the coming of Christ. The Advent season is measured by the four Sundays preceding Christmas Day, and so the season generally lasts around four weeks. The birth of Christ then comes to break the silence, as God bursts forth into the world.
Because this event is so radical and foundational to the Christian faith, twelve days instead of one are needed to commemorate it. According to the Roman Catholic Code of Rubrics (1960), Christmastide runs “from I vespers of Christmas to none of 5th January inclusive.” (They don’t mess around with this stuff.) For the Western Church, a spate of feasts falls within the one, lengthy feast of Christmas: Saint Stephen’s Day, the Feast of St. John the Apostle, the Feast of the Holy Innocents (a.k.a. Childermas), the Feast of St. Thomas Becket, the Feast of St. Sylvester (a.k.a. Silvester), and the Solemnity of Mary Theotokos.
The Twelfth Night, also known as Epiphany Eve, harkens the end of the Christmas season. The evening precedes the Feast of the Epiphany, traditionally held on January 6, which marks the arrival of the three Magi in Bethlehem to honor the baby Jesus. The scriptural description of the star-readers from the East, bearing gold, frankincense, and myrrh, to worship the baby boy signifies that the little Jesus was indeed the incarnation of God — thus, an “epiphany” in two senses.
In the spirit of the season, I hope all have a joyful day with loved ones — and remember, Christmas has only just begun!