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Family Christmas Traditions 12 Days of Christmas Gifts

Flow between 25 December and 5 January

Twelve Days of Christmas
Adoration assisi.jpg

The Adoration of the Magi. Fresco in the Lower Church building of the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi in Assisi, Italy

Observed by Christians
Type Christian
Observances Varies by denomination, civilisation, and nation
Date 25 December – 5 January, inclusive
Frequency annual
Related to Christmas Day, Christmastide, Twelfth Dark, Epiphany, and Epiphanytide

The Twelve Days of Christmas, also known as Twelvetide, is a festive Christian flavour celebrating the Nativity of Jesus. In some Western ecclesiastical traditions, "Christmas Mean solar day" is considered the "First Day of Christmas" and the Twelve Days are 25 December to v January, inclusive,[i] with 6 January being a "thirteenth twenty-four hour period" in some traditions and languages. Notwithstanding, 6 January is sometimes considered Twelfth Mean solar day/12th Nighttime with the Twelve Days "of" Christmas actually subsequently Christmas Day from 26 Dec to 6 January.[2] For many Christian denominations—for example, the Anglican Communion and Lutheran Church—the Twelve Days are identical to Christmastide,[3] [four] [five] but for others, east.one thousand. the Roman Catholic Church, Christmastide lasts longer than the Twelve Days of Christmas.[half-dozen]

History [edit]

In 567, the Council of Tours "proclaimed the twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany (traditionally 6 January) equally a sacred and festive flavour, and established the duty of Advent fasting in preparation for the feast."[seven] [8] [ix] [10] Christopher Colina, likewise as William J. Federer, states that this was done in order to solve the "administrative problem for the Roman Empire as it tried to coordinate the solar Julian agenda with the lunar calendars of its provinces in the east."[ description needed ] [11] [12]

Eastern Christianity [edit]

The Armenian Apostolic Church and Armenian Catholic Church building celebrate the Nascency and Baptism of Christ on the same solar day,[13] so that there is no distinction betwixt a feast of Christmas and a feast of Epiphany.

The Oriental Orthodox (other than the Armenians), the Eastern Orthodox, and the Eastern Catholics who follow the same traditions have a twelve-day interval between the two feasts. Christmas and Epiphany are celebrated by these churches on 25 December and 6 January using the Julian calendar, which represent to vii and nineteen January using the Gregorian calendar. The Twelve Days, using the Gregorian calendar, end at sunset on xviii January.

Eastern Orthodoxy [edit]

For the Eastern Orthodox, both Christmas and Epiphany are among the Twelve Great Feasts that are merely second to Easter in importance.[fourteen]

The period betwixt Christmas and Epiphany is fast-free.[14] During this menstruation one celebration leads into another. The Nativity of Christ is a three-day celebration: the formal title of the first day (i. eastward. Christmas Eve) is "The Nascence Co-ordinate to the Mankind of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ", and celebrates not merely the Nativity of Jesus, simply also the Adoration of the Shepherds of Bethlehem and the arrival of the Magi; the second solar day is referred to every bit the "Synaxis of the Theotokos", and commemorates the function of the Virgin Mary in the Incarnation; the 3rd day is known equally the "Third Day of the Nativity", and is as well the feast 24-hour interval of the Protodeacon and Protomartyr Saint Stephen. 29 December is the Orthodox Feast of the Holy Innocents. The Afterfeast of the Birth (similar to the Western octave) continues until 31 Dec (that day is known every bit the Apodosis or "leave-taking" of the Nativity).

The Saturday following the Nativity is commemorated by special readings from the Epistle (1 Tim six:11–16) and Gospel (Matt 12:fifteen–21) during the Divine Liturgy. The Sunday afterward the Nascency has its own liturgical commemoration in honour of "The Righteous Ones: Joseph the Betrothed, David the King and James the Brother of the Lord".

Some other of the more than prominent festivals that are included amongst the Twelve Great Feasts is that of the Circumcision of Christ on 1 January.[14] On this same mean solar day is the banquet mean solar day of Saint Basil the Groovy, and so the service celebrated on that day is the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil.

On two Jan begins the Forefeast of the Theophany. The Eve of the Theophany on 5 January is a day of strict fasting, on which the devout volition not consume anything until the first star is seen at dark. This day is known as Paramony (Greek Παραμονή "Eve"), and follows the same general outline equally Christmas Eve. That morning is the celebration of the Royal Hours and then the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil combined with Vespers, at the conclusion of which is celebrated the Dandy Approval of Waters, in commemoration of the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River. There are certain parallels between the hymns chanted on Paramony and those of Good Friday, to show that, according to Orthodox theology, the steps that Jesus took into the Jordan River were the beginning steps on the fashion to the Cross. That night the All-Night Acuity is served for the Feast of the Theophany.

Western Christianity [edit]

Within the Twelve Days of Christmas, there are celebrations both secular and religious.

Christmas 24-hour interval, if it is considered to exist part of the Twelve Days of Christmas and non every bit the mean solar day preceding the Twelve Days,[3] is celebrated by Christians as the liturgical feast of the Nativity of the Lord. It is a public holiday in many nations, including some where the bulk of the population is not Christian. On this encounter the articles on Christmas and Christmas traditions.

26 December is "St. Stephen's Twenty-four hour period", a feast day in the Western Church. In United kingdom and its former colonies, it is too the secular holiday of Boxing Solar day. In some parts of Ireland it is denominated "Wren 24-hour interval".

New year'southward Eve on 31 December is the banquet of Pope St. Sylvester I and is known also every bit "Silvester". The transition that evening to the new year is an occasion for secular festivities in many nations, and in several languages is known as "St. Sylvester Night" ("Notte di San Silvestro" in Italian, "Silvesternacht" in German, "Réveillon de la Saint-Sylvestre" in French, and "סילבסטר" in Hebrew).

New year's day'due south Day on ane January is an occasion for further secular festivities or for rest from the celebrations of the nighttime before. In the Roman Rite of the Roman Catholic Church, information technology is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, liturgically celebrated on the Octave Twenty-four hours of Christmas. It has besides been celebrated, and still is in some denominations, as the Banquet of the Circumcision of Christ, because according to Jewish tradition He would have been circumcised on the eighth twenty-four hours after His Birth, inclusively counting the first solar day and last day. This twenty-four hour period, or some day proximate to information technology, is also celebrated by the Roman Catholics as Earth Day of Peace.[15]

In many nations, e. g., the United States, the Solemnity of Epiphany is transferred to the first Sun subsequently 1 January, which can occur as early as two January. That solemnity, then, together with customary observances associated with information technology, normally occur inside the Twelve Days of Christmas, even if these are considered to end on five January rather than 6 January.

Other Roman Catholic liturgical feasts on the General Roman Calendar that occur within the Octave of Christmas and therefore too within the Twelve Days of Christmas are the Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist on 27 December; the Banquet of the Holy Innocents on 28 December; Memorial of St. Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr on 29 December; and the Banquet of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph on the Dominicus inside the Octave of Christmas or, if at that place is no such Sunday, on 30 Dec. Outside the Octave, only within the Twelve Days of Christmas, there are the feast of Sts. Basil the Great and Gregory of Nazianzus on 2 Jan and the Memorial of the Holy Name of Jesus on 3 January.

Other saints are celebrated at a local level.

Tardily Antiquity and the Center Ages [edit]

The Second Council of Tours of 567 noted that, in the expanse for which its bishops were responsible, the days between Christmas and Epiphany were, like the calendar month of August, taken up entirely with saints' days. Monks were therefore in principle not bound to fast on those days.[16] However, the first three days of the year were to be days of prayer and penance so that true-blue Christians would refrain from participating in the idolatrous practices and debauchery associated with the new year's day celebrations. The Fourth Quango of Toledo (633) ordered a strict fast on those days, on the model of the Lenten fast.[17] [18]

England in the Middle Ages [edit]

In England in the Middle Ages, this period was ane of continuous feasting and merrymaking, which climaxed on Twelfth Night, the traditional end of the Christmas season on 6 Jan. William Shakespeare used information technology as the setting for one of his most famous stage plays, 12th Night. Oftentimes a Lord of Misrule was chosen to lead the Christmas revels.[19]

Some of these traditions were adapted from the older pagan customs, including the Roman Saturnalia and the Germanic Yuletide.[xx] Some also have an repeat in modern-twenty-four hour period pantomime where traditionally authorization is mocked and the primary male atomic number 82 is played by a adult female, while the leading older female character, or 'Dame', is played by a man.

Colonial North America [edit]

The early on North American colonists brought their version of the Twelve Days over from England, and adapted them to their new country, adding their ain variations over the years. For example, the modern-twenty-four hours Christmas wreath may take originated with these colonials.[21] [22] A homemade wreath would be fashioned from local greenery and fruits, if available, were added. Making the wreaths was ane of the traditions of Christmas Eve; they would remain hung on each home'south forepart door beginning on Christmas Dark (first night of Christmas) through 12th Dark or Epiphany morning. As was already the tradition in their native England, all decorations would be taken down by Epiphany morning and the residuum of the edibles would be consumed. A special cake, the rex cake, was likewise broiled then for Epiphany.

Modern Western customs [edit]

United Kingdom and Republic [edit]

Many in the UK and other Commonwealth nations still celebrate some aspects of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Boxing Day, 26 December, is a national holiday in many Commonwealth nations. Victorian era stories past Charles Dickens, and others, peculiarly A Christmas Ballad, hold primal elements of the celebrations such equally the consumption of plum pudding, roasted goose and wassail. These foods are consumed more at the beginning of the Twelve Days in the UK.

12th Dark is the last twenty-four hour period for decorations to be taken downwardly, and it is held to be bad luck to exit decorations up after this.[23] This is in contrast to the custom in Elizabethan England, when decorations were left up until Candlemas; this is nonetheless done in another Western European countries such equally Germany.

Us [edit]

In the United states of america, Christmas 24-hour interval is a federal holiday which holds additional religious significance for Christians.[24]

The traditions of the Twelve Days of Christmas have been nearly forgotten in the United States. Contributing factors include the popularity of the stories of Charles Dickens in nineteenth-century America, with their emphasis on generous giving; introduction of secular traditions in the 19th and 20th centuries, e. g., the American Santa Claus; and increase in the popularity of secular New Year's Eve parties. Shortly, the commercial practice treats the Solemnity of Christmas, 25 December, the first day of Christmas, as the last day of the "Christmas" marketing season, as the numerous "after-Christmas sales" that commence on 26 December demonstrate. The commercial agenda has encouraged an erroneous assumption that the Twelve Days end on Christmas Day and must therefore begin on 14 Dec.[25]

Many American Christians yet celebrate the traditional liturgical seasons of Advent and Christmas, particularly Amish, Anglo-Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Mennonites, Methodists, Moravians, Nazarenes, Orthodox Christians, Presbyterians, and Roman Catholics. In Anglicanism, the designation of the "Twelve Days of Christmas" is used liturgically in the Episcopal Church in the United states, having its own invitatory antiphon in the Volume of Mutual Prayer for Matins.[4]

Christians who gloat the Twelve Days may give gifts on each of them, with each of the Twelve Days representing a wish for a respective month of the new year's day. They may feast on traditional foods and otherwise gloat the unabridged time through the morning of the Solemnity of Epiphany. Gimmicky traditions include lighting a candle for each day, singing the verse of the corresponding day from the famous The Twelve Days of Christmas, and lighting a yule log on Christmas Eve and letting it burn some more on each of the twelve nights. For some, the Twelfth Night remains the night of the most festive parties and exchanges of gifts. Some households exchange gifts on the commencement (25 December) and last (five January) days of the Twelve Days. As in former times, the 12th Night to the morning of Epiphany is the traditional time during which Christmas trees and decorations are removed.[ citation needed ]

References [edit]

  1. ^ Hatch, Jane M. (1978). The American Book of Days. Wilson. ISBN9780824205935. Jan fifth: Twelfth Night or Epiphany Eve. Twelfth Night, the concluding evening of the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas, has been observed with festive commemoration ever since the Heart Ages.
  2. ^ Blackburn, Bonnie J. (1999). The Oxford companion to the year. Holford-Strevens, Leofranc. Oxford. ISBN0-xix-214231-3. OCLC 41834121.
  3. ^ a b Bratcher, Dennis (ten October 2014). "The Christmas Flavour". Christian Resource Plant. Retrieved twenty December 2014. The Twelve Days of Christmas ... in most of the Western Church are the twelve days from Christmas until the kickoff of Epiphany (January sixth; the 12 days count from December 25th until January 5th). In some traditions, the kickoff day of Christmas begins on the evening of Dec 25th with the following solar day considered the First Twenty-four hour period of Christmas (December 26th). In these traditions, the twelve days begin December 26[th] and include Epiphany on January 6[th].
  4. ^ a b "The Book of Common Prayer" (PDF). New York: Church Publishing Incorporated. January 2007. p. 43. Retrieved 24 December 2014. On the Twelve Days of Christmas Alleluia. Unto us a child is built-in: O come, allow us adore Him. Alleluia.
  5. ^ Truscott, Jeffrey A. (2011). Worship. Armour Publishing. p. 103. ISBN9789814305419. As with the Easter cycle, churches today celebrate the Christmas wheel in dissimilar ways. Practically all Protestants observe Christmas itself, with services on 25 December or the evening before. Anglicans, Lutherans and other churches that use the ecumenical Revised Common Lectionary will likely notice the iv Sundays of Advent, maintaining the ancient emphasis on the eschatological (Offset Sunday), ascetic (2nd and Tertiary Sundays), and scriptural/historical (Fourth Sunday). Besides Christmas Eve/24-hour interval, they will detect a 12-day season of Christmas from 25 December to five Jan.
  6. ^ Bl. Pope Paul Six, Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year, #33 (14 February 1969)
  7. ^ Fr. Francis Ten. Weiser. "Feast of the Nativity". Catholic Culture. The Quango of Tours (567) proclaimed the twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany as a sacred and festive season, and established the duty of Advent fasting in preparation for the feast. The Council of Braga (563) forbade fasting on Christmas Twenty-four hour period.
  8. ^ Fox, Adam (xix December 2003). "'Tis the flavor". The Guardian . Retrieved 25 December 2014. Around the yr 400 the feasts of St Stephen, John the Evangelist and the Holy Innocents were added on succeeding days, and in 567 the Council of Tours ratified the enduring 12-twenty-four hours wheel between the nascence and the epiphany.
  9. ^ Hynes, Mary Ellen (1993). Companion to the Agenda. Liturgy Training Publications. p. 8. ISBN9781568540115. In the twelvemonth 567 the church building quango of Tours called the 13 days between December 25 and Jan six a festival season. |url=http://world wide web.newadvent.org/cathen/03724b.htm%7Ctitle=Christmas%7Clast=Martindale%7Cfirst=Cyril Charles|twelvemonth=1908|encyclopedia=The Catholic Encyclopedia|publisher=New Advent|admission-date=15 December 2014|quote=The 2nd Council of Tours (tin. xi, xvii) proclaims, in 566 or 567, the sanctity of the "twelve days" from Christmas to Epiphany, and the duty of Advent fast; …and that of Braga (563) forbids fasting on Christmas Day. Popular merry-making, nevertheless, so increased that the "Laws of King Cnut", fabricated c. 1110, club a fast from Christmas to Epiphany.}}
  10. ^ Bunson, Matthew (21 October 2007). "Origins of Christmas and Easter holidays". Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). Retrieved 17 December 2014. The Quango of Tours (567) decreed the 12 days from Christmas to Epiphany to be sacred and particularly joyous, thus setting the stage for the commemoration of the Lord'south nativity...
  11. ^ Colina, Christopher (2003). Holidays and Holy Nights: Celebrating Twelve Seasonal Festivals of the Christian Year. Quest Books. p. 91. ISBN9780835608107. This organization became an administrative problem for the Roman Empire every bit it tried to coordinate the solar Julian calendar with the lunar calendars of its provinces in the east. While the Romans could roughly friction match the months in the two systems, the four cardinal points of the solar yr--the two equinoxes and solstices--still savage on dissimilar dates. By the fourth dimension of the kickoff century, the calendar appointment of the winter solstice in Arab republic of egypt and Palestine was eleven to twelve days later than the date in Rome. As a result the Incarnation came to be historic on different days in dissimilar parts of the Empire. The Western Church, in its desire to be universal, somewhen took them both--one became Christmas, one Epiphany--with a resulting twelve days in between. Over time this hiatus became invested with specific Christian significant. The Church building gradually filled these days with saints, some continued to the nascency narratives in Gospels (Holy Innocents' Solar day, December 28, in honor of the infants slaughtered by Herod; St. John the Evangelist, "the Beloved," December 27; St. Stephen, the kickoff Christian martyr, Dec 26; the Holy Family, December 31; the Virgin Mary, January one). In 567, the Quango of Tours declared the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany to become one unified festal wheel. |url=http://www.americanminute.com/index.php?%7Ctitle=On the 12th Day of Christmas|terminal=Federer|kickoff=William J.|publisher=American Infinitesimal|date=6 Jan 2014|access-date=25 Dec 2014|quote=In 567 AD, the Council of Tours concluded a dispute. Western Europe celebrated Christmas, 25 December, equally the holiest day of the flavor... but Eastern Europe celebrated Epiphany, 6 January, recalling the Wise Men's visit and Jesus' baptism. It could not be decided which twenty-four hours was holier, then the Council made all 12 days from 25 Dec to 6 January "holy days" or "holidays," These became known as "The Twelve Days of Christmas."}}
  12. ^ Kirk Cameron, William Federer (6 November 2014). Praise the Lord. Trinity Broadcasting Network. Event occurs at 01:15:14. Retrieved 25 December 2014. Western Europe celebrated Christmas Dec 25 every bit the holiest 24-hour interval. Eastern Europe celebrated January 6 the Epiphany, the visit of the Wise Men, equally the holiest solar day... and so they had this quango and they decided to make all twelve days from Dec 25 to Jan 6 the Twelve Days of Christmas.
  13. ^ Kelly, Joseph F (2010). Joseph F. Kelly, The Banquet of Christmas (Liturgical Printing 2010 ISBN 978-0-81463932-0). ISBN9780814639320.
  14. ^ a b c Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Church
  15. ^ United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, "World Day of Peace"
  16. ^ Jean Hardouin; Philippe Labbé; Gabriel Cossart (1714). "Christmas". Acta Conciliorum et Epistolae Decretales (in Latin). Typographia Regia, Paris. Retrieved sixteen Dec 2014. De Decembri usque ad natale Domini, omni die ieiunent. Et quia inter natale Domini et epiphania omni dice festivitates sunt, itemque prandebunt. Excipitur triduum illud, quo advertizement calcandam gentilium consuetudinem, patres nostri statuerunt privatas in Kalendariis Ianuarii fieri litanias, ut in ecclesiis psallatur, et hora octava in ipsis Kalendis Circumcisionis missa Deo propitio celebretur. (Translation: "In December until Christmas, they are to fast each solar day. Since between Christmas and Epiphany at that place are feasts on each twenty-four hours, they shall accept a full repast, except during the three-day period on which, in society to tread Gentile customs down, our fathers established that private litanies for the Calends of Jan exist chanted in the churches, and that on the Calends itself Mass of the Circumcision exist celebrated at the eighth hr for God'due south favour.")
  17. ^ Christopher Labadie, "The Octave Twenty-four hours of Christmas: Historical Development and Modern Liturgical Practice" in Obsculta, vol. vii, outcome 1, art. 8, p. 89
  18. ^ Adolf Adam, The Liturgical Year (Liturgical Press 1990 ISBN 978-0-81466047-eight), p. 139
  19. ^ Frazer, James (1922). The Golden Bender. New York: Macmillan. ISBN1-58734-083-6. Bartleby.com
  20. ^ Count, Earl (1997). 4,000 Years of Christmas. Ulysses Press. ISBNane-56975-087-4.
  21. ^ New York Times, 27 December 1852: a study of vacation events mentions 'a splendid wreath' as being among the prizes won.
  22. ^ In 1953 a correspondence in the letter pages of The Times discussed whether Christmas wreaths were an alien importation or a version of the native evergreen 'bunch'/'bough'/'garland'/'wassail bush' traditionally displayed in England at Christmas. One correspondent described those she had seen placed on doors in state districts every bit either a manifestly bunch, a shape like a torque or open up circle, and occasionally a more elaborate shape like a bell or interlaced circles. She felt the apply of the words 'Christmas wreath' had 'funereal associations' for English language people who would prefer to describe it every bit a 'garland'. An ad in The Times of Friday, 26 December 1862; pg. 1; Upshot 24439; col A, still, refers to an amusement at Crystal Palace featuring 'Boggling decorations, wreaths of evergreens ...', and in 1896 the special Christmas edition of The Girl's Own Paper was titled 'Our Christmas Wreath':The Times Saturday, 19 December 1896; pg. 4; Issue 35078; col C. At that place is a custom of decorating graves at Christmas with somber wreaths of evergreen, which is still observed in parts of England, and this may have militated against the circle existence the accepted shape for door decorations until the re-establishment of the tradition from America in the mid-to-late 20th century.
  23. ^ "Epiphany in United Kingdom". timeanddate.com . Retrieved 31 Dec 2016.
  24. ^ Sirvaitis, Karen (1 Baronial 2010). The European American Experience. Twenty-First Century Books. pp. 52. ISBN9780761340881. Christmas is a major vacation for Christians, although some non-Christians in the United states of america besides mark the day as a vacation.
  25. ^ HumorMatters.com Twelve Days of Christmas (reprint of a magazine article). Retrieved iii January 2011.

Sources [edit]

  • "Christmas". Cosmic Encyclopedia . Retrieved 22 December 2005. Primarily subhead Pop Merrymaking under Liturgy and Custom.
  • "The Twelve Days of Christmas". Catholic Culture . Retrieved 22 January 2012. Primarily subhead 12 Days of Christmas under Catholic and Culture.
  • Bowler, Gerald (2000). The World Encyclopedia of Christmas. Toronto: M&S. ISBN978-0-7710-1531-1. OCLC 44154451.
  • Caulkins, Mary; Jennie Miller Helderman (2002). Christmas Trivia: 200 Fun & Fascinating Facts Well-nigh Christmas. New York: Gramercy. ISBN978-0-517-22070-2. OCLC 49627774.
  • Collins, Ace; Clint Hansen (2003). Stories Behind the Nifty Traditions of Christmas. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan. ISBN978-0-310-24880-4. OCLC 52311813.
  • Evans, Martin Marix (2002). The Twelve Days of Christmas. White Plains, New York: Peter Pauper Press. ISBN978-0-88088-776-2. OCLC 57044650.
  • Wells, Robin Headlam (2005). Shakespeare's Humanism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-0-521-82438-5. OCLC 62132881.
  • Hoh, John L., Jr. (2001). The Twelve Days of Christmas: A Carol Canon. Vancouver: Suite 101 eBooks.

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Days_of_Christmas

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