Twelve Days of Christmas, Essay Example

It is a well-known fact that Christmas is the world’s most widely celebrated holiday, but only few people nowadays know about its origin and religious meaning. As Gerald Bowler points out in his The World Encyclopedia of Christmas “it is celebrated on every continent, by Christians for whom it is the second most sacred data on the calendar, and by increasing numbers of people of other faiths and folk with no religious faith at all” (5). Furthermore, the celebration of Twelve Days of Christmas is conducted differently by divergent church confessions and cultures with diverse dates, traditions, interpretations, merrymaking, etc. In this in-depth paper I will research the history, origin and development of a celebration of the Twelve Days of Christmas and I will try to compare how these festive days are observed in various parts of the world and by different churches.

Thesis: Although in the world there exist distinct attitudes towards and ways to celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas, nonetheless despite all this difference the main aim of the feast to share love and to be reminded of God’s grace that can transform people’s lives is preserved in all cultures and traditions.

Introduction

The Twelve Days of Christmas is a festive period that starts on December 25 (Christmas Day which is considered to be the birthday of Jesus Christ) and ends with the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6) when the manifestation of Magi came to acknowledge Jesus’ glory.  Given period is also known as Christmastide or Twelvetide. This festive season is a part of a liturgical cycle that starts with Advent, is followed by Christmas, then continues with Epiphany, and ends with Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of the Lent. As it was mentioned before, the celebration of these festive days varies from culture to culture and from one confession to the other. For example, in the Latin American culture the day of the Epiphany is the one when all the presents are given (it serves as an imitation of Wise Men presenting gifts to baby Jesus) while in the Catholic tradition it is December 25 when an exchange of gifts must be conducted, and there also exist a custom of exchanging gifts every day of this twelve-day period which is followed by certain confessions. A lot of other divergences connected to the celebration of Christmastide can be found, the observation and explanation of which will be made in a course of this paper.

About the origin of the holiday of Christmas itself and a celebration of the Twelve Days of Christmas there are still doubts and discussions held by theologians and historians. The main arguing point is that nowhere in the text of the New Testament even a slightest mentioning of the celebration of the Jesus’ birthday can be found. A lot of historians state that those customs that people today follow as Christian ones actually came from pagan traditions and religions. For example, Mesopotamians were celebrating New Year festival that lasted exactly twelve days and Romans adopted their tradition with quite a similar festival that was called Saturnalia. It was beginning in the middle of December and lasted till January the 1^st. During these days Roman citizens were exchanging gifts, conducting feast meals, lighting green trees with candles, etc. And there are historical and theological evidences that early Christians were against these pagan celebrations. In 1 Corinthians there is a passage about Idol Feasts where Paul says:

Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. (10:19-22)

At this point the problem was that many newly-converted Christians refused to abandon their favorite feast of Saturnalia and thus they continued to celebrate it despite the prohibition of the Church. And because of such a popularity of this pagan holiday Christians eventually had to transform it into something more suitable for their religion:

There were many immigrants into the ranks of the Christians by this time, but the Church Fathers discovered to their alarm that they were also facing an invasion of pagan customs. The habit of the Saturnalia was too strong to be left behind. At first the church forbade it, but in vain. When a river meets a boulder that will not be moved, the river flows around it. If the Saturnalia would not be forbidden, let it be tamed. (Count 36)

An official order to celebrate Jesus’ birthday on December 25 was given by the Bishop of Rome, Julius 1, in 350 AD. Some historians say that before this proclamation the date for Jesus’ Birth and Baptism was the same which created disturbances to the clergy, that’s why the Bishop was asked to assign Christ’s birthday on a separate day. There is evidence that December 25 was already celebrated by Cappadocia’s citizens in 380 AD (Holweck). So historically this is how the holiday of Christmas and festival of the Twelve Days of Christmas had appeared.

However, there is also a theological explanation to the origin of these festival days and a justification for their necessity. The Feast of Epiphany originated in the Eastern Church and the term comes from the Greek word ‘epiphania’ which means ‘appearance’ or ‘showing forth’ which is a symbol of God’s visit to earth. According to Chaney there are three main ideas about Jesus that are communicated through the Feast of Epiphany. The first one is the divine manifestation of Jesus as the Son of God which is declared trough three events: adoration of the Magi, Christ’s baptism in the Jordan, and the first miracle at the wedding feast. The second idea is that of royal kingship and the extension of Jesus’ kingdom to the entire world. The third one is that Jesus Christ is the light of the world. The main point of this idea is that “at Christmas the Light shone forth, but dimly, seen only by a few around the crib: Mary and Joseph and the shepherds. But at Epiphany the Light bursts forth to all nations” (Chaney). Therefore, the Twelve Days of Christmas mark the period between Jesus’ birth, his baptism and the visit of the Wise Men.

There are certain feasts and fetes associated with nearly each of the Twelve Days of Christmas. It is quite obvious that these days and nights are celebrated differently in various parts of the world, but nonetheless certain ideas and customs are followed on all continents and by all confessions. The First Day of Christmas begins on the night before, which is the Christmas Eve. The word Christmas comes from the Old English ‘Cristes Maesse’ which means the Mass of Christ and it was first found in 1038 (Holweck). There are two particular customs connected with this day. One of them is the crèche which is a visualization of the story of Jesus’ birth. This custom had begun in the 13^th century as it was set by St. Francis of Assisi in a Greccio’s church. Usually crèches are set in churches or on lawns before them, but there are as well a lot of family crèches. And another custom is that of Yule log’s burning. As many other Christian traditions this one also comes from pagan religions. For instance, there is a great similarity between the lighting of the log on Christmas Eve and the celebration of winter solstice in Scandinavia. In both cases fire represents the divine power, but in Scandinavia it was the Sun and in Christianity it is the Savior Jesus Christ. Eventually the burning of a Yule log was substituted by the lighting of the Christmas candle. Two most famous contemporary symbols associated Christmas – Santa Claus and the Christmas tree – had originated long after the initial establishment of the holiday. The prototype of Santa Claus was Nicholas of Myra, a Christian bishop who lived in the forth century. And the tradition of decorating Christmas tree originated in the medieval Germany, although similar customs existed before that in various cultures.

One of the most popular and famous customs associated with the First Day of Christmas is the exchange of gifts. The theological background for this tradition is the remembrance and imitation of God, who as the divine Giver, has provided people with the gift of His Son. Even though it is quite universally accepted that presents should be granted on the First Day of Christmas, still a lot of confessions follow the rule of giving gifts each of the twelve nights or handling them on the day of Epiphany.

December 26 – the Second Day of Christmas – is also known as the Feast of St. Stephen. Another title (a British one) given to this date is a Boxing Day and a difference in dates for celebrating this feast exists among churches. For instance, it is observed on December 26 by the Western Church and on December 27 by the Eastern Church. The main message of the feast, however, is the same for all those who commemorate St. Stephen – the first person to consciously give away his life for Jesus Christ and the first ‘social worker’ in the church. Thus the main theme of this day is that of helping those who are less fortunate than oneself and of providing charity. The British title of the Boxing Day is based on a tradition of collecting money throughout the year in small boxes which were then broken and gathered funds were distributed between the poor. In addition, as St. Stephen was stoned to death while praying for his enemies all Christian give prayers for their foes on this day.

The next day – December 27 – is the Feast of St. John. The main custom associated with this date in the one of blessing wine as a memory of Apostle John’s drinking the poisoned wine and staying unaffected.

The Forth Day of Christmas is the Feast of the Holy Innocents or it is also known as the Childermas. However, in the Orthodox churches this feast is conducted on December 29. The date is being celebrated since the 6^th century as a memory of those children who were killed by the king Herod in his attempt to get rid of Jesus (Mt 2:16-17). It is believed that these children gave their blood for Christ and thus they stand in one row with St. Stephen and St. John. As the Catholic Encyclopedia states “the Church venerates these children as martyrs; they are the first buds of the Church killed by the frost of persecution” (Holweck). It is also stated that St. Stephen is the first martyr by will, love, and blood; St. John by will and love; and these children by blood alone (Holweck). The main message of this feast is for adults to remember that children are the blessing of God on the Earth. And thus in the course of the day youngsters are given special privileges as those of choosing a dessert for a family dinner, selecting carols to be sung, turning on the Christmas tree lights, etc.

The Fifth Day of Christmas is also known as the Feast of St. Tomas Becket. This is the day when the Catholic Church commemorates the Archbishop of Canterbury who was murdered on December 29 in 1170.

The Sixth Day of Christmas is somewhat ‘a clean date’ as there are no feasts connected to it. Quite the same situation is with the Seventh Day of Christmas – December 31^st which is simply a New Year’s Eve.

The Eighth Day of Christmas – January the 1^st – is the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. Eight days after his birth (according to the Gospel of Luke) Jesus was circumcised and named. This date has been celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church since the 15^th century. However, nowadays the Roman Catholic Church conducts this feast on January 3 (following the General Roman Calendar that was restored in 2002) while Anglican and Lutheran Churches continue to commemorate Jesus’ name on January the 1^st. In the Orthodox Church this day is known as the Feast of St. Basil the Great. Anglican Church is celebrating St. Basil’s Day on January the 2^nd (the Ninth Day of Christmas). Following Greek tradition a special cake (with a coin inside of it) called Vassilopita is baked on this day. A person who gets a slice of the cake with a coin is going to receive special blessing and luck throughout the whole year.

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas – January 5 – the Epiphany begins as this day is its Eve. The twelfth day marks the end of Christmas and the onset of Epiphany. In the Medieval Ages the Feast of Fools was conducted on January 5. It was the day when people were changing their social positions to opposite ones and thus poor were playing kings and vice versa. This tradition was also coming from the ancient times. For example, in Persia and Babylonia there was a festival called Sacaea which was characterized by the exchange of positions between slaves and masters, later this custom mingled with the Roman Saturnalia and Scandinavian Yuletide and then filtered into the Medieval Christian celebrations. In many cultures January 5 is considered to be the last day when the Christmas tree and decorations should be taken down.

January 6 is the Feast of Epiphany which is connected to the adoration of Magi. As it is narrated in the Gospel of Matthew shortly after his birth the baby Jesus was visited by astrologers – Magi – bringing him gifts and frankincense (2:1-12). And thus the Epiphany (January 6) was established as a commemoration of their visit. However, at this point there also exists a difference between various churches. As Mosteller points out “eastern Christians generally celebrate Epiphany as the day of Jesus’ baptism (when Jesus was first revealed as God’s Son), and western Christians celebrate it as the day the Wise Men first saw Jesus” (36).  According to the Gregorian calendar, which is followed by the vast majority of Orthodox churches, this is the Old Christmas Day.

So my conclusion is that even though nowadays Christmas itself and the Twelve Days of Christmas are every often celebrated without turning to the religious and historical background, still the main idea that this feast brings with it stays the same throughout centuries. That is the sharing of love and grace. Jesus’ birthday serves not only as the remembrance of his love to all the humanity, but also as the sign of love being the greatest blessing and gift given by God to people. Despite the doubts of historians whether Jesus was actually born in December and in spite of theologians’ attempts to assign Christ’s birthday to nearly every month on the calendar, still the tradition to celebrate Christmas in winter, by the end of a year, seems quite logical to me. I think that it is wonderful that people are reminded of love, forgiveness, grace and sacrifice just before the beginning of a new year. Furthermore, the twelve-day period of celebrations gives people energy, strength and vitality to face and overcome colder and grimmer winter days. While I find it to be important to know the history and meaning of the world’s most popular holiday, still the most important is to remember that these days are the commemoration of love, friendship, family and blessing.

Works Cited

Bowler, Gerald. The World Encyclopedia of Christmas. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2004.

Count, Earl W., and Alice Lawson Count. 4000 Years of Christmas: A Gift from the Ages. Berkeley, CA: Ulysses Press, 1997.

Holweck, Frederick. “Holy Innocents.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol.7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 23 Feb. 2010. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07419a.htm

Mosteller, Angie M. Christmas: Celebrating the Christian History of American Symbols, Songs and Stories. Longwood, FL: Xulon Press, 2008.

The Holy Bible. New International Version. Colorado Springs, CO: The International Bible Society, 1984.