cathy33December 26
The Twelve Days of Christmas
The Twelve Days of Christmas is a classic Christmas Carol. Some people love it and some people hate it. Whether you love it or hate, sing it or cringe when you hear it, there actually is a historical basis for the traditional Christmas carol we all know.
The 12 days of Christmas is the period in Christian theology that marks the span between the birth of Christ and the coming of the Magi, the three wise men. It begins on December 25 (Christmas) and runs through January 6, the Epiphany, sometimes also called Three Kings’ Day. It is the day that the Three Wise Men arrived to honor Jesus and is traditionally celebrated with a feast, sometimes called a Twelfth Night party.
Twelfth Night was a big time of celebration with people holding large parties. This dated back to medieval and Tudor times when Twelfth Night marked the end of ‘winter’.
Despite the historical basis the song itself isn’t really have anything to do with the 12 days of Christmas. It is believed that the song most likely began as a memory game for kids. That’s why it’s so dang long and repetitive! Over the years there have been several different versions of the song lyrics.
When my first daughter was about 3, we actually began to continue our holiday season to include the 12 days of Christmas. Partly because she wanted to have the tree up for her birthday which is Jan, 4 so we began a new tradition.
Now we don’t give gifts all 12 days but we do continue to celebrate in small simple ways. (And of course with a Birthday party.)
It was also traditional to take your Christmas decorations down following Twelfth Night.
On the Epiphany, we had a “fancy dinner” and have our own 12th night Celebration with Eggnog and snacks, while we take decorations off the Christmas tree the same way we celebrate putting up the tree. And take the tree down the next day.
Seems as the girls have grown up and have their own lives, I miss that tradition of celebrating from Christmas to the Epiphany.
These days everyone has Christmas Decorations and starts celebrating Christmas even before Thanksgiving is over. We never put our tree up until close to Christmas because we wanted it to last until January 7th! Wouldn’t it be nice to start a little later and celebrate all the way to Twelfth Night?
