“On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me…” Yeah, we all know the song The 12 Days of Christmas and we are probably so sick of hearing it by December 25 that we want to run screaming from the room when it begins to play. No one wants twelve partridges in pear trees.
What are the twelve days of Christmas?
The twelve days of Christmas don’t end on Christmas Day; that is when they begin. In the church year the four weeks before Christmas are Advent. Christmas begins on December 25 and lasts until Epiphany, January 6. That is when we celebrate the Magi, also called the Three Kings or the Wise Men.
Many cultures around the world have Twelfth Night celebrations, either on January 5 or 6, to celebrate Epiphany. In some countries this is when gifts are given, because that is when Jesus was given the gold, frankincense, and myrrh by the Magi.
Have you eaten King Cake, or Roscon de Reyes? The special cakes, perhaps called different names in different nations, are usually baked on the night of January 5 and eaten on Epiphany. These yeast cakes are baked in a circle and beautifully decorated, to represent a royal crown. Usually a plastic baby, a bean, or a pea is hidden inside, and the person whose slice has that treasure is king or queen for the day of Epiphany. If you’ve been to New Orleans, you may have eaten King Cake. This treat is served from Epiphany through Mardi Gras, often at weekly parties or after parades. Then Lent and the time of fasting begins.
British people make a special punch called Wassail for their Twelfth Night celebration, Wassail is made from hot mulled cider or wine and spices. In some communities wassailing involves door-to-door charity-giving. Some towns have orchard wassailing parties to ensure a good harvest the following year. According to Wikipedia, the villagers form a circle around the largest apple tree, hang pieces of toast soaked in cider in the branches for the robins, who represent the ‘good spirits’ of the tree. Then they sing. They believe this ensures a good apple harvest the next Autumn.
Many people believe The 12 Days of Christmas song represents different aspects of Christianity, but there isn’t any evidence to support this. Instead, the rhyme was written centuries ago as a memory game. When I was a child, I learned This Is the House that Jack Built. Many of us sang There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly with our children. (If you aren’t familiar with these memory games, check them out on Google or YouTube.)
In the United States, our culture has become so commercialized that our stores, and many of our homes, begin to decorate for Christmas November 1, when Halloween comes down. Most families set up their trees the weekend after Thanksgiving. The tree and decorations are put away the day after Christmas.
I grew up in a family that got our tree in mid-December, and the tree and decorations came down on Epiphany. Now that we have artificial trees, Earl and I put ours up the beginning of December. And our home stays decorated until Epiphany, January 6, the 12th Day of Christmas.