The Twelve Days of Christmas

A Quick Compendium "Biography" for the Season

“On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, A partridge in a pear tree.”

-The 12 Days of Christmas, a carol first published in England in the late 18th century.

I have always loved the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” not for the meaning (why is the partridge in a pear tree and how do you give them as a gift to someone?) but for its playfulness, signing it with others, and trying to remember each gift without missing a beat. This year while preparing the “Christmas” compendium post I ran across the word “Christmastide.” In researching its meaning I learned about a celebration that is the source of the fun of that wonderful song.

I guess I always assumed that the 12 days of Christmas was some kind of lead up to Christmas day. Maybe December 12 to the 24th. These day they actually begin on Christmas day and lead to January 5th; covering the period between Christmas, the celebration of the birth of Christ, and Epiphany, the manifestation of Christ to the gentile (non-Jewish) people as represented by the wise men. It began in 567, when the Council of Tours 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.¹ The 12 days of Christmas is an extension of our Christmas celebration.

“Christmastide” is a wonderful word for this continued celebration. I can see it now. Advent is the build-up to the crashing wave of December 25. Our lives are a beach of sand dried out in the sun. The waters of Christmas celebration nourish our lives. But that is just the beginning. For the next 12 days, if we will allow it, the tide continues to spread across our relationships as we continue in gift-giving and gratitude.

For almost two weeks, in our song, gifts were given. Let them inspire you with ideas of the gifts you can offer your loved ones during Christmastide:

• Day 1: A partridge in a pear tree

• Day 2: Two turtle doves

• Day 3: Three French hens

• Day 4: Four calling birds

• Day 5: Five golden rings

• Day 6: Six geese a-laying

• Day 7: Seven swans a-swimming

• Day 8: Eight maids a-milking

• Day 9: Nine ladies dancing

• Day 10: 10 Lords a-leaping

• Day 11: 11 Pipers piping

• Day 12: 12 Drummers drumming

This is Christmas: The Extended Version. Through our participation we may find that we learn something deeper about the season. As Carolyn Wells has written in her poem, Humility:

“I love the Christmas-tide, and yet,

I notice this, each year I live;

I always like the gifts I get,

But how I love the gifts I give!” -Carolyn Wells (1869-1942)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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Celebrating Christmas Threatens Those in Power!

• From 1789-1799 the revolutionary French government banned all Christmas celebrations and by law renamed the popular “3 Kings Cakes” “Equality Cakes.”²

• From 1917-1991 the Soviet Union prohibited all Christmas celebrations. Saint Nicholas was replaced with “Ded Moroz” or Grandfather Frost.

• The Nazis sought to deemphasize Christian influence from the holiday, among other things promoting “Nazified” Christmas songs.³

• In 2018 the Chinese government raided Christian churches just before Christmastide, removing Christmas trees and Santa Clauses and coercing churches to close.⁴

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1. Fr. Francis X. Weiser. "Feast of the Nativity". Catholic Culture.

2. Christmas in France. World Book Encyclopedia. 1996. p. 35.

“Carols were altered by substituting names of prominent political leaders for royal characters in the lyrics, such as the Three Kings. Church bells were melted down for their bronze to increase the national treasury, and religious services were banned on Christmas Day. The cake of kings, too, came under attack as a symbol of the royalty. It survived, however, for a while with a new name—the cake of equality.”

3. Perry, Joseph (24 December 2015). "How the Nazis co-opted Christmas: A history of propaganda". The Washington Post. Retrieved 11 March 2016.

4. “Alarm over China’s Church crackdown.” BBC.18 December 2018.

“Among those arrested are a prominent pastor and his wife, of the Early Rain Covenant Church in Sichuan. Both have been charged with state subversion. And on Saturday morning, dozens of police raided a children's Bible class at Rongguili Church in Guangzhou. One Christian in Chengdu told the BBC: "I'm lucky they haven't found me yet." China is officially atheist, though says it allows religious freedom.”