The Twelve Days of Christmas

originally published on December 28, 2020

As I said in a previous post, Christmas is not just a single day — as the world and the retailers would have you believe. No. It is an entire season of days!

This makes sense. It took four weeks of preparing during Advent to get to Christmas. So, why, after all that buildup and preparation, would we celebrate Christmas for just one day and call it done?

The Christmas season, also known as Chrismastide, runs from vespers or sundown on Christmas Eve through January 13 when Epiphanytide is completed. Holy Mother Church provides an entire season of days for us to contemplate the great mystery of the incarnation.

The popular Christmas song, The Twelve Days of Christmas, famously counts out twelve of the days of Christmas in a cumulative fashion taking us from December 25 or Christmas Day (the first day of Christmas) through January 5 or the day before Epiphany (the twelfth day of Christmas), which is also known as Twelfth Night.

View a slideshow of the Twelve Days of Christmas

January 6 marks the start of Epiphanytide or the Season of Epiphany, and both Ephiphanytide and Chrismastide formally conclude on January 13.