12 Days of Christmas

For many years, all I knew about the “Twelve Days of Christmas” was:

“Twelve Drummers Drumming...and A Partridge in a Pear Tree.”

If you regularly read this weblog, you probably know that I am not a “church calendar” guy. Any number of American religious denominations follow a liturgical year of feast days, holidays, or whatever one might want to call them. Much of this has encroached into Baptist churches in recent years.

For several years, I had a vague notion that the twelve days had something to do with the difference between when Roman Catholics celebrate Christmas by the Gregorian calendar, and the Greek Orthodox celebrate Christmas by the Julian calendar. Close, but no cigar. Not knowing much about this, but interested in all sorts of facts, I decided to look up and find just what the “Twelve Days of Christmas” are.

Beyond the popular Christmas song, the phrase “Twelve Days of Christmas” refers to the days from December 25/Christmas (celebrated as the birth of Jesus Christ) to the Epiphany, celebrated on January 6. (These days are also called Twelvetide and Christmastide.) Having heard the word Epiphany but not really understanding it, I had to look it up. Looks like it isn’t the same for everybody.

To Roman Catholics and those influenced by them, Epiphany refers to and celebrates the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the coming of the wise men (Matthew 2:1-12). Apparently. some Pope or council established this date, since it is not confirmed by the Bible. To the Greek Orthodox and those influenced by them, Epiphany refers to and commemorates the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by John the Baptist and the divine revelation of the Trinity (Matthew 3:13-17). Not sure how they arrived at this date.[i] Biblically, however, the baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan River more directly manifested to the world Jesus as the Son of God.

So there are the “Twelve Days of Christmas.” Now you know. Well, now I know. You probably knew already.

It is obvious that the setting up of these days does not derive from the apostles or scripture. One apostle sincerely and truthfully wrote by inspiration, “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” These “holy days” of the liturgical churches are not made “holy” or “more holy” just because they say so.

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[i] I am assuming this is all done by the Orthodox according to the Julian calendar, so that it appears as December 25 to January 6, but simply occurs later than for those who celebrate December 25 to January 6 according to the Gregorian calendar.