Christmas Series: 12 Days of Christmas
History of the 12 Days of Christmas
Are they after Christmas?
The 12 Days of Christmas are the dozen days in the liturgical (ecclesiastical) calendar of the Western Church between the celebration of the birth of the Christ Child (Christmas Day, December 25) and the coming of the Wise Men, or Magi, to visit at his house in Bethlehem (Epiphany, January 6).
The Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates during Epiphany rather than the Western Christmas Day. January 6th is observed as Three Kings Day in Hispanic and Latin American culture, or simply the “Day of the Kings.”
Question: Aren’t the 12 Days of Christmas the days before Christmas when you shop for presents?
Answer: No, the four-week season before Christmas is called Advent, meaning “the coming” of Christ.
The dozen days following Christmas are the “12 Days of Christmas”; the last is Twelfth Night. The Twelfth Night is the holiday that marks the twelfth night of the Christmas Season, the Eve of Epiphany, when the Magi came to adore the…
