The 12 Days of Christmas

The 12 Days of Christmas are now most famous as a song about someone receiving lots of presents from their 'true love'. However, to get to the song there had to be the days to start with!

The 12 Days of Christmas start on Christmas Day and last until the evening of the 5th January - also known as Twelfth Night. The 12 Days have been celebrated in Europe since before the middle ages and were a time of celebration. Now sometimes the 12 days before Christmas are called the 12 Days of Christmas - but that's wrong!

The time before Christmas is Advent. The '12 Days' were created in 567 at the Council of Tours as a way of bringing together the two dates which difference parts of the Christian church celebrated Christmas. The Western Church celebrated Christmas on 25th December and the Eastern Church celebrated it on 6th January - also known as Epiphany.

The 12 Days each traditionally celebrate a feast day for a saint and/or have different celebrations (these can be different between countries and regions, but common ones are below):

Day 1 (25th December): Christmas Day.

Christmas is when Christians remember and celebrate the Birth of Jesus.

Day 2 (26th December also known as Boxing Day): St Stephen’s Day.

Stephen was the first Christian martyr (someone who dies for their faith). It's also the day when the Christmas Carol 'Good King Wenceslas' takes place.

Day 3 (27th December): St John the Apostle.

John was one of Jesus's disciples and friends. He was also the only one of Jesus's first followers who didn't die for their faith.

Day 4 (28th December): The Feast of the Holy Innocents

This is a day when people remember the baby boys which King Herod killed when he was trying to find and kill the Baby Jesus.

Day 5 (29th December): St Thomas Becket.

Thomas was Archbishop of Canterbury in the 12th century and was murdered on 29th December 1170 for challenging tKing Henry II's authority over the church.

Day 6 (30th December): St Egwin of Worcester.

Egwin was known for his strict morals. He also founded one of the biggest monasteries in medieval England.

Day 7 (31st December): New Year's Eve (known as Hogmanay in Scotland).

Pope Sylvester I is traditionally celebrated on this day. He was one of the earliest popes (in the 4th Century). In many central and eastern European countries (including Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland and Slovenia) New Year's Eve is still sometimes called 'Silvester'. In the UK, New Year's Eve was a traditional day for ‘games’ and sporting competitions. Archery was a very popular sport and during the middle ages it was the law that it had to be practised by all men between ages 17-60 on Sunday after Church! This was so the King had lots of very good archers ready in case he need to go to war!

Day 8 (1st January): 1st January - New Year's Day

Some Christians and remember Mary, the Mother of Jesus on this day; some Christians remember when Jesus was circumcised on this day; and some Christians celebrate the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus on this day (others celebrate on the 3rd January!).

Day 9 (2nd January): St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen

These were two important 4th century Christians and friends. They founded one of the first Monasteries and wrote the Nicene-Creed - a way of explaining the Christian faith which is still used by Christians today.

Day 10 (3rd January): Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus.

This remembers when Jesus was officially 'named' in the Jewish Temple. It's celebrated by different churches on a wide number of different dates!

Day 11 (4th January): St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Elizabeth was the first American saint, who lived in the 18th and 19th centuries. She had five children and became a nun after the death of her husband. Elizabeth also founded the Sisters of Charity, when helped thousands of poor people. She died aged 46.

Day 12 (5th January also known as Epiphany Eve): St. John Neumann

John was the first Bishop in America (and so far the only US male citizen) to become a saint. He lived in the 19th century. In some churches, it's also the Saint's day of St Simeon Stylites the Elder, who lived on a small platform on the top of a pillar for 37 years!

You can make a calendar to count through the 12 Days of Christmas!

Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night was a big time of celebration with people holding large parties. During these parties, often the roles in society were reversed with the servants being served by the rich people. This dated back to medieval and Tudor times when Twelfth Night marked the end of 'winter' which had started on 31st October with All Hallows Eve (Halloween).

At the start of Twelfth Night the Twelfth Night cake was eaten. This was a rich cake made with eggs and butter, fruit, nuts and spices. The modern Italian Panettone is the cake we currently have that's most like the old Twelfth Night cake.

A dried pea or bean was cooked in the cake. Whoever found it was the Lord (or Lady) of Misrule for night. The Lord of Misrule led the celebrations and was dressed like a King (or Queen). This tradition goes back to the Roman celebrations of Saturnalia. In later times, from about the Georgian period onwards, to make the Twelfth Night 'gentile', two tokens were put in the cake (one for a man and one for a women) and whoever found them became the 'King' and 'Queen' of the Twelfth Night party.

In English Cathedrals, during the middle ages, there was the custom of the 'Boy Bishop' where a boy from the Cathedral or monastery school was elected as a Bishop on 6th December (St Nicholas's Day) and had the authority of a Bishop (except to perform Mass) until 28th December. King Henry VIII banned the practise in 1542 although it came back briefly under Mary I in 1552 but Elizabeth I finally stopped it during her reign.

During Twelfth Night it was traditional for different types of pipes to be played, especially bagpipes. Lots of games were played including ones with eggs. These included tossing an egg between two people moving further apart during each throw - drop it and you lose; and passing an egg around on spoons. Another popular game was 'snapdragon' where you picked raisins or other dried fruit out of a tray of flaming brandy!

The first Monday after the Christmas feast has finished was known as ‘Plough Monday’ as this was when farming work would all begin again!

In many parts of the UK, people also went Wassailing on Twelfth Night.

Twelfth Night is also known as Epiphany Eve. In many countries it's traditional to put the figures of the Wise Men/Three Kings into the Nativity Scene on Epiphany Eve ready to celebrate Epiphany on the 6th January.

It's also traditional to take your Christmas decorations down following Twelfth Night. However, during Elizabethan times it was common to keep greenery up until Candlemas on the 2nd February.

Twelfth Night is also the name of a famous play written by William Shakespeare. It's thought it was written in 1601/1602 and was first performed at Candlemas in 1602, although it wasn't published until 1623.