eftychia: Lego-ish figure in blue dress, with beard and breasts, holding sword and electric guitar (lego-blue)
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posted by [personal profile] eftychia at 04:50pm on 2017-12-25

Yay, Christmas is begun! Christmas lasts either forty days[1], or twelve days followed by twenty eight days of Epiphanytide. The days in the song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas"? These are those. (This list doesn't include every single feast day during Christmastide. And no, I didn't know all of these off the top of my head; I had to look up a bunch of this. Note also that I'm trying to merge info about multiple denominations.)

Christmas / Christmastide[1] / Twelvetide:

24 December[2]
  • Christmas Eve
  • last day of Advent (until Vespers, when Christmas itself begins)
25 December
  • Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord
  • first day of Christmas (begins at Vespers on the 24th)
26 December
  • Saint Stephen's Day (blessing of horses) [a day later for Eastern Orthodox]
  • Boxing Day
  • Wren Day
  • [Eastern Orthodox: Synaxis of the Theotokos]
  • second day of Christmas
  • carol reference: "Good King Wenceslas"
27 December
  • Feast of Saint John the Evangelist (wine is blessed) [different time of year for Orthodox]
  • [Eastern Orthodox: Saint Stephen's Day]
  • third day of Christmas
28 December
  • Childermas / Feast of the Holy Innocents [Western]
  • fourth day of Christmas
  • carol reference: "Coventry Carol"
29 December
  • Feast of the Holy Innocents [Orthodox]
  • fifth day of Christmas
30 December
  • (in 2018, Christmas Sunday)
  • sixth day of Christmas
31 December
  • (in 2017, Christmas Sunday)
  • Saint Sylvester Night
  • Seventh day of Christmas
01 January
  • [multiple names]
    Feast of the Circumcision of Christ
    Solemnity of Mary the Holy Mother of God [26 December for some Orthodox churches]
    Octave Day of the Nativity of the Lord
    Feast of the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus Christ
  • Feast of Saint Basil the Great
  • eighth day of Christmas
02 January
  • ninth day of Christmas
03 January
  • tenth day of Christmas
04 January
  • eleventh day of Christmas
05 January
  • Twelfth Night
  • Chalking the door (can be done the next day)
  • Cavalcade of Magi
  • twelfth day of Christmas
  • end of twelve-day Christmastide
06 January
  • Feast of the Epiphany / Three Kings Day / Three Wise Men Day [Western]
  • Feast of the Theophany (includes Baptism of Christ for denominations that do not have a separate holiday for that[3])
  • carol reference: "We Three Kings"[4]
(note that Gregorian 6 Jan = Julian 24 Dec, so when western and new-calendar Orthodox churches are celebrating Epiphany/Theophany, old-calendar Orthodox are celebrating Christmas Eve)
. . .
02 February
  • Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the Purification of Mary[5]
  • Candlemas
  • end of forty-day Christmastide
  • end of Epiphanytide

[1] From Wikipedia: "In medieval era Christendom, Christmastide 'lasted from the Nativity to the Purification.' To this day, the 'Christian cultures in Western Europe and Latin America extend the season to forty days, ending on the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the Purification of Mary on 2 February, a feast also known as Candlemas because of the blessing of candles on this day, inspired by the Song of Simeon, which proclaims Jesus as 'a light for revelation to the nations'.' Many Churches refer to the period after the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas and up to Candlemas, as Epiphanytide, also called the Epiphany season." This is why some folks take down their Christmas decorations 6 Jan and others take them down 2 Feb. If you take them down before Epiphany, I shall pout at you and complain that Christmas isn't over yet.

[2] Dates given are for whichever calendar a church uses for liturgical purposes. For most, this is the Gregorian calendar. For Coptic churches, and old-calendar Orthodox Churches (Georgian, Russian), these would be Julian-calendar dates. So old-calendar Orthodox churches still celebrate Christmas Eve on "24 December", but it's Julian 24 December, which is currently equivalent to Gregorian 5 January.

[3] From Wikipedia: Catholic -- "the first Sunday after 6 January or, if in a particular country the Epiphany is celebrated on 7 or 8 January, on the following Monday." Church of England -- "Epiphany may be observed on 6 January proper, or on the Sunday between 2 and 8 January. If Epiphany is observed on a Sunday on 6 January or before, the Baptism of Christ is observed on the following Sunday. If the Epiphany is observed on 7 or 8 January, the Baptism of Christ is observed on the following Monday." Episcopal Church [USA] -- "Epiphany is always celebrated on January 6, and the Baptism of the Lord is always celebrated on the following Sunday. It is not clear as to whether or not the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord is the end of Christmastide for the Episcopal Church."

[4] Okay, you can argue that the first verse and the refrain have to be while they're on their way, so during Advent and the twelve days, but the last verse has to be on Epiphany and the middle verses are ambiguous, yes? Anyhow, as I see it the subject is Epiphany.

[5] Wikipedia again: "In the Church of England, the Mother Church of the Anglican Communion, the Presentation of Christ in the Temple is a Principal Feast celebrated either on 2 February or on the Sunday between 28 January and 3 February."

There are 2 comments on this entry. (Reply.)
siderea: (Default)
posted by [personal profile] siderea at 03:26am on 2017-12-26
26 December Saint Stephen's Day (blessing of horses) [a day later for Eastern Orthodox]
carol reference: "Good King Wenceslas"


Do we know if St. Stephen's Day has always been Dec 26 in the Western church?

I ask, because a famous work of French music was written for the mass of St. Stephen's Day, 1199, Perotin's "Sederunt Principes". I don't know we have any earlier surviving music for which we know the specific premier date. I've been going with the assumption that Dec 26 is the day in question.
eftychia: Lego-ish figure in blue dress, with beard and breasts, holding sword and electric guitar (lego-blue)
posted by [personal profile] eftychia at 05:10am on 2017-12-26
That's a really interesting question, and I wonder whether it will turn out to be an easy or difficult one to answer. That will be a cool thing to know about that piece!

Now that I've finally slept a few hours (I didn't last night) I guess it's time for me to jump into another Google/Wikipedia rabbit-hole!

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