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] |
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| 25 December |
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| 26 December |
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| 27 December |
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| 28 December |
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| 29 December |
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| 30 December |
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| 31 December |
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| 01 January |
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| 02 January |
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| 03 January |
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| 04 January |
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| 05 January |
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| 06 January |
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| . . . | |
| 02 February |
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[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."
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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.
(no subject)
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!