On the Fifth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
In our current culture, if you were to ask someone when the 12 Days of Christmas starts (assuming you aren’t standing outside a Liturgical church when you find someone to ask) they’ll come up with a date of about December 13th. In fact, the 12 Days of Christmas BEGIN on December 25th and end on January 5th (Twelfth Night of Shakespeare Fame) - which is the Eve of the Feast of Theophany (or Epiphany in the West).
What is this Twelve Day Feast, and why is it celebrated? There’s the practical answer – after our Advent Fast, it’s a time of joyous celebration. There’s the Theological answer – to properly celebrate the Incarnation, you need more than 24 hours. And, there’s the Liturgical answer, best summed up by Father Thomas Hopko in his Winter Pascha
The second day of Christmas in the Orthodox Church is dedicated to the
Virgin Mary. It is called the synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos. The Church
assembles on this day to honor her through whom the Savior has come. The
entire creation is indebted to the Lord for its redemption, but the Lord
Himself is indebted to Mary who, humanly speaking, by the grace of the
Spirit, made possible His coming.1
There then follow the three days of the postfeast of the Nativity dedicated
to the memory of those who were killed for Christ. First is celebrated the
memory of the first Christian martyr, the deacon Stephen. As the hymns of
his festival declare, the persecution and death of Christians is an
inevitable result of the coining of Christ. Jesus came to die for the truth
of God, which is most perfectly actualized in the gift of ones life that
others may live. This is the most godlike expression of love possible to
creatures. Christ's disciples imitate His example, which is their calling
and command, finding within it their highest joy and fulfillment
He continues, “The third day of Christmas is dedicated to the memory of the holy martyrs of Nicomedia who refused to honor the earthly emperor as king in fidelity to
the only King of heaven. Their blood also, according to the ancient
Christian saying, has become the seed of the Church.”
And finishes with, “Finally, on the fourth day of the feast, the "pascha" of the innocent children slain by Herod is celebrated with praise.
Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, was in a
furious rage, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and
in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time
which he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was
spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: "A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and
loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be
consoled, because they were no more." (Mt 2:16-18)”
Singing Christmas Carols this year, I was struck by how many of them are about these twelve days of Christmas (I was also struck by how meaty they are, but usually in the second and third verses, which no one sings anymore, but that’s another post).
Today’s Commemoration of the Holy Innocents is remembered in the beautiful Coventry Carol and St. Stephen’s Day is remembered when we sing about Good King Wenceslas (and also the hilarious if not traditional St. Stephen’s Day Murders by Elvis Costello)
So, remember that you're not done yet with Christmas. It's ok if your cards aren't out yet, if you still receive a gift or two, or even if you still shout out "Christ is Born!" it's not an early New Year's commemoration, it's celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas.
4 Comments:
Oh, good, then you'll still be happy at receiving your Christmas gifts sometime next week . . . Someday I'm going to get over my problem with using the mail and get things out on time. Or not. But we really, really love you all!
I noticed the same thing when we were singing carols at the Holy Night supper.
Mom said it just right! Although I did get your presents and had them wrapped in time. If you had been here you could have gotten them ;)Hope your Christmas was wonderful, it sounds like it was. The kids loved their books. Have a Happy New Years!
A warm Happy New Year to you!! Thanks for posting the after feast days!! Gave me a pinch for the New Year. With my working so much, I haven't made church as often.
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