THE MANY DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

Kathleen and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!


The candles had barely been snuffed in the jack-o-lantern when it started. The annual sniping by those who feel that Thanksgiving is being cheated by the early onslaught of Christmas’ commercialization. There is even chirping about how long we have to be bombarded with Christmas carols, songs and hymns. Other’s simply make us suffer with their not so silent, silent protests, as they refuse to display even a strand of tinsel until the turkey leftovers are eaten, frozen or discarded.

Even a very short investigation of the history of Christmas, whose celebration, by the way, out dates the celebration of Thanksgiving by almost two millennium, quickly brings to our attention that the elongation of Christmas celebration precedes trading posts, general stores, nickel and dime stores, department stores, malls, box stores and 99 cent stores.

We begin by ignoring such ancient calculators of days used by the Sumerians, Israelis, Mayans, Greeks, Vikings and Romans etc. We move boldly forward in our discussion of the Many Days of Christmas referencing only our present day modern calendar which is mostly a modified version of the Gregorian calendar which didn’t come into general use until 1582. It is hard to believe that even though the identification of a day has remained consistent with the sun’s rising and sinking, months and years have been defined in a variety of ways among the inhabitants of the same planet with the same sun and the same moon. Then we have the stepsister of measurements, the week, which was generally ignored on most calendars (except for Israel) until the Christian calendar Anno Domini set apart groups of seven days with the first day of each week being called Dominica or the Day of our Lord.

In the fourth century, St. Nicolas of Italy was a beloved priest who brought joy and happiness to children as an expression of his love of Christ. After his death many of his followers kept his name alive by a celebration where gifts were given to children in remembrance of his kindness. St. Nicolas’ Day eventually became universally celebrated on the 6th day of December of our modern calendar. Since St. Nicolas’ Day and Christmas fell so closely together the two celebrations were eventually merged into a day where the birth of Christ was celebrated by gifts being given on behalf of St. Nicolas and eventually by Santa Claus himself. We must hasten to say that in many nations the bearer of gifts is not St. Nicolas, but either Baby Jesus or the Christ Child or an angel sent by the Christ Child and thereby St. Nicolas is slowly losing his place in history all together. The miracle of technology which has brought the peoples of the earth closer in many ways is now making Santa Claus a more universally recognized bringer of the wonderful surprises on Christmas morning.

That should make some of you happy, we have now diminished our celebration of Christ’s birth to one day.

However, it seems that even Christmas Day comes at least twice a year depending on which calendar your Christian culture uses. There are those few nations who remain orthodox in their Christmas worship who celebrate the birth of the Savior on the 6th of January as we number the days on our modified Gregorian calendar. And then there is the rest of the Christian world who celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December. There are even small denominations of Christians such as the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December, but recognize the 6th day of April as the actual day of the Saviors birth. There are also many scholars who lean to spring time as the time of year of the His birth because of the Shepherd’s tending their flocks on the hill side.

Ironically, seeing that Christmas is celebrated on these two dates, the twelve days of Christmas are those days between the 25th of December and the 6th of January. If you celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December you call the 6th of January the day of Epiphany.

Now that we have historically extended the celebration of Christmas by 12 days, and if you haven't tired or rebelled against the lengthening of the days of Christmas which is taking place I will discuss how the days of Epiphany can extend our celebration even further.

The original meaning of Epiphany from the Greeks would be translated in English as ‘striking appearance.’ We use the words ‘Revelation of God’ in English as our meaning for the word Epiphany. The original Christians celebrated the Day of Epiphany as The Revelation of the Son of God as a human being in Jesus Christ. Most groups of Christianity today celebrate the Epiphany or the 6th of January as the day of the coming of the Magi to see the Baby Jesus. Eastern Christians use the day of Epiphany as a day to celebrate the baptism of Jesus. The Roman Catholic Church then uses the 13th day of January or the eighth day after the Epiphany as the day to commemorate the baptism of Jesus. In the Roman Catholic Church the 13th of January, as a day to recognize the baptism of Jesus, has been changed to the first Sunday after Epiphany as the official day to celebrate His baptism.

If you are keeping score and are not completely befuddled, we have now extended celebration of Christmas day to either 13 or 20 days depending on when the first Sunday after the 6th of January falls.

Let us continue to add days to our Many Days of Christmas. In most of the Western and Mediterranean world the celebration of Christmas is preceded by the celebration of the Advent or the Celebration of First Coming of Christ and the Longing for the Second coming. Advent calendars can be seen in homes which are both humble and ornate, but there are but few who know the significance of the calendars. They come with little slip in pockets or with windows or doors which hide treasures as varied as gumdrops and diamonds. Those who are religious in their observance of the Advent using modern day Advent Calendars will celebrate each passing day with the setting of the sun by discovering a new hidden delight, starting on the 25th day before Christmas.

The Advent is also referred to as St. Martin’s Lent or Fast and for those who observe it correctly it is much like the observance of Lent in anticipation of Easter. St. Martin was the Bishop of Tours, France, in what our modern calendar dates as the mid fourth century. The fast begins with a festive fair and feast on the 11th of November and ends on the eve of the 24th of December. To save you the finger counting that’s an additional 40 days added to our remembrance of the Savior’s birth.

Our tally sheet now numbers 45, 60 or 53 days of Christmas celebration depending on when the first Sunday after the 6th of January falls and whether you use a traditional or modern Advent Calendar.

I have only just begun to count the Many Days of Christmas (to be continued}