[C19fan]

Mrs. Hemingway can yearn for the ideal of the 12 Days of Christmas but the reality was quite different. At least in England, the 12 Days were marked by lots of drinking and cavorting . Sort of made sense as this was still a predominately agrarian society and you had people with nothing to do but party during the start of winter. The situation got so bad when the Puritans took over England during the Commonwealth period they banned the celebration of Christmas. In the Industrial Age the idea of 12 days of celebration was simply not viable from an economic sense. People needed to go back to the factory and their offices. The Victorians led by Dickens decided to place all the emphasis on Christmas Eve/Christmas.

[Charles Henrickson]

The Christian liturgical calendar is somewhat different. For the Western Church, Advent begins on the fourth Sunday prior to Christmas Day. It’s the beginning of the entire church calendar year and it is a time of preparation for Christ’s coming. It usually involves special prayers, more opportunities for worship, and special time for repentance. It’s not a time for partying. Then the feasting begins on Christmas and lasts for 12 days moving into the Epiphany season.

Good article by my friend and fellow LCMSer Mollie Ziegler Hemingway--who, btw, was the person who introduced me to Free Republic back in November of 2000. In this article, she goes into both the religious reasons and the "fun" reasons for thinking of Christmas as the twelve-day season.

[Katya]

We have always saved 3 small gifts and set them aside for giving out on three kings day... or 12th night. I also hide a gold coin in a Buche de Noel or yule log which we eat on three kings day... the person who receives the coin in their piece is King of the year!

[Dilbert San Diego]

Would be nice to celebrate for 12 days up to January 6th. But unrealistic that so many people would have all that time off from work and school and normal everyday activities.

[Fester Chugabrew]

Hard to pull this off after a 30 day orgasm of material acquisition during the Season of Advent. By the day after Christmas everyone is spent in more ways than one.

[VanDeKoik]

“Let’s Bring Back The 12 Days Of Christmas”

How about no?

We already have the 40 days of it as it stands now.

[mosesdapoet]

Epiphany or “Little Christmas” falls at a day when Christmas is observed by Orthodox Catholics using the Julian calander. My outside seasonal decoration lights on a creche scene don’t go on until the week of Christmas day and remain lighted till the following Sunday after Epiphany . And when I was a kid our tree wasn’t decorated before Christmas eve.

Commercial interests misplaced the value of the 12 days of Christmas which began on Christmas day not a month before the 25th. I use the no longer observed traditional date Jan 6th to pass out gratuities or small gifts with this card

January 6th
Once Upon a Time and not too long ago
The Twelfth Night Of Christmas
was celebrated with a ball
Begun on the Day of Birth
and the 11 thereafter
Kith and kin were visited
and friends were paid a call
So on this day I pray
in the spirit that this date recalls
The gifts of kings
Let thee Be in spirit of joyous days
and season in bosom remain
while the days ore year
and beyond it wane
Be thine Blessings Great
and misfortunes
thee none befall...LJK

I recorded this and other poems in my website which has a link to my poetry page http://www.theusmat.com/

[adaven]

Heck, I’m all for bringing back the 12 days of Yuletide, The Wild Hunt and the “Yule Father” Odin (the original “Santa Clause”).

Hail the Aesir!

[Oratam]

It’s a shame we’ve let retailers set the schedule for our celebration of Christmas. My later father, born in ‘32, remembered a small celebration in his home on Little Christmas, January 6th. They were poor, East Side, tenement Irish.