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December 31, 2025 – Ten years ago I wrote that I was driving up north “to face the icy arctic blasts of Yankee-land for Christmas.” Meaning before I left, I needed to post an ode to the 12 days of Christmas. (Which is both a “festive Christian season and title of a host of songs and spin-offs, including one on a Mustang GT,”) And lo and behold, this year I’m once again “enjoying” a festive Christmas season up here in the icy arctic blasts of Yankee-land.* (And frankly, after days of too-cold-to-hike I’m getting a bit of cabin fever.) But back to the festive Christmas season:
The Twelve Days of Christmas is the festive Christian season, beginning on Christmas Day (25 December), that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, as the Son of God. This period is also known as Christmastide… The Feast of the Epiphany is on 6 January [and] celebrates the visit of the Wise Men (Magi) and their bringing of gifts to the child Jesus. In some traditions, the feast of Epiphany and Twelfth Day overlap.
See Twelve days of Christmas, included within the article The Twelve Days of Christmas (song) – Wikipedia. The song is said to have begun as an English Christmas Carol – thought to be of French origin – first published in 1780. It’s a “cumulative song,” meaning each verse “is built on top of the previous verses.” Each verse describes a gift from “my true love” on one of the 12 days of Christmas. And as most people know – hearing them ad nauseum starting weeks before Thanksgiving – there are “many variations in the lyrics.” (Like the Redneck 12 Days version.)
One common theory is that the original lyrics were part of a “secret Catholic code:”
In 1979, a Canadian hymnologist, Hugh D. McKellar, published an article, “How to Decode the Twelve Days of Christmas”, claiming that [the] lyrics were intended as a catechism song to help young Catholics learn their faith… McKellar offered no evidence for his claim and subsequently admitted that the purported associations were his own invention. The idea was further popularized by a Catholic priest, Fr. Hal Stockert, in an article he wrote in 1982… In 1987 and 1992, Fr. James Gilhooley, chaplain of Mount Saint Mary College of Newburgh, New York, repeated these claims. None of the enumerated items would distinguish Catholics from Protestants, and so would hardly need to be secretly encoded.
See Twelve Days (above), and also 12 Things You Might Not Know About “The Twelve Days”. The latter noted the story that “from the 16th to the 19th century, when being a Catholic was a crime in Protestant England,” Catholic children used the song to learn their faith.
And speaking of the 12 days of Christmas, the one celebrated tomorrow – January 1 – is called The Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. But there’s another, more earthy name for it:
On January 1st, we celebrate the Circumcision of Christ. Since we are more squeamish than our ancestors [ – “easily shocked, offended, or disgusted by unpleasant things” – ], modern calendars often list it as the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, but the other emphasis is the older. Every Jewish boy was circumcised (and formally named) on the eighth day of his life, and so, one week after Christmas, we celebrate the occasion when Our Lord first shed His blood for us. It is a fit close for a week of martyrs,* and reminds us that to suffer for Christ is to suffer with Him.
(See the Holy Name link, emphasis added.) Which is pretty much a theme for those 12 Days, many of which have such different names. For example, the last of the 12 days – by church reckoning, January 6 – is Epiphany the day, not the season. (Which “celebrates the revelation of God incarnate as Jesus Christ.”) It’s also known as the last of the Twelve Days of Christmas, but to confuse things a bit, the evening of January 5 is called Twelfth Night. (?) But there’s one more name for January 6: It’s also called Three Kings Day. (As in, “We Three Kings of Orient are.”)
A note: The Three Kings were originally called Three Magi, and in its original sense that meant “followers of Zoroastrianism or Zoroaster.” But starting about 1200 A.D., the term commonly referred to the “‘μάγοι’ [‘magoi‘] from the east who visit Jesus.” (As noted in Matthew 2, verses 1-12. And incidentally, these “Three Wise Men” were mentioned only in Matthew’s Gospel.) The idea that there were three seems to have arisen because they brought three gifts: Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And while one view of the story indicates they arrived at the manger shortly after the birth of Jesus, the truth of the matter seems a bit harder to pin down.
The Bible specifies no interval between the birth and the visit [by the Magi, but] artistic depictions … encourage the popular assumption that the visit took place the same winter as the birth… [L]ater traditions varied, with the visit [said to occur] up to two winters later. This maximum interval explained Herod’s command at Matthew 2:16–18 that the Massacre of the Innocents included boys up to two years old.
But now we’re ranging far afield, and the main thing to remember is: The season of Christmastide celebrates the birth of “something new under the sun.” It celebrates a new – non-conservative – way of thinking about God. It celebrates the birth of a new – and I think better – way to approach God. It celebrates the birth of a new way to get closer to God.
Which brings up the question, “What is this ‘Christmas Spirit’ anyway?” Last year I Googled the phrase and got 4,180,000 results. One answer: Christmas Spirit – Its Real Meaning | 7th Sense: It shows in three simple actions: Giving, Appreciating, and Doing service. Another answer came from the link, “What is Christmas Spirit?” – Scientific American Blog Network:
The code of generosity, kindness, and charity toward others is enforced by no one other than ourselves. There are places where this code is strong, and these places (or people) are said to have strong Christmas spirit… After all, we are the sum of the individuals around us who generate the collective force that governs and organizes our social structure… When we “act out” Christmas spirit, we’re making visible this collective force, and we give it power.
So, one message from all this Christmas spirit – in spite of all the obstacles life throws at us – could be that “A ‘time of pestilence’ can show there are more things to admire in people than to despise.” (A quote from Camus’ 1947 novel The Plague that seems appropriate these days.)
Which brings up this time last year, when Jimmy Carter died at the ripe old age of 100. In response to Jimmy’s death, Donald Trump – not known for sensitivity – called Carter “’a truly good man’ who will be missed.” He also ordered flags to fly at half-mast in Carter’s honor at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. Who knows, in a 2026 Christmas miracle our president may find his way back to such a frame of mind, when he can honor “a truly good man who will be missed.”
Maybe with a bit of next-Christmas Magi?
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The upper image is courtesy of The Twelve days of Christmas, with the full caption, “Twelfth Night (The King Drinks) by David Teniers c. 1634-1640.”
The Book of Common Prayer reference: The “corporate-mystical” prayer is on page 339, the post-communion prayer for Holy Eucharist, Rite I.
Feast days are designated days on the liturgical (church) calendar “set aside to commemorate events, saints, or doctrines that are important in the life of the Church. These can range from Solemnities, which are the highest-ranking feast days like Easter and Christmas, to optional memorials that celebrate lesser-known saints.” Feast Days: Celebrating the Church’s Calendar.
Re: Yankee-land. On Sunday December 21, 2025, I left the sunny-south ATL and got to the Springfield (MA) Metropolitan Area two days later.
For this post I borrowed from 2015’s On the 12 Days of Christmas, 2016’s Epiphany, circumcision, and “3 wise guys,” The 12 days of Christmas, 2018-2019, The 12 DAYS of Christmas – 2021-22, and 12/31/24 – Ten years of “12 days of Christmas.”
Writing this I checked the link Cabin Fever: Definition, Symptoms, Causes, and Ways to Cope, on the “relatively common reaction to being isolated or confined for an extended period of time.” Among the ways to cope: Create a Routine, Normal Eating Patterns, Set Goals, Use Your Brain, and Exercise. Over the last week I’ve created a bit of a routine, but my eating patterns are way different. (No more “normal” breakfasts of organic egg whites mixed with kale, spinach, wheat germ, flax seed and a dash of olive oil, but when I get home, I’ll resume my “normal” Spartan kosher diet.) As for using my brain I’ve resumed doing my blog posts, along with crossword puzzles and book-reading; you know, with real books? And I manage a semblance of my normal high-intensity aerobics, though not as much outdoor hiking as I like.) On the other hand, the “cabin fever” is really a bit of hyperbole, so far anyway.
“Week of martyrs.” The Daily Office Readings – see the link below, What’s a DOR? – for the days following Christmas are generally the same each year. For December 26, St. Stephen; for December 27, St. John; for December 29, the Feast of the Holy Innocents. See e.g. The 8 Days of Christmas: Understanding the Christmas Octave.
Re: The Camus quote. See What we learn in time of pestilence – PMC.
The lower image is courtesy of Epiphany (holiday) – Wikipedia. The full caption: “Adoration of the Magi by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 17th century.”
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