[For now, more Christmas posts, and other posts, too. Consider it a Christmas present of sorts. In a Christmas post, I mentioned some typical misconceptions about the faith, and thought that it might be interesting to mention some other ones as well.]
We celebrate Christmas on December 25 (at least in the West), and as Adam Sandler famously sang about Hanukkah*, “instead of one day of presents, [Jewish people] have eight crazy nights”. On the other hand, most of us are familiar with the Christmas song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. What’s up with that? Did Mary have a really, really, really long labor?
Fortunately for her, this was not the case. Christmas day is Christmas, but the next 11 days are, liturgically, the festive Christmas season. But wait, you say: doesn’t the Christmas season begin with Advent? (To say nothing of the secular/commercial Christmas season, which in the U.S. seems to begin ten seconds after Halloween.)
Nope.
Advent is not a time of feasting, but of fasting – at least that’s how traditional churches treat it. As Lent prepares the believer for Easter, Advent prepares the believer for Christmas. Then, we feast!
So why 12 days? It’s the period, inclusive, between the birth of Jesus and the coming of the Magi (the “three”** wise men). Do we know, historically, that the Magi showed up 12 days after the birth of Jesus, or on the equivalent of January 6? There are some interesting early traditions about this, but no, we don’t. The historicity of Jesus is a matter of great importance and worth defending; the dates of Christmas and especially Epiphany, much less so. It is worth having a Christmas season that extends beyond the single day so that we can reflect on and celebrate the birth of Jesus and what it means. I was going to conclude by saying that there’s nothing magic about that season’s being twelve days – one could celebrate the birth of Jesus every day for the rest of one’s life. But because the Christmas season ends with Epiphany, when the Magi show up, there is in that etymological sense something “magic” about that time period!
(Cautionary note and an inside joke to long-time followers of my chess work: There’s probably no such thing as April Fool’s Week; there's only April Fool's Day.)
* Happy Hanukkah!
** Note that the number of Magi is never enumerated. The traditional number is probably given because they are mentioned as bringing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Three gifts – though it doesn’t say that there were only three gifts were involved (maybe there were gifts that weren't of gold, frankincense, and myrrh; maybe there were multiple gifts of one or more of those substances; etc.) – so perhaps three Magi.