We hope you enjoy this video looking at the history surrounding the twelve days of Christmas. Here's a short note from our historians regarding this topic: The date of Epiphany is a matter of contention and can cause lots of Christmas rows! However, Epiphany, or ‘Little Christmas’, the crescendo of Christmas is most definitely Twelfth Night and was kept as such in late medieval and Tudor England.
German Christmas is celebrated on the evening of the 24th, and then you get two more holidays that have no particular festive theme other than "no work, and more eating", lol. So my confusion was more about which of the days was supposed to be the first. I find it so odd that the birth-night that is supposedly the thing celebrated seems to have no real significance in England and the US?
In Finland the month of december is actually named Christmas Month (direct translation) so we naturally start Christmas decorations early in December, and now i find out January can be another month😊
Traditionally in my Mexican family, on the Jan 6th, we get humble gifts (like a pouch of candy, or gloves, or a tiny toy). That evening, we gather with family and friends to eat a sweet bread wreath with a few figurines of the Christ child. Turns are taken to cut a slice. If the person gets the figurine, they are to throw a party on Feb 2nd.
My Christmas decor stays up until at least half way through January when they SLOWLY make a retreat until next November. Never understood doing all the work to decorate only to take it all down within a month. And such pretty decorations, too.
We still exchange a new year’s gift. Just a small token and we have to look for it. We used to go out to the local park and my parents would have hidden it and we’d do ‘hot and cold’. Now we hide a button in the house and have a little rhyme to hint at its location. When we find the button we match it to our present so it’s more about the fun of finding it than the gift itself. Nice to know it’s a long held tradition as no one I know gifts in that day
@@SmithMrCorona Are you quite sure about that? As far as I know, rural communities would usually very happily welcome the diversion from the drudgery of everyday farmwork and celebrate church holidays and local traditions with great vigor. Within their means, of course and only in 'good times'. But it's not, like there weren't thriving villages and reasonably well off farmers around.
@@raraavis7782 You really think peasants could feast for 12 days, and give gifts? Most common people can barely even do that now. Also: 'reasonably well off farmers' and 'thriving villages'... you just proved my point. London has always been a 'thriving village' full of dirt poor people, and a bunch of fatted idiots in Windsor.
@@independentpuppy7520 That's like the bare minimum any one celebrating Christmas should set up/takedown decorations.. At that point I wouldn't even bother decorating, not enough time to enjoy setting everything up, cause you're taking it down in a week lol.. Unless you're just putting a tree up. We usually set up everything right after Thanksgiving, and keep it up til mid January after family bdays. Hell I keep Halloween Decorations up longer than that. End of September to early November lol.. but to each their own.
Feb 2 is of course "Candlemas Day" or the "Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary" as Jewish women needed to bring a lamb for a burnt offering and either a pigeon or a dove as a sin offering 33 days after the circumcision of their son. Jan 1. is according to the Church , the "Feast of the Circumcision" or Presentation in the Temple.
Almost everyone in the UK at least in the south says "sikth". It's not posh, probably quite the opposite - it's a bit lazy missing out the "s" sound before the "th". We also say "fith" instead of "fifth" missing out the second "f" sound.
This literally makes no sense. "The celebration used to start as early as on the eve of the Christmas day, but Christmas day began being celebrated later, probably because of pagan holiday"???? This just doesn't follow a logical train of thought, on top of being incorrect (the date of Christmas has nothing to do with winter solstice, it's 9 months after the feast of Annunciation, which is established as a specific date in the Bible, and it's always been celebrated on that day. With the celebrations starting the night before, yes, which was common practice for all feast days - again based on Judaic tradition - and is still the tradition in many countries, especially those with strong Catholic roots).
the pagan Roman holiday was moved closer to Christmas by the Roman emporer to compete with Christian, during the time where the majority of people are converting and the pagan emperor losing influence
Uh.....What St Francis added in the 13th century to the birth story of Jesus found in the Gospels in the 1st century was the Christmas creche, the set of figures depicting that nativity. By then, the story was close to 1200 years old.
Since the 12 days begin on the 25 of December, and end on January 6th, it's actually the 13 Days of Christmas. The church has always been full of hooey, in other words...
The video isn’t entirely accurate. January 6 is the Feast of the Epiphany, which is not part of Christmastide. The twelve days are from December 25 through January 5.
They counted days different back then. The next day started at sunset, because the clock didnt exist yet. I celebrate a few holidays like Solstices and Samhain and they all start according to the sun rise and set because of this actually.
We hope you enjoy this video looking at the history surrounding the twelve days of Christmas.
Here's a short note from our historians regarding this topic: The date of Epiphany is a matter of contention and can cause lots of Christmas rows! However, Epiphany, or ‘Little Christmas’, the crescendo of Christmas is most definitely Twelfth Night and was kept as such in late medieval and Tudor England.
Thanks for putting this out. I am baffled that so many people don't know the 12 days of Christmas is not the 12 days before Christmas!!
German Christmas is celebrated on the evening of the 24th, and then you get two more holidays that have no particular festive theme other than "no work, and more eating", lol. So my confusion was more about which of the days was supposed to be the first. I find it so odd that the birth-night that is supposedly the thing celebrated seems to have no real significance in England and the US?
Its wild so many people don't know this. Jan 6th is All Kings Day or 3 Kings Day !!
In Finland the month of december is actually named Christmas Month (direct translation) so we naturally start Christmas decorations early in December, and now i find out January can be another month😊
Traditionally in my Mexican family, on the Jan 6th, we get humble gifts (like a pouch of candy, or gloves, or a tiny toy). That evening, we gather with family and friends to eat a sweet bread wreath with a few figurines of the Christ child. Turns are taken to cut a slice. If the person gets the figurine, they are to throw a party on Feb 2nd.
I worry the truths of the fourth day of Christmas for those boys.
My Christmas decor stays up until at least half way through January when they SLOWLY make a retreat until next November. Never understood doing all the work to decorate only to take it all down within a month. And such pretty decorations, too.
We still exchange a new year’s gift. Just a small token and we have to look for it. We used to go out to the local park and my parents would have hidden it and we’d do ‘hot and cold’. Now we hide a button in the house and have a little rhyme to hint at its location. When we find the button we match it to our present so it’s more about the fun of finding it than the gift itself. Nice to know it’s a long held tradition as no one I know gifts in that day
I had no idea, the English had such an elaborate Christmas routine. Sounds fun and exhausting at the same time 😅
Nobody in England did this, except for the rich
@@SmithMrCorona
Are you quite sure about that? As far as I know, rural communities would usually very happily welcome the diversion from the drudgery of everyday farmwork and celebrate church holidays and local traditions with great vigor. Within their means, of course and only in 'good times'. But it's not, like there weren't thriving villages and reasonably well off farmers around.
@@raraavis7782 You really think peasants could feast for 12 days, and give gifts? Most common people can barely even do that now.
Also: 'reasonably well off farmers' and 'thriving villages'... you just proved my point. London has always been a 'thriving village' full of dirt poor people, and a bunch of fatted idiots in Windsor.
Not just the English. This is a Catholic practice. Christmas technically lasts until 3Kings day.
Very educational and really nicely put together .
I liked this video, very well made!
The 12 Days of Christmas carol sounds tailor-made to be a Monty Python sketch.
Yes, but I want to leave my tree until Feb 4th. because that's my birthday.
I think boy bishop dress up day should be more widely celebrated!!
4:29 Welp, now people have a historical and religious excuse to keep their lights up till February 😂
Wow! Ty!😮
I keep decorations up until Epiphany 🎄
I put my decorations up 2 weeks before Christmas and take them down on New Years Day.
@@independentpuppy7520 That's like the bare minimum any one celebrating Christmas should set up/takedown decorations.. At that point I wouldn't even bother decorating, not enough time to enjoy setting everything up, cause you're taking it down in a week lol.. Unless you're just putting a tree up.
We usually set up everything right after Thanksgiving, and keep it up til mid January after family bdays. Hell I keep Halloween Decorations up longer than that. End of September to early November lol.. but to each their own.
The partridge in a pear tree is for Jesus bc the partridge is the only bird who will lay down their life for the nest.
Interesting fact. No where in the Bible does it say there were 3 wiseman. Its assumed because of the the gifts. Google it.
On the 12 days of Christmas my true love gave to me, a partiage in a pear tree
Feb 2 is of course "Candlemas Day" or the "Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary" as Jewish women needed to bring a lamb for a burnt offering and either a pigeon or a dove as a sin offering 33 days after the circumcision of their son. Jan 1. is according to the Church , the "Feast of the Circumcision" or Presentation in the Temple.
February 2 is also Groundhog Day.
Are these still observed?
Happy Solstice. Happy Yule.
I knew Santa Klaus never existed 😂
Thanks/
i've always wondered, why do some british pronounce sixth as sikth? is it a posh thing? like saying gorf instead of golf?
The world is a tapestry of accents and dialects. That's why a southie from Boston sounds different than a huckleberry from the deep south.
Almost everyone in the UK at least in the south says "sikth". It's not posh, probably quite the opposite - it's a bit lazy missing out the "s" sound before the "th". We also say "fith" instead of "fifth" missing out the second "f" sound.
No mention of the 11 days removed from the calendar, so that 6 January is actually "Old Christmas Day"?
They still have Mummers in Newfoundland
And Philadelphia.
This literally makes no sense. "The celebration used to start as early as on the eve of the Christmas day, but Christmas day began being celebrated later, probably because of pagan holiday"???? This just doesn't follow a logical train of thought, on top of being incorrect (the date of Christmas has nothing to do with winter solstice, it's 9 months after the feast of Annunciation, which is established as a specific date in the Bible, and it's always been celebrated on that day. With the celebrations starting the night before, yes, which was common practice for all feast days - again based on Judaic tradition - and is still the tradition in many countries, especially those with strong Catholic roots).
the pagan Roman holiday was moved closer to Christmas by the Roman emporer to compete with Christian, during the time where the majority of people are converting and the pagan emperor losing influence
Jesus' birth story ( the nativity ) came from St. Francis of Assisi in the year 1223.
Pretty well documented way before then by Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
Uh.....What St Francis added in the 13th century to the birth story of Jesus found in the Gospels in the 1st century was the Christmas creche, the set of figures depicting that nativity. By then, the story was close to 1200 years old.
Since the 12 days begin on the 25 of December, and end on January 6th, it's actually the 13 Days of Christmas. The church has always been full of hooey, in other words...
Yeah, that's one of those math puzzles I could never figure out. 😂
The video isn’t entirely accurate. January 6 is the Feast of the Epiphany, which is not part of Christmastide. The twelve days are from December 25 through January 5.
January 6th is Epiphany. It is not one of the 12 days.
They counted days different back then. The next day started at sunset, because the clock didnt exist yet. I celebrate a few holidays like Solstices and Samhain and they all start according to the sun rise and set because of this actually.
Because this video is wrong. The 12th day is January 5th. Epiphany is not part of the 12 days. Twelfth night is the eve of epiphany.