In the well-known song, 12 gifts are given to one’s true love on each day of Christmas. By the 12th day, the receiver has accumulated a houseful of seemingly odd and useless gifts — after all, who needs all those birds? — and nearly everyone is tired of the repetitious song. Not to mention that few people understand the actual twelve days of Christmas.
The song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas” refers not to some cryptic number of days prior to the holiday, plucked from obscurity and taken up by modern advertising agents. While the rest of the world packs up and puts away Christmas on December 26, the Catholic Church has only just begun the celebration. In the age of Christendom, when Christianity was the dominant religion throughout all of Europe, Christmas was celebrated in a vastly different way than it is today.
In the liturgical calendar, the twelve days of Christmas are not the days prior to, but the days from December 25 to the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6, commemorating the visit of the Wise Men. The arrival of the Magi signified the revelation of the Christ Child to the Gentiles. Throughout Christian Europe, gifts were exchanged on this day, as they still are in places like Italy today.
The Church recognizes the season of Advent as a time of preparation, not celebration. Churches remain shrouded in the violet and rose of Advent up until Christmas Eve, when they are decked out in their glorious finery to commemorate the liturgical Christmas season.
Father Jeremy J. Rodrigues, S.T.L., earned an advanced degree in liturgical theology from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
He acknowledges that the pre-Christmas season can certainly be commercialized, with the shopping and preparations, “but what are we doing it for?” he asked. The answer, of course, is for family. He continued by saying that it is fine to do those things. In fact, it is the blessing of “being part of a family that’s unique and individual.”
Several important feast days fall during the Christmas season, yet Father Rodrigues spoke about one in particular, the Feast of the Holy Family (the Sunday after Christmas). This provides another opportunity to focus on “the gift of family” throughout the Christmas season.
He stressed the importance of reflecting on the fact that “God desired to come into the family, which was the most human, natural and beautiful way God wants to communicate with us.”
“The Holy Family was not formed in a perfect setting; they had challenges,” Father Rodrigues said. Those challenges are not dissimilar to ones that modern families face, particularly those who have lost loved ones, a loss heightened at this time of year.
St. Joseph, though “a pivotal figure, particularly in the infancy narratives,” is rarely seen outside of them and seldom given attention by Protestants aside from at Christmastime. But Father Rodrigues reminds the faithful of this great saint’s crucial task of protecting and caring for his family. St. Joseph can serve as a model for those seeking strength from God in times of adversity.
So when does the Christmas season end? In the previous liturgical calendar, it ended on Candlemas, of the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord; but after Vatican II, this was changed to the Baptism of the Lord. Even today, though, some churches keep their Nativity scenes or Christmas decorations up until the traditional ending of the season, according to Father Rodrigues. He remarked that there is no wrong time to take down the Christmas decorations.
“I keep everything up until Candlemas. It reminds us that we’re still in Christmas mode,” he said.
Of course, it may not always be plausible for families to do this, but leaving a Nativity set out encourages Christians “to keep God in the Incarnation in our midst.” Another way to continue the celebration beyond Christmas Day is through the traditional Epiphany blessing, which Father Rodrigues said can be done by a priest or family members.
“Christ came to dwell with us and that means in our homes as well,” he stated.
As for the song itself, Father Rodrigues explained how it was originally meant to teach people about the Faith, especially in a mostly illiterate society.
“All those things have catechetical meaning. They are reflective of different Christian teachings,” he said, such as the first day — a partridge in a pear tree — symbolizes Christ.
It was an indirect way of speaking about Church teaching, which he stated was wise for those living in a culture that might be hostile to Catholicism, such as in Elizabethan England when Catholic priests were executed and laymen who clung to the Faith faced financial and social persecutions.
So, when carolers sing about 12 drummers drumming, remember that the singer’s “true love” — God Himself — is not giving His children actual people, but rather the 12 points of doctrine in the Apostles’ Creed.
