As many are aware, it’s still Christmas. The Christmas season only begins on Christmas.
But when does it end?
If you go by the famous phrase “the twelve days of Christmas”—immortalized in the well-known song (which really *is not* a crypto-catechism after all; sorry.)—then you might guess they end on January 5, the eve of Epiphany, counting Christmas Day as the first day. Or if, according to some versions, you count the day *after* Christmas Day as the first day then the twelfth turns out to be January 6, the traditional day of Epiphany.
Ahhh. . . . Things were so uncomplicated in former centuries. Twelve days. Two options. Easy!
But as the Church’s liturgical cycle get modified over the years, things become a little more complicated.
You know, like how Lent *originally* started out as a 40 days celebration, but if you look up its technical definition in the Church’s official documents today, it turns out that the number “40” is only approximate, and it’s really more than 40 days? (Extra penance, folks!)
Well, it turns out the same thing is true of the Christmas season. Here is the current, official definition of its length, taken from the brand, spanking new translation of the Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the Calendar:
33. Christmas TIme runs from First Vespers (Evening Prayer I) of the Nativity of the Lord up to and including the Sunday after Epiphany or after January 6.
Let’s start with the obvious: The Nativity of the Lord is December 25—Christmas Day. First Vespers are said in the evening, so the First Vespers of the Nativity of the Lord are said in the evening of December 25 (*not* Dec. 24). Right?
Wrong. They’re actually said in the evening of the previous day, December 24, so no easy, day-begins-at-midnight scenario for the length of Christmas Time. It starts the evening of the 24th.
Now, what about the end, which includes “the Sunday after Epiphany or after January 6”?
This is a little confusing, but the norms offer some help by noting:
37. The Epiphany of the Lord is celebrated on January 6 unless, where it is not celebrated as a Holyday of Obligation, it has been assigned to the Sunday occurring between January 2 and 8. . . .
38. The Sunday falling after January 6 is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
So, just to keep things simple, let’s assume that in a particular location Epiphany is celebrated as a Holyday of Obligation. The traditional reckoning of the twelve days of Christmas would have brought us up to either January 5 or January 6, but the Universal Norms extend Christmas Time beyond that “up to and including” the next Sunday, which is the Baptism of the Lord.
That Sunday can fall from January 7 to January 13, which would mean the total length of Christmas Time on this scheme would be more than 12 days. If the Baptism of the Lord falls on January 7 then Christmas would be 14 days plus an evening long (remember: it starts on the evening of December 24), and if the Baptism of the Lord falls on January 13 then it would be a whopping 20 days plus an evening!
As Keanu Reeves would say: “Whoa! Dude!”
So how long is Christmas here in the U.S. this year?
We’re in one of those countries where Epiphany is not commemorated as a Holyday of Obligation apart from the Sunday it has been transferred to. It’s been transferred to the first Sunday after January 1, which means it can fall between January 2 and January 8. That creates a new issue for when the Baptism of the Lord is celebrated.
According to the U.S. edition of the new Roman Missal:
When the Solemnity of the Epiphany is transferred to the Sunday that occurs on January 7 or 8, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is celebrated on the following Monday.
That’s what’s happening this year. The Sunday after January 1 is January 8, which is when we’ll be celebrating Epiphany. That means the Baptism of the Lord will be celebrated the next day, Monday, January 9.
You can confirm by looking at the USCCB liturgical calendar here. Notice that the green of ordinary time resumes on January 10.
This means that this year Christmas Time in the United States lasts 16 days plus an evening.
So . . . this year we get an extra four-plus days of celebrating compared to what they had in some times and places—where Christmas is 20 days and an evening long—we get an extra eight-plus days.
Ain’t progress wonderful?
What do you think?
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In Bavaria, where I’m currently sitting, the celebration will last for a few more weeks than is even described in Jimmy’s blog. I don’t know the exact day this year when the trees come down—but in 2010, it was early February when the Church’s held a “Candle Mass” and the trees took their leaves. It truly brought great light to the dark winter months.
Fan-tastic. Thanks for working this out, Jimmy.
I LOVE it <3 It is so sad to see trees outside just a few days after Christmas, and sometimes the day after.
I love reasons for celebrating…but seriously. The 6th is the Epiphany and should be celebrated on that day - not because it’s more convenient to only have to go to Church once a week. As for celebrating through Candle Mass…I like that idea, but there is no way my tree will make it….
Yes, this is all correct and wonderful.
But, if one follows the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite we can extend it to January 13 which is the Baptism of the LORD and if one really wanted to extend it out unofficially, then it was always a custom in some lands that it is on Candlemas, the Purification of Mary/Presentation of the LORD on February 2.
Ha, I just asked this question on the Christianity Stack Exchange Q&A site yesterday, you should sign up and go answer the question there!
I’m betting this isn’t going to work but here’s what I asked:
http://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/5106/when-is-the-end-of-the-christmas-season-for-latin-rite-catholics
I am in the US and I still celebrate Christmas until Feb. 2 (Candlemas.) Even my tree stays up. I have been know to keep my tree up until Ash Wednesday when it falls early in February. :-)
i think that made me just a little bit dizzy .
I have been under the impression, mistakenly perhaps, that the 40 days of Lent that was mentioned work out in the current format to be all days excluding Sundays as they are days of feast, not fast. This works out as six weeks of six days (36), the the initial four days from Ash Wednesday to the eve of the First Sunday of Lent. This brings me to another point; the feasts of the epiphany or the baptism of our Lord end on the previous evening, not on the day of the feast, as the liturgy of the hours on these two have evening prayers 1 too.
Good article, and nice comments too. I’ll go with the 1954 Roman Missal and Calendar, celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass and calendar, and extend Christmas to Candlemas, which really is only two or three weeks beyond the Octave of Epiphany, and there is some justification for doing so ... wasn’t it Ebeneezer Scrooge who vowed to keep Christmas in his heart each day of the year! Incidentally, don’t believe everything you read on Snopes, Jimmy! ... if the purpose of a nonsense rhyme like the carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas” was to allow English and Irish Catholics in the 17th and 18th centuries to celebrate IN SECRET their Catholic faith at Christmas, then what historical evidence possibly could have been left behind to prove this was true, especially when to be discovered as a Catholic bore penalties as grave as the gallows (especially for priests). We can’t say there’s no proof the song was so used when the presence of such proof only would undermine its secret meaning. And if the song isn’t a secret Catholic catechism then what does it mean?
I am with you, Catholic Psychdoc. I love having the decorations up and Christmas music playing. “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.”
: ) Of course Easter is wonderful, Alleluia : )
This is liturgical fiction at its worst. Prior to the Novus Ordo practice of Christmas lasting until the Baptism of the Lord, which you point out POSSIBLY can be up to 20 days, you ignore the actual liturgical practice of the Middle Ages (which you erroneously depict as a mere 12 days) which kept the Christmas Season until February 2, Candlemas. Therefore, our forefathers in the faith celebrated Christmas for a full 40 days GUARANTEED EVER YEAR. If, as you posit, a longer celebration of Christmas is better,then we are not richer for the reform of the calendar. Please don’t pretend otherwise.
Point taken about the “Middle Ages” reference. I meant the reference to be a general one that indicates merely some times and places, but I can see it conveys the idea of the whole, which would be inaccurate. I’ll fix the text.
So, we have to come up with more lyrics? “On the 13th Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…”
If you go to Getty Pictures; then type #95889169 into its main home page search box, it will yield a photo which shows that a Christmas tree (at least in the Pope Paul VI Audience Hall) was still resplendent (it’s pretty vile, actually) as late as January 20th 2010. I’m fairly sure I’ve seen Vatican press images filed as late as January 24th in previous years which have featured a Christmas tree but there’s only so much scrolling a fella can do.
Can’t supply a link, unfortunately, due to the way Getty sets up its preview images.
It’s an easy enough process, though, if you follow those simple instructions above.
...“it will yield a photo which shows that a Vatican Christmas tree (at least in the Pope Paul VI Audience Hal)...”
In my community, people seriously get razed for having Christmas lights up past January. What Christmas decorations I have, is out and about all year long-even in the dead of summer…that’s it. I play Christmas music on my birthday in August. I think the “spirit of Christmas” should be all year long.
Now for my Jewish brothers and sisters…have one gift on the first day of Hanukkah, two gifts on the second night, three gifts on the third night…not sure if that will fly with your parents but you can try.
The Purification marks the end of Christmastide, on February 2nd.
Lent is also 40 days- albeit it seems it is disagreed when those occur, over on the other forum. Nonetheless, not all of Lent has always been so long. Prior to St. Athanasius, I believe, the South and East did NOT celebrate a Pre-Easter penitential season eve nearly so long.
i rememer each birth of my children…i celbrated 40+ days every time…JESUS isnt born every year per se, but we celebrate as though HE were…
...
we celebrete advent from friday after thanksgiving to evening prayer of christmas…the time everybody gets clothes, bottles, crib, the room, stroller, playpen, carseat, walker, etc for the new baby…we get presents for our loved ones they cant open til christmas…just like the baby doesnt get here til christmas…
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after we celebrate christmas for forty days…christmas gifts opend (except for late ones lol) we have fun…and when ready we present the LORD to the world…
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we have a space between where everything is “normal” before we remeber the upcoming death of OUR LORD…lent season is here…a time to think about how the LORD changed everything…
I love it too, it could stay the Christmas season all year long!
Problem is, most sheeples stopped “celebrating” on 12/26. Too bad for them.
I drew up a chart for myself last week showing the variability of the “days of Christmas” in the current U.S. calendar. What drives the variation, in my view, is the day of the week on which Christmas falls; that, in turn, creates various conflicts for other elements of the Christmas season.
Here is my chart, FWIW: http://moleski.net/cac/Christmas_season#Days_of_the_Catholic_Christmas_Season
Why accept the absurd rigidities of the modern calendar? As laity, we can do what we please with the Christmas decorations.
Candlemas it is. If 40 days is good enough for Lent, it’s good enough for Christmastide.
Plus, it allows you to seamlessly flow into Septuagesimatide.
Go traditional calendar!
Why do the fools put up their “Christmas Tree” on or even before Thanksgiving & take it down on Christmas Day, right after their time of worship is over (the football/basketball game(s))? I pray that our Holy Father will give the Roman Catholic a huge present: Make ALL HOLY DAYS standard throughout the world & let us get rid of the nonsense of when such & such a Holy Day falls on Sat. or Mon. it gets ignored!! Not what a Holy Day is suppose to be; so we need to put the Holy back into the Holy day & to keep the Christmas Season until Feb. 2. As far as tradition, it just keeps changing & changing; sometimes good, sometimes bad. Have a very Holy New Year everybody. +JMJ+
Sigh.
Too complicated.
The song makes 12 days easy to remember, even if 12 wasn’t already easy to remember on account of all the other ways it shows up in the Christian faith.
More importantly: I’m a recent-convert Catholic whose wife is Evangelical Protestant. It’s difficult enough as it is to inculcate some of the depth of historical Christianity into the way my family’s calendar works; beyond a certain point it ceases to elegantly weave faith into tradition and time, and begins merely to be a hassle.
This is only the third year we’ve had an Advent wreath in our house. So, I think I’m just going to stick with 12 days of Christmas, and take the tree down at the end of that. The creche will come down last, they day after Epiphany, prior to which the three magi (currently displayed traveling with a camel some distance away from the creche) will “arrive” at the creche. That’ll be enough.
My parish and my home go by the end of the Christmas season with Candlemas Day on February 2nd. Our newest auxillary Bishop follows this also.
You are giving me a headache.
All very well and good but don’t get to tangled around dates: “Let’s start with the obvious: The Nativity of the Lord is December 25—Christmas Day” There is a growing body of study indicating that Jesus was not born in December at all. The origins and timing of Christmas celebrations have more to do with countering Solstice celebrations….something to think about.
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