Christmas comes only once a year, and in my opinion it seems a bit rude to rush a guest out practically as soon as he arrives. – Maggie McNeill
As I explained in yesterday’s column, Christmas was a twelve-day festival from the very beginning; the ancient Sumerians who originated the holiday had a duodecimal number system and attached mystic significance to the number twelve, which is more easily and conveniently subdivided than ten. And though the holiday became much shorter among the Greeks and Romans, the traditional twelve-day length survived in the winter celebrations of the peoples of northern Europe and became part of Christmas when the Germanic Yule was absorbed into it during the period of Christianization. Originally, there were different traditional activities for each day of the festival, leading up to Twelfth Night when Christmas gave way to Carnival. And though some heavily-Celtic parts of the British Isles still celebrate pre-Christian traditions (Wren Day or Mummers’ Day) on the second day of Christmas, in most places it is Boxing Day or St. Stephen’s Day, and was strongly associated with charity (which is why Good King Wenceslas was described as helping the poor wood-gatherer on this day). It was also a time for visiting friends, or just relaxing from the hustle and bustle of Christmas Day.
In recent years, however, it’s become the Commonwealth equivalent of the American “Black Friday”, a day on which retailers slash prices so as to get rid of overstock. And now that more Americans are staying away from “Black Friday” stupidity (this year saw an especially sharp decline), how much longer can it possibly be before US merchants add Boxing Day sales as well? My advice to all of you is to stay home and enjoy your feast leftovers, go visiting friends, or do the old-fashioned thing and give to some worthy charity if you haven’t already this season. There will be other sales, and why wait in long lines to return unwanted gifts when you can do it more quickly after New Years’ Day? As I wrote last year, it’s silly to cut the holiday short; even if you have to return to work today, you can certainly be at least as festive for the next eleven days as you’ve been for the past month.
Today is the Synaxis of the Theotokos on the Byzantine calendar (not sure about the Alexandrian and Antiochene)… tomorrow is the Feast of St Stephen the Protomartyr…
Agreed! I won’t go anywhere near a shopping center anytime around Christmas!
I was in a cheery mood this morning though – when I showed up at 5am at the gym and found the place virtually empty. I thought they were closed at first. Funny thing is … I’ve spent more than 30 years regularly attending a gym and one of my favorite people watching activities there is to see all the “New Years Resolutions” Folks show up the first week in January. I take a mental note and try to guess how long each of them will attend. Most disappear after a few months – with a handful lasting until March – then it’s usually back to normal.
There are many different calenders and many different sects, denominations and etc of Christian religions. And as you would suspect many of the tradional days are on different dates among them. For years I have started my Christmas celebrations on December 6 with the feast day of St. Nicholas and continue them on to the epiphany 12 days after Christmas. Among the special dates in that time I celebrate is St Stephens day on 26 December (sorry Jason I must be using the same calender as Maggie). Great series of articles Maggie. My opinion is that no matter your religion (to me atheism is a religion too) the Christmas season is the best and should last for a month. It is at this time that we are a little nicer, a little more thoughful, and a little more helpful to others … who doesn’t need more of this in their life.
Happy St. Stephens day Maggie
I suspect that in the far north there are (or were) even older rituals around the Winter Solstice. And the far south, for that matter. Tierra del Fuego probably had them.