When do the 12 days of Christmas begin? Is it the start of December? Perhaps Boxing Day? StopPress editor Penny Murray has been fact checking copy for 30 years. Her Christmas wish is for the marketing industry to get it right.
Every year I get the Christmas dread. It is twofold: firstly, how to surprise and delight my other half (who really wants geeky tech gadgets that are beyond my understanding). And secondly, when will the infuriatingly incorrect “12 Days of Christmas” adverts begin?
Usually, the feeling hits around Black Friday – my cue to fret that I’m behind in my festive prep before I’ve even started. This year, it was even earlier: one morning in mid-November. It began when someone on the radio talked about Christmas coming up. “Must remember to mention to my colleagues,” I thought.
The thought subsided, but it was clearly bubbling away, gathering steam and pressure like a geothermal hotspot. It erupted at about afternoon tea time. Without warning, I suddenly blurted out to the office that I had an announcement: “The 12 days of Christmas start on December 25. That is all!”
Do the 12 days of Christmas start on December 13?
It’s an open-plan set-up and folks were a bit startled by the force and volume of my mini rant. I’m normally quite a jovial character at work (I was going to say mild mannered, but after 20 years in Glasgow I went native and often cheerfully use swearwords like punctuation). So my explosive announcement raised eyebrows.
Isn’t it December the first? Asked a colleague. I thought the 12 days finished on Christmas, ventured another. A puzzled third person pondered: Doesn’t it change around, like Easter?
The answers are simple: no, no and no.
Why don’t people know when the 12 days of Christmas start and end? I blame Christmas creep – every year, the tinsel seems to go up earlier, as store merchandisers and marketers ho-ho-hope we’ll start spending money.
So when do the 12 days of Christmas start?
The answer, my friends, is simple. And has its origins in the Christian feast calendar. The Christmas period begins at the birth of Jesus and ends with the arival of the Magi – y’know, the three wise men who followed the star and travelled, bringing gold, frankincense, myrrh and glory to the newborn king. Ringing any bells from the carols? Good.
This journey took 12 days. The Magi set out on Christmas Day and rocked up at the stable on January 5, aka Twelfth Night. And that, friends, is when the Christmas season ends. Get your tree down, pack away the lights, send Mariah Carey back into hibernation for another year. That’s it over.
Epiphany is the last hurrah after the 12 days Christmas
The good news is that January 6 is the Feast of Epiphany, in case anyone feels like they need another good feed to ease out of indulgent mode slowly. Fill your boots.
Does any of it matter? Let’s set aside for a moment whether December 25 was the actual date when Jesus was born or if any of it really happened at all. Does Santa even exist? These are topics for another day.
All we need to know for now is that Santa believes in you, and the 12 days of Christmas begin on December 25. Merry Christmas everyone.
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