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The twelve days of Christmas are commemorated in a popular song first published c. 1780. The song ends with the line ‘ Three French hens, two turtle doves and a Partridge in a pear tree’. The Church of England starts the twelve days on Christmas Day and celebrates Twelfth Night on 5th January, the eve of Epiphany when the Magi or
- When Exactly Is Twelfth Night?
- When Do I Have to Take Down My Christmas Decorations?
- What Are The Lyrics to The 12 Days of Christmas?
The festivities known as the “12 days of Christmas” culminate in Twelfth Night, but there is disagreement over what day it falls. Different Christian traditions celebrate Twelfth Night on either 5 or 6 January. For the majority of Christians, Christmas Day is the “first day” in the countdown, which would mean Twelfth Night falls on 5, although othe...
Each to their own, and everyone is entitled to keep up their Christmas decorations for as long as they see fit. But according to tradition, Christmas trees and decorations should be taken downon either Twelfth Night or Epiphany to avoid bad luck after the long days of festivities and debauchery. This belief has however only developed in modern time...
If we are to take Twelfth Night seriously, the least we can do is sing The 12 Days of Christmasto keep its legend alive. It’s a traditional English tune dating from the 1700s, although some historians believe it to have French origins. The best known version comes from English composer Frederic Austin, who set the lyrics in 1909. Just in case you d...
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Anonymous broadside, Angus, Newcastle, 1774–1825. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is a cumulative song, meaning that each verse is built on top of the previous verses. There are twelve verses, each describing a gift given by "my true love" on one of the twelve days of Christmas. There are many variations in the lyrics.
- c. 1780
- Christmas carol
- Traditional with additions by Frederic Austin
In the Church of England, the Twelfth Night (or the eve of the Epiphany) was celebrated on January 5th, when celebrants sang songs, defaced doors with chalk, and ate Three Kings’ or Twelfth Night cake. One of the most popular Twelfth Night traditions was to hide a pea and a bean within the cake. The man who discovered the bean would be ...
- (25th December): Christmas Day - celebrating the Birth of Jesus.
- (26th December also known as Boxing Day): St Stephen’s Day. He was the first Christian martyr (someone who dies for their faith). It's also the day when the Christmas Carol 'Good King Wenceslas' takes place.
- (27th December): St John the Apostle (One of Jesus's Disciples and friends)
- (28th December): The Feast of the Holy Innocents - when people remember the baby boys which King Herod killed when he was trying to find and kill the Baby Jesus.
Four ‘calling birds’ were originally ‘colly birds’, i.e. blackbirds (‘colly’ related to coal). ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’, in the last analysis, probably began life as a memory-and-forfeit game for children – and later, all members of the family – to sing and play along with at Christmas time. Its lyrics relate to the ...
And Twelfth Night. He doesn’t come anywhere near bothering with a title for that play. It’s simply called Twelfth Night just because it was written to be performed on the twelfth night of Christmas. Think about the song, The Twelve Days of Christmas. We sing it quite happily at Christmas time without really knowing what it means.
