The Twelfth Day of Christmas and Assorted Calendar Craziness

Happy twelfth day of Christmas! This year I’ve been terrible about posting for the twelve days of Christmas, but I’ve made a handy list at the end of this article which should catch you up. I hope at least you’re enjoying your twelve drummers drumming!

This evening is called Twelfth Night, traditionally the vigil of the Epiphany. In my Monastic Diurnal, Epiphany begins with tonight’s Vespers.

This was traditionally a time of feasting and festivity (all of which seem to include various varieties of enormous pastries) marking the end of Christmastide and the beginning of Epiphanytide¹.

These days, of course, the calendar has been moved around a bit and the Christmas Season ends following the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which this coming Sunday. And back in the medieval era, Christmas didn’t end until Candlemas on February 2.

In any case, there’s no reason to not have the pastries!

One of the great Epiphany traditions is the Epiphany house blessing. I was disappointed that our new parish apparently doesn’t bless and distribute chalk for this, but we’ll probably be heading up to the local FSSP parish of St. Joseph tomorrow evening, so we’ll get some there.

The Twelve Days of Christmas, 2021-2022

Day	Date	Ordinary Calendar (Most of the USA and Canada)	Ordinary Calendar (Most of the World)	Benedictine Ordo	Traditional Calendar
1	Dec. 25	CHRISTMAS	CHRISTMAS	CHRISTMAS	CHRISTMAS
2	Dec. 26 (Sun)	Holy Family	Holy Family	Sunday in the Octave of the Nativity / Commemoration of St. Stephen	Sunday in the Octave of the Nativity / Commemoration of St. Stephen
3	Dec. 27	St. John, Apostle	St. John, Apostle	St. John, Apostle	St. John, Apostle
4	Dec. 28	Feast of the Holy Innocents	Feast of the Holy Innocents	Feast of the Holy Innocents	Feast of the Holy Innocents
5	Dec. 29	St. Thomas Becket	St. Thomas Becket	(St. Thomas Becket)	St. Thomas of Canterbury
6	Dec. 30	Sixth Day within the Octave of the Nativity	Sixth Day within the Octave of the Nativity	Sixth Day within the Octave of the Nativity	Sixth Day within the Octave of the Nativity
7	Dec. 31	St. Sylvester I	St. Sylvester I	St. Sylvester I	St. Sylvester I
8	Jan. 01	MARY, HOLY MOTHER OF GOD	MARY, HOLY MOTHER OF GOD	Octave Day of the Nativity (Circumcision of the Lord)	Octave Day of the Nativity
9	Jan. 02 (Sun)	EPIPHANY	Second Sunday of Christmas	Second Sunday after the Nativity	The Most Holy Name of Jesus
10	Jan. 03	The Most Holy Name of Jesus	The Most Holy Name of Jesus
11	Jan. 04	St. Elizabeth Ann Seton		St. Titus
12	Jan. 05	St. John Neumann			St. Telephorus
	Jan. 06	St. André Bessette	EPIPHANY	EPIPHANY	EPIPHANY

1. Epiphanytide was originally the Octave of Epiphany, running to 13 January. After various reforms, this vanished as an official (sub)season, but certainly this last week of Christmas has a different character than the previous twelve-ish days even still. I see no reason that one couldn’t refer to the time between the Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord as Epiphanytide. At least unofficially.