The Twelfth Day of Christmas: Epiphany Confusion!

Happy twelfth day of Christmas! I hope you’re enjoying your twelve drummers drumming. Depending on what calendar you happen to be using, today might very well be the Epiphany for you. If so, happy Epiphany!

Traditionally, though, the Epiphany is celebrated on January 6. Since the calendar reforms of 1970, any diocese may choose to move the celebration to the Sunday following January 1¹. Indeed, this is what my own archdiocese of Seattle does. Last night at my parish, we celebrated the Vigil Mass of the Epiphany; so, happy Epiphany!

In many other places in the United States and around the world today is simply the Second Sunday after Christmas. This is what it is in my Benedictine Ordo, so this morning I prayed Lauds of that Sunday.

I attended Mass at the nearby parish of Saint Joseph this morning. They celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, so today was the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. This feast occurs on that calendar on the first Sunday of the year, unless that Sunday falls on January 1, 6, or 7, in which case the feast is kept on January 2.

Confused yet? Wait! There’s more!

From ancient times right up until 1955, today would have been the proper Vigil of the Epiphany².

Regardless of anything else, it’s still the twelfth day of Christmas, and 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 Epiphanytide³. At our parish, we celebrated with an Epiphany potluck last night. There was much merriment!

These days, of course, the calendar has been moved around a bit and the Christmas Season doesn’t end until the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which is a week from now.

Mind you, there’s no reason to not have the pastries anyway.

One of the great Epiphany traditions is the Epiphany house blessing. More on that tomorrow!

1. Technically “The Epiphany of the Lord is celebrated on 6 January, unless, where it is not observed as a holy day of obligation, it has been assigned to the Sunday occurring between 2 and 8 January.” (Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, no. 37)
2. From the article at New Liturgical Movement: “Epiphany Eve is like Christmas Eve in that both are privileged vigils which exclude the celebration of other feasts and may be celebrated on a Sunday.”
3. 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.