12 Days of Christmas

Testing123 · Post by **Testing123** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 7:05 am

Stumbled upon this ditty:

12 Days of Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!

Ex Nihilo · Post by **Ex Nihilo** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 9:52 am

did you know that this song actually has nothing to do with christmas?
there was (and is) another holiday that christmas has eclipsed known as Yule which was celebrated by people long before christianity came about. it is 12 days long.
interesting no?

Hostrauser · Post by **Hostrauser** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 2:03 pm

Ex Nihilo wrote:did you know that this song actually has nothing to do with christmas?
there was (and is) another holiday that christmas has eclipsed known as Yule which was celebrated by people long before christianity came about. it is 12 days long.
interesting no?

Christmas is an entirely manufactured holiday.

Almost all popular holiday traditions around Christmastime, from Christmas trees to yule logs to Santa Claus, have been annexed from other religions. The Druidic/Pagan winter solstice, Scandinavian Yule celebrations and the ancient Roman Saturnalia celebrations (lights/candles in christmas trees, gift exchanges) were the biggest sources.

To boot, most modern scholars agree that, based on the various accounts of Christ's birth in the Bible, it would be virtually impossible for Christ to have been born in December (amongst other things, people on the road for a Roman census and shepherds in the field tending their flocks are two things that would not have been occurring in December). And Christmas wasn't even celebrated until the fourth century (about 300 years after Christ's death), because at that time it was far more common to celebrate the date of an important person's death than their birth (ie, Easter was a big holiday before Christmas was).

Christmas and Easter both are actually great examples of the genius of the Christian church in its early years. Someone wisely realized that it was much, much easier to convert the heathens if you gave them a Christian holiday roughly equivalent to one they were already celebrating at a specific time of year. Hence Christmas, with all of its borrowed traditions, and Easter, since virtually every civilization on Earth had a story/legend regarding resurrection/rebirth in the Springtime long before Jesus was alive. (Most notably, the ancient Greek legend of Persephone returning from her stint in the Underworld every Spring).

senza cervello · Post by **senza cervello** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 5:22 pm

Ex Nihilo wrote:did you know that this song actually has nothing to do with christmas?

Deja Vu

The Aceman · Post by **The Aceman** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 8:10 pm

senza cervello wrote:
Ex Nihilo wrote:did you know that this song actually has nothing to do with christmas?
Deja Vu

Tell me about it.

FluteOfTheNewWorld · Post by **FluteOfTheNewWorld** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 12:21 pm

Wait.. so is today the first day of christmas or the 12th?

Ex Nihilo · Post by **Ex Nihilo** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 12:50 pm

FluteOfTheNewWorld wrote:Wait.. so is today the first day of christmas or the 12th?

not christmas. christmas only has one day.
yule has 12 days and begins on the winter solstice.

FluteOfTheNewWorld · Post by **FluteOfTheNewWorld** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 5:53 pm

Ex Nihilo wrote:
FluteOfTheNewWorld wrote:Wait.. so is today the first day of christmas or the 12th?
not christmas. christmas only has one day.
yule has 12 days and begins on the winter solstice.

Haha ok so if we were going by the song, what gift would be given today? the 4th one?

Ex Nihilo · Post by **Ex Nihilo** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 12:47 am

FluteOfTheNewWorld wrote:
Ex Nihilo wrote:
FluteOfTheNewWorld wrote:Wait.. so is today the first day of christmas or the 12th?
not christmas. christmas only has one day.
yule has 12 days and begins on the winter solstice.
Haha ok so if we were going by the song, what gift would be given today? the 4th one?

4th or 5th... i don't know when it was this year.

LoyalTubist · Post by **LoyalTubist** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 4:36 am

My sources tell me the 12 days of Christmas run from December 26 (Boxing Day) through January 6 (Epiphany). I spent the months of June and July working with a young man from Leeds, England, who loves Christmas. He spent one whole afternoon (in June) explaining the whole song to me. "My true love" refers to God the Father. The gifts are the blessings bestowed. And the singer is female. The nine ladies dancing, plus the singer, get to dance with the ten leaping lords.

Hostrauser · Post by **Hostrauser** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 9:08 am

Close. Christmas Day (12/25) is the first day of Christmas, and it runs (as you mentioned) up to the Epiphany. The Epiphany (1/6) is the first day AFTER the twelfth day of Christmas (1/5). The Twelve Days of Christmas and the Epiphany border each other.

Ex Nihilo · Post by **Ex Nihilo** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 1:30 pm

Hostrauser wrote:Close. Christmas Day (12/25) is the first day of Christmas, and it runs (as you mentioned) up to the Epiphany. The Epiphany (1/6) is the first day AFTER the twelfth day of Christmas (1/5). The Twelve Days of Christmas and the Epiphany border each other.

i just looked up yule... and apparently there are like 3 or 4 different versions of it celebrated around the world. the people i know that celebrate it began their 12 days on the 21st.