A Merry Old Christmas

 

 

The Green-Dog Democrat*

 

"And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow,

stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came

without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages,

boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore.

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if

Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if

Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more."

Dr Seuss

January 6, 2012 -- Merry Old Christmas

Hello from the Green Dog --

Are you among the majority of Americans -- those who believe that Christmas begins when retail businesses put up Christmas decorations and radio stations start playing Christmas songs and carols -- sometimes even after Halloween -- and that Christmas ends at midnight on December 25 after a day that can include booty from Saint Nick, the exchange of gifts, a gathering of friends and/or family, a traditional dinner, professional sports on television, church services, and more -- or less?

Well, Bunkie, according to longtime tradition, Christmas ends at midnight on January 6, the date of this Green Dog. This date is the twelfth day of Christmas, the day that your true love ought to be giving you 12 drummers drumming -- an awfully expensive gift, especially if they're only available at union rates.

Nowadays, our primary concern seems to be with Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and the shopping days before. But our ancestors and some contemporaries in the U.S. and many other folks in other countries understand and observe the Twelfth Day -- what we might call Old Christmas. Twelve days after Christmas Day, December 25, twelve days after the observance of the birth of Christ, is January 6, the Day of Epiphany. Epiphany is a Greek word that means "appearance". The night preceding January 6 is the Eve of Epiphany. Most Western-Christian faiths believe that it was upon this night over 2000 years ago that the Three Wise Men arrived in Bethlehem to look upon the infant Jesus. Therefore, the Twelfth Day of Christmas is the commemoration of the day upon which Jesus appeared to the Gentiles as Christ the Savior.

The observance of Epiphany goes back further than the observance of Christmas. It is known to have been celebrated before 194 AD, while the observance of the Nativity, in the form of Christmas, did not actually catch on until the 4th century AD.

A little more of the history of Merry Old Christmas, if you're interested --

If the sources [1] of this information are correct, Old Christmas goes back to the year 1582 when the inefficient and inaccurate Julian calendar was replaced with the Gregorian calendar by Catholic European countries. Protestant Europe kept the old Julian calendar for almost 200 years longer because they didn't want the pope telling them what to do.

Because of the way the calendars worked, by the time England came around to adopting the new calendar in 1752, the country was eleven days off from rest of Europe. England dropped the eleven days, and Christmas was moved back to December 25 from January 6. Some people believed the eleven days had been stolen from them. Riots erupted in some cities with the people demanding that their eleven days be returned to them.

The news of the change did not reach the American colonists until after 1750 or so. Many continued celebrating on Old Christmas day, ignoring the new date even after they received the news. England did not care.

In the Old Christmas tradition, the Twelve Days of Christmas are also known as Christmastide and Twelvetide. The Twelfth Night of Christmas is always on the evening of January 5, but the Twelfth Day can either precede or follow the Twelfth Night, depending on which tradition is followed. Over the centuries, differing churches and sects in different countries have changed the actual traditions, time frame, and their interpretations. Currently, the twelve days and nights are celebrated in widely varying ways around the world. For instance, some give gifts only on Christmas Day, some only on Twelfth Night, and some each of the twelve nights.

So, Merry Old Christmas to you and yours, Bunkie. In observance of this day, this Green Dog is made up of commentaries published about or of New Christmas, 2011 that reflect some of the better ways that Christmas -- old or new, whatever the tradition -- is or ought to be observed.

Don't miss the Postscript.

Please be sure to forward this Green Dog to all the folks you can who are right or left or middle-ways or sideways politically. What's here is information that can make them better informed and better able to evaluate what they read and hear in the news media and so-called news media -- better able to separate the chaff from the chaff in ideology-based "analyses" they may read or hear.

Sources are at http://tinyurl.com/7e5ktb2 and http://tinyurl.com/7zz6h5h -- GDD