The Twelve Days of Christmas

 December 28 is the fourth day of the twelve days of Christmas 

which begin on Christmas Day and end on "twelfth night," 

the night before January 6th, the Feast of the Epiphany.

Some families observe the tradition of the twelve days

by keeping the Christmas tree and the nativity up until the 6th,

which is sometimes referred to as "Little Christmas."

photo courtesy of morguefile.com

Celebrating the twelve days of Christmas has a long history.

The  web site Hymns and Carols of Christmas has some of the most comprehensive

and well-researched information about Christmas traditions that I've found.

The site has some interesting information about the origin 

of the twelve days celebration.

According to the Hymns and Carols web site, 

 observing the twelve days of Christmas 

was first described by Ephraem Syrus,

 also known as Saint Ephrem the Syrian, 

a 4th-century Turkish priest of the Eastern Orthodox church.

Later, King Ethelred (991 - 1016) of Britain mandated the twelve days of Christmas

as a time of peace and accord among all Christian men.

Hymns and Carols speculates that 

this mandate and the tradition of the twelve days of Christmas

may have been in part responsible for the WWI Christmas truces.

I'll describe those remarkable stories of Christmas tomorrow.

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