When The 12 Days of Christmas Occur

11 Masa'il 164 B.E. - Saturday, December 22, 2007 about 9:35 AM PST

According to the web page The Twelve Days of Christmas these are the days between Christmas (December 25) and the start of Epiphany (January 6). Depending on the tradition these twelve days are either December 25 to January 5 or December 26 to January 6. In some traditions the solar day is apparently used to indicate the beginning of the twelve days of Christmas, which means the first day starts the evening of December 25 making December 26 the first day of Christmas.

Each of the gifts given on the twelve days may or may not have a religious significance in Christian tradition. There is uncertainty about the historical accuracy concerning the meaning of the song and the gift given. On a spiritual and religious level "true love" in the song refers to the soul's beloved. In the case of Christians the true love is Christ who reflects the attributes of God to humanity.

I should note here that the twelve days of Christmas and Christmas itself is celebrated on different days in the Eastern Orthodox Church. The twelve days I am referring to in this article are from the tradition of the western church.

I find the information about the twelve days of Christmas intriguing. Growing up I heard the song and at one time could sing it by heart. However, I never knew there was a religious significance about the gifts or to the twelve days. I always thought it was about some guy giving gifts to his girl on Christmas.