Tuesday 8 January 2013

The 12 Days of Christmas. Days 10,11 and 12

The Twelve Days of Christmas Days 10, 11 and 12


I planned to post information about the last three of the twelve days of Christmas on the 3rd, 4th and 5th of January. I also planned to take down the Christmas Decorations on the 5th. Unfortunately, I have a chest infection, which needed a course of antibiotics.

Day Ten commemorates the feast of St John the Apostle, Day Eleven is the Octave Day of the Feast of the Holy Innocents, and Day 12 is the Feast Day of St. Simon Stylites (390-459). The saint mortified his flesh. After he was dismissed by his horrified abbot, St. Simon became a hermit, eventually living on a 6 foot wide platform on a pillar 60 feet high. From there he prayed and preached to the curious and the faithful, who included three emperors, and received letters.

The twelfth day of Christmas also represents the coming of the Magi for the Epiphany.

In the Middle Ages, the Twelve Days of Christmas were celebrated with non-stop feasting and merry making, often presided over by a Lord of Misrule, which concluded on Twelfth Night, the end of the Christmas Season.

Finally, in Tudor England, William Shakespeare chose to name one of his stage plays, Twelfth Night.