3 January 2022
Monday after Epiphany
Although the church calendar identifies yesterday as epiphany, historical purists will still hold on to the correct understanding of the twelve days of Christmas. I mention this only because the sudden end of Christmas on December 26 is antithetical to the true celebration of the feast. We have all the parties prior to Christmas and then on the 26th a dried-up tree gets tossed to the curb that was set up in between bouts of shopping on the Friday after Thanksgiving. We should all be on our guard against “Christmas Creep,” that phenomenon that occurs with the playing of “Deck the Halls” while you are dressing the children for Halloween. Before Charles Dickens established the parameters of a Victorian Christmas with requisite red-cheeked urchins singing God Rest you merry Gentlemen under a gas lamp, Christmas day lasted from December 25 to January 6, the real twelve days of Christmas. Epiphany or Twelfth Night finished “Christmas Day” a day that lasted 12 calendar days. I say this because this provides us with a legitimate antidote to Christmas rush, the idea that every card and gift has to be sent or received by December 25. So, no offense to the liturgical year, you still have a few more days to get the gifts and cards delivered! We need to recover the Christmas season and wrench it from the hands of commercial interest and return it to its true religious naturel.