The Ninth Day Party

Both Western and Eastern Christian Churches recognize and celebrate The Twelve Days of Christmas (Christmas Day to January 5).  Some churches (denominations) emphasize it more than others.  But, like Christmas itself,  these twelve days are not just a “religious” thing.  The Twelve Days of Christmas have a long secular history.  (Twelfth Night was the setting for one of William Shakespeare’s most famous plays conveniently titled, “Twelfth Night.”) 

In England in the Middle Ages, The Twelve Days of Christmas (outside the church—but, I suppose and hope, sometimes inside the church as well) constituted twelve days of excessive merrymaking and partying.  It was a fun time and had its own traditions, many of these traditions were derived from older pagan customs, like the Roman Saturnalia and the Germanic Yule festivals.  

The Roman Saturnalia was held in December in honor of the god Saturn, and it is believed to have come from an even more ancient Greek holiday called Kronia.  The Saturnalia included banqueting, gift-giving, and carnival-like partying day and night.  The usual social norms of Roman society were overturned during this celebration.  An example of this was that masters provided table service for their slaves!  The Roman poet Catullus called it “the best of days.”  

The Yule festival was celebrated by the Germanic people from mid-November to early January and it, too, was a time of great partying and festivity.  The evergreen tree and  wreath, the Yule log, and so many other Christmas traditions come from the Yuletide, originally a celebration of the “Wild Hunt,” the pagan god Odin.

Christmastide (The Twelve Days of Christmas) is traditionally a partying time, but both Christians and non-Christians  have forgotten how to party.  One night (New Year’s Eve) seems to do most of us in.  The good news of Christmas (Emmanuel—God with us) can’t just be  one festive day. Such “good news” ought to turn every day into a party time!  We ought to be singing a new song, dancing a new dance, and partying to our hearts content.  Wouldn’t it be fun, even hilarious, if we could overturn some of our usual social norms as the Romans did?  I think this is what Christmas is all about, don’t you?

Katie and Grandad Partying
"Dancing the Night Away"
at Luke & Kim's wedding!