COG 37: The 12 Days of Christmas

What are the Twelve Days of Christas really about? Aren’t they filled with Catholic feasts for various saints? Today AMBrewster gives protestant Christians a glorious plan for celebrating God’s messianic gift for the full twelve days!

The Year Long Celebration of God is a family resource from Truth.Love.Parent., a ministry dedicated to rooting families in God and maturing families for God so they can harvest blessings from God.

“Understanding Biblical Calendars and Times”

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Episode Notes

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Transcript

Introduction

Alright, so today’s topic has so much misinformation and urban legend and heretical traditions and yet . . . at the same time . . . so much amazing potential for truly and gloriously celebrating God . . . that we just have to get right into the episode.

If you’d like to download the free episode notes or read the transcript you can click the link in the description to be taken straight there as well as get access to our Christmas resource page with Bible Readings, activities, other podcast episodes, anticipations, games, and so many other things.

So check all that out so you can really enjoy the full Twelve Days of Christmas.

Alright, let’s start with the legends, lies, and cherished myths of Christmas history.

Topic

So, how many of you remember chain emails? 

For those of you don’t remember, just imagine that Facebook post of an image of a letter or screenshot or some other low-resolution picture that makes its rounds every . . . single . . . year during Christmas. And half of your friends hate them and the other half believe every word comes from some fifth Gospel.

Anyway, that’s similar to a chain email. Believe you me there’s a special place in the afterlife for anyone who forwarded chain emails back in the day.

One such chain email involves the Twelve Days of Christmas. There are a bunch of people who claim that the song was originally written as a way to catechize children. Each of the elements of the song reference some biblical truth or individual, but it all had to be hush-hush because — you know, according to one website — the Catholics were suffering under persecution from the Reformers — but according to another website, it was the Reformers who were being persecuted by the Catholics.

So, yeah.

But there are even more people who argue that the Twelve Days of Christmas probably didn’t originate as a veiled religious tool.

But, the question still stands . . . why was a song written about the Twelve Days of Christmas in the first place? What are those days all about? 

And whether the song was originally created with sacred significance or not, it doesn’t really matter. Many people today hear the song and are actually being catechized . . . and that’s great.

So, just for kicks, I’ll stir the eggnog a little more and share one possible example of what each element of the song represents.

For those of you who believe the song wasn’t intended to mean anything, just bear with me for a moment.

Supposedly, the “True love” in the song represents Christ, and the gifts are being given from Him to us. The first of which — the partridge in a pear tree — supposedly represents Jesus’ and the cross.

And instead of saying “supposedly” with each of these, I’ll just read the list.

The two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

The three French hens were supposed to be faith, hope, and love from I Corinthians 13.

The four calling birds are the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

The five golden rings represent the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament.

The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

Seven swans a-swimming are the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Of course, there really isn’t a comprehensive list of spiritual gifts, but seven is just as good a number as any.

The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes from Matthew 5.

Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit from Galatians 5.

The ten lords a-leaping are the Ten Commandments.

The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful Apostles.

And the twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in The Apostles' Creed.

Now, if that’s how you like to remember these biblical lists, there is no problem with that. I personally find it a little inconvenient that the song is supposed to represent various lists instead of the very important elements which are supposed to be on those lists . . . but that’s okay. For example, I know there were eleven faithful apostles, but I really don’t think I could correctly name all of them. I’ll have to have my wife quiz me later. Ether way, the song definitely doesn’t help me remember their names, it supposedly just helps me remember that there were eleven guys.

Honestly, hearing that song and picturing biblical truth is far better than the alternative. In Reliant K’s masterful rendition of the song they sing, “What’s a partridge, and what’s a pear tree? I don’t know so please don’t ask me. But I can bet those are terrible gifts to give.” And — honestly — without the sanctified imagery, it’s a just a really weird song about a rich person with a strange number-fixation giving away animals, jewelry, and a whole bunch of humans . . . as gifts. 

And — really — why would we sing about that every year? It’s like weird Uncle Reginald and his holiday shenanigans that we rehearse just to have a laugh, but not because we’re actually canonizing his behavior.

But I seriously digress. 

In order to be able to truly celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas to God’s ultimate honor and glory, we’re going to ask three important questions.

1. How have the Twelve Days of Christmas been celebrated historically?
2. Why doesn’t The Celebration of God encourage you to celebrate the way it’s been done historically?
3. How can protestants celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas to God’s glory? 

So, here we go . . .

1. How have the Twelve Days of Christmas been celebrated historically?

First, we need to get it straight right now. The Twelve Days of Christmas start with Christmas Day. They don’t lead up to Christmas, they don’t start with Christmas Eve; the first day of Christmas starts on December 25th and the Twelfth Day ends on January 6th.

Now, if you do some quick math, you will realize that there are thirteen days from December 25th to January 6th . . . not twelve.

So, we also must understand that the Twelve Days of Christmas are observed according to a traditional Jewish reckoning of time. That means that Christmas Eve doesn’t start until the evening of the 24th, and it doesn’t end until the evening of the 25th when Christmas actually starts. That means that Christmas “day” is technically during the day on the 26th.

If this is confusing to you, I recommend you listen to episode 10 which is about “Understanding Biblical Calendars and Times.”

Now, this is the actual, factual, technical Christmas tradition. Of course, if you don’t want to count the days the same way . . . you are free to do it differently, but . . . there’s one thing. You may choose to celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas starting on December 14th and ending on the 25th, but that’s how you do it. Those are not the actual Twelve Days of Christmas.

So, feel free to say, “We celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas this way.” And that’s exactly what my family does. Even though we follow the traditional counting of the days, we also recognize that we don’t celebrate the historical Catholic observations of the Twelve Days of Christmas. So, I always specify that we have a different way of celebrating it so that I don’t add to anyone’s confusion or lead people to think that I observe all of the Catholic feast days.

But before I talk about those Catholic feast days, I do want to point out that one of the reasons my family celebrates the 12 days from the 25th through the 6th is that my wife and I are very happy that our anniversary falls on the Twelfth Day of Christmas. 

Of course, January 6th is also the Feast of Fools . . . so maybe we shouldn’t be too proud of that fact.

Anyway, historically the Catholic tradition includes the following.

The first day of Christmastide is Christmas Day.

The second day is Saint Stephen’s Day, a day to commemorate the first Christian martyr.

The third day is the feast of St. John the Apostle. 

Then there’s the feast of the Holy Innocents commemorating the slaughter of the Jewish children in Bethlehem when Herod tried to annihilate the Messiah.

After that is the feast of St. Thomas Becket. Becket was an archbishop of Canterbury who was also martyred. 

Depending on the year, the first Sunday after Christmas is observed which also commemorates King David and others.

Then December 31st is St. Sylvester Day, and January 1st is the feast of the circumcision of Christ or the Solemnity of Mary depending on your tradition.

There are various traditions that span the ninth through eleventh Days of Christmas, and then there’s Twelfth Night on January 5th also known as the Epiphany which commemorates the wise men finding Jesus. And the Twelfth Day of Christmas comes to an end at nightfall on January 6th.

Okay, so we could take days and days working through the various traditions . . . and not all of them are bad . . . there are just a lot. So I want to move to our second and third points for the day.

2. Why doesn’t The Celebration of God encourage you to celebrate the way it’s been done historically?

First, we must acknowledge that the Bible doesn’t command that we observe Christmas, let alone spend twelve days doing so.

This is one of those holidays that was instituted by men. It’s a great idea and totally Christ-honoring when done the right way, but we do have freedom to participate or not.

But here’s the problem. Many people prefer not to celebrate Christmas because it’s supposedly a pagan holiday, and they want to distance themselves the same way people do with Halloween. But I will contend that all true believers are going to — at one point or another — thank the Father for sending the Son. They’re going to thank Jesus for being born so that He could live a perfect life, die a perfect death, and raise again to purchase our redemption and defeat death and hell.

Hear me say this . . . all true believers are going to be thankful to God for that. If someone isn’t praising the Lord for those realities, then they’re not born again.

So, in a way, everyone observes Christmas . . . even the people who avoid the festivities normally associated with December 25th.

Now, we need to move on, but I am looking forward to discussing the real, historical origins of Christmas and exploring that in further detail. There are so many amazing things to learn about how Christmas has become what it is.

The key is, you don’t have to celebrate the Incarnation on December the 25th, but — if you’re a follower of Christ — you’re going to at some point or another.

The other reason The Celebration of God does not encourage you to celebrate the Twelve Days as they’ve been historically celebrated is that we don’t want for anyone to participate in the various feast days of the Catholic church. I’m not suggesting that everything Catholics believe or do is sinful; it’s simply that Catholicism not only pollutes the Gospel by removing absolutely vital Truths from Scripture, but it also adds so much in that the Gospel is often unrecognizable. 

Allow me to address just one main idea surrounding the Twelve Days of Christmas. And — for this — I’ll use the Feast of Stephen.

Stephen was a wonderful and brave man. In Acts 7:54-60 we learn how Stephen was murdered for his faith in Christ. And I believe there is value in memorializing men like Stephen. But there are also some problems if we do it the wrong way.

First, sainthood is not some special title conferred by the pope. Biblically, every born again follower of Christ is a saint. I think I Corinthians 1:2 is a perfect example. Paul writes, “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.” 

The verse clearly defines what it means to be a saint, but it also refers to the Christians in Corinth as being saints. Let’s just say that the believers in Corinth has some serious issues. They didn’t exactly epitomize what many people today would consider “saintly” behavior.

Therefore, the people whom various popes have declared saints are no more special than any true follower of Christ. 

But here’s the real rub. The Celebration of God is just that . . . it’s all about God. Now, yes we encourage everyone to celebrate grandparents and parents and friends and family on their birthdays and veterans and the like . . . but the purpose of that celebration is very different.

We’re celebrating that individual as part of our celebration of God, not in substitution of God. Many of the catholic feasts are focused entirely on the saint in question with very little focus given to God. Even the prayers that should be offered to God are — instead — directed at the saint in question. And that should never be. Nowhere in Scripture are we given the idea that praying to dead people is Christ-honoring. In fact, praying is an act of worship, and no one is to be worshipped other than God. Even angels refused man’s worship.

But the other interesting observation is that — in the Scriptures — communing with dead people was always associated with the occult. Deuteronomy 18:10-12 reads, “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you.”

What’s interesting is that the word translated “calls” in the phrase “calls up the dead” is the same word used to pray to God. In Genesis 25:22 we read, “But the children struggled together within her; and she said, ‘If it is so, why then am I this way?’ So she went to inquire of the Lord.” And the Lord answered her prayer.

So, no, we believe that the catholic traditions put far too much emphasis on the man or woman instead of giving the worship to God.

Second, when we encourage you to celebrate people in your family and veterans and the like, we’re calling you to celebrate people who are God’s gifts to us. Just like we celebrate the Father’s gift of His Son, we also can celebrate the Father’s gift of our parents and friends. Now, can you focus on celebrating Stephen as a gift of God to the church — a man who courageously set an example for all martyrs to follow? Sure, but I don’t know that he’s being celebrated that way.

Third, the elements within The Celebration of God that focus on humans are special days set aside specifically for celebrating people — birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays were created by people specifically to memorialize other people. But keep in mind that God never instituted a holy day or feast or memorial for a human.

He never canonized Moses with a special day to celebrate Moses. He didn’t set David or Mary apart as people who should have their own special feast day. They were merely participants whom God honored within His grander plan to bring Himself all honor and glory.

So, even though I think Stephen was a great guy, and even though I like the the song about King Wincesles which references the feast of Stephen, and even though I think all Christian martyrs illustrate a very important reality in which all disciples of Christ must be prepared to follow, I don’t know that giving Stephen his own feast day is a good idea.

The Celebration of God does not endorse the celebration of historic individuals over and above any other followers of Christ. Mary was a wonderful person whom the Lord used to accomplish His will, but she was a sinner saved by grace. She was no more special or more holy than you or I. Without saving faith in her own biological Son, Mary would be in hell today. She was not conceived immaculately. She does not deserve our prayers. She’s not the Queen of Heaven.

But Mary is idolized — in part — because too much emphasis was put on celebrating Mary instead of celebrating what God accomplished despite Mary.

Now, again, we could go on and on about what we should not be doing, but I want to end by answering the question . . .

3. How can protestants celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas to God’s glory? 

That’s really our goal. 

I spent all that time because I believe it’s important to understand what other people are thinking when we talk about the 12 Days of Christmas. Of course, on the other hand, just because atheists indulge in what they call a “Christmas celebration” involving Santa and paganism, doesn’t mean that believers should avoid celebrating Christmas in a way that glorifies God.

So I need to acknowledge that there are some protestant traditions. I’m not wholly on page with most of them, so I and the Celebration of God staff are going to suggest that we celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas for the following reasons in the following ways.

First, we should celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas because God is worth celebrating every day of the year. Twelve is not enough to praise God for the Incarnation, but it’s a good start.

Second, I don’t have any problem biblically redeeming pagan festivals, so I really don’t have a problem redeeming biblically-untenable festivals either. That means that we can easily observe each of the 12 days in a way that pleases the Lord.

But third, we have freedom in Christ to observe days that other Christians don’t and not observe days other Christians do, but only when we do so in genuine faith that God is receiving the honor and glory of our actions, and only if its lining up with Scripture.

So, let’s start with Scripture, shall we?

If you go to CelebrationOfGod.com, click on the holidays tab and select “Christmas,” you will find all sorts of great resources, but the main one you need to download is the Christmas Bible Reading. There you will find twelve different readings for each of the twelve days.

The Scriptures expand on the early years of Christ, but they go further than that.

The traditional twelve days only focus on Jesus’ early years even though they celebrate people who lived much later. However, we recognize that Jesus’ being born is not the end of the story — in fact — it’s not even the most important part of the story. So the passages we’re going to read during the Twelve Days cover His early years as well as the beginning of His ministry including key lessons from His teachings from the book of John, and then end with His High Priestly Prayer (right before His betrayal). And each passage calls us to believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.

So, let me walk you through the twelve passages.

On Christmas Eve we will read the traditional Luke 2 passage that describes Christ’s birth.

On the first Day of Christmas, Christmas Day, we’ll read Matthew 2:1-12 which describes the visit of the Magi.

On the second day of Christmas we’ll read Matthew 2:13-23 which records the violent reaction earthly authorities had against God’s rule in their lives. Psalm 2 would be a fantastic addition to that day’s reading.

For the third day of Christmas we’ll read Luke 2:21-40 where we get to look on as Christ is presented at the Temple and Simeon heralds the boy’s future.

The fourth day will continue in Luke 2 where we’ll read about Jesus’ later visit to Jerusalem and doing His Father’s business in the Temple.

On the fifth day we’ll turn to John 1 to be reminded of Christ’s eternal divinity and glorious purpose.

The sixth day’s reading will be from John 1:19-34 where Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, prepares the way for the Messiah’s earthly ministry.

Then, on the seventh Day of Christmas, we’ll read John 3:1-21 where Jesus personally explains His ministry on earth and how we can have a relationship with the Father through him.

On the eighth day we’ll read John the Baptist’s final testimony about Jesus from John 3:22-36.

On the ninth day we’ll dip in John 5:18-24 to learn about Jesus’ equality with God and the importance of believing on Him.

The tenth reading will come from John 8:12-30. In that passage Jesus refers to Himself as the light of the world.

On the eleventh day of Christmas we’ll read John 10:1-18 in which Jesus describes Himself as the Good Shepherd.

And on the Twelfth Day of Christmas we’ll read John 17:1-26 and John 20:30-31. Chapter 17 is Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer and the verses in chapter 20 outline the whole reason that John wrote his Gospel,  “Many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

Yes, there were a lot of people that God has used to spread His Word far and wide and accomplish His will on this earth, but I can’t imagine a better way of celebrating God on the 12 Days of Christmas than by reading about Him and what He did to set in motion the salvation of man.

Conclusion

Thank you for joining us today. Merry Christmas! 

I hope you’ll share this episode on your favorite social media outlets so our friends and families can join us in worshipping God this Christmastide.

Next week on January 1st we’ll take a break, and then we plan to be back on Friday, January 8th.

In the new year we’ll do a checkup to see how well we worshipped God during Christmas, we’ll continue our discussion about worshipping God at church, and then we’ll start our preparation for Valentine’s Day.

Shortly after that we’ll be getting ready for our 3 month long celebration of the last few weeks of Jesus’ earthly ministry and His glorious resurrection!