12 Days of Christmas
“On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a “partridge in a pear tree.” The song, The 12 days of Christmas is an old English carol. It introduced many in the west to the tradition of 12 days of Christmas. In the largely commercial US celebration, Christmas usually ceases when all presents are opened and Christmas dinner is completed. Those who celebrate12 days of Christmas, approach it from a different perspective. It can be a stressful time, but it is embraced as a spiritual celebration that ends on the twelfth day.
Traditional 12 days of Christmas are mostly lost in western culture, and creating the remaining stress free days of Christmas should not be difficult. For starters, lose the partridge, French hens, geese, and calling birds. Unless the 8 milking maids and 12 drummers bring lots of the latest electronic gadgets as gifts, it's probably best to keep them from your Christmas celebrations to keep stress levels low.
The actual 12 days of Christmas are the days between Dec 25 and Jan 6. This time period signifies the time it took for the 3 wise men (also known as Magi) to travel to see the Christ child guided by a bright star in the heavens. While tradition can include giving a gift for each of the 12 days, some Eastern Orthodox Christians choose to give all gifts on the twelfth day. Imagine having those extra days to shop. Stress buster.If you neglected someone important on your list, due to a low Christmas budget, don't fret or stress. Send them a twelfth day Christmas gift explaining the meaning of the 12 days and the epiphany. However, it is important first to know what the12 days and the epiphanyare really all about, and why are they important to Christians.
As the Biblical story found in the book of Matthew explains, after the wise men found the baby lying in a manger, they gave gifts of gold, incense, and myrrh. Eastern Orthodox Christians give all their gifts on the twelfth day of Christmas just as the wise men did because that is the day known asepiphany. It is the time when Christ was revealed as the son of God to the non Jewish population known as Gentiles.The wise men from the east were Gentiles, and to them it was reveled that the star in the East had guided them to the baby who was the Son of God. They presented gifts and worshiped him. Epiphany is the revelation that occurs on the twelfth day.
In the western culture, people typically return to work soon after December 25th, and a lot of stress is ended when the shopping madness ceases. The remaining 12 days, while not celebrated, are often spent thinking about how to manage bills and in making resolutions for a balanced budget in the new year. To overcome this stress, each individual must address it with wisdom. Living responsibly, or as the Bible says, being good stewards of your resources, go a long way to peaceful and stress free days that carry over to the entire new year.
People of faith choose belief in the Christ as the best stress buster one can have during the 12 days of Christmas and throughout the year. The peace he gives is understood by Christians as inner peace, when everything else seems convoluted and uncertain.
