Saturday, January 04, 2025

The Eleventh Day of Christmas

Most of the Christmas lights in my neighborhood are off. Many of the houses have been undecorated. It is the Eleventh Day of Christmas.

Christmas was once broken into three parts: Advent, starting in the fourth Sunday before Christmas and running through the evening of December 24; Christmastide. starting with the Christmas Vigil the evening of December 24 and extending through January 5; and Epiphanytide, running from the feast of Epiphany on January 6 to various dates in January or even out to Candlemas Day on February 2.

Now? Culture Wars dictate that everyone must begin saying "Merry Christmas!" starting the day after Thanksgiving. Advent is forgotten. The whole season of preparation has been replaced by shopping season. The religious aspect of Christmas has been dumped in favor of pure commercialism, by the very people who claim to be fighting to "keep Christ in Christmas." And once the day is past, once the orgy of buying is over, Christmas must be quickly taken down, boxed up, and put away.

Not me. My lights are on today, and will be on tomorrow, and for Epiphany on the January 6, and for "Russian Christmas" on January 7. After the lights will go off, unless I choose to have them on - I like having lights, and may set something up year-round.