Hello Everyone,

Once again and as usual thank you for reading. I hope everyone celebrating had a splendid and very Merry Christmas. And those celebrating Chanukah, Happy Chanukah. And to the rest of you Happy Holidays. Still, this blog is going to focus on Christmas and not just Christmas day but the Original 12 Days of Christmas.

The Reason:

It’s interesting how many of us go through day-to-day activities and seldom notice the origin or understand why we do what we do. I myself am guilty of this. However with the modern day technologies at hand, smartphones, it is a lot easier to find explanations at our fingertips for many things. But what about the questions that never arise because we think we know the answer?

Besides the day-today activities and questions that arise what about those with those further underlying factors? What about Christmas and what we think we know? And I will tell you there are many things that people look past on Christmas because of the flashy lights, commercial racket, and toys and Santa.

Even though there are several things that I would like to discuss I can usually only touch lightly on a topic and that is the plan. To focus on the Original 12 Days of Christmas. At least a few of the days.

Why the Original 12 Days of Christmas?

You see, like mentioned earlier of the things we overlook, we have all heard the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” However, it consisted of more in depth things than someone trying to woo a loved one with five golden rings and a partridge in a pear tree. In fact the Original 12 Days of Christmas were quite different.

Some of the original celebrations were festive and full of joy and giving but some of them had a darker undertone to the story of why the festivity was taking place.

12 Days, but only going to touch base on a few:

That’s right! Christmas at one time had a 12 day celebration. A 12 day celebration starting on the 25^th of December, and ending on the 6^th of January.

The 6^th of January was/is known as the Epiphany in the celebration. A day the signals the end of the celebration and a new start on the New Year with the hopes of more enlightenment and better strives for peace and good tithing with one another.

We know the 25th of December is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and is the first day of the celebration but what about the days in between. Those were some of the days that I wanted to focus on but I wanted to touch base on the beginning and end of the 12 day celebration.

The 26^th, 27^th, 28^th:

These days are all feasts to remember certain events in history. The 26^th is the Feast of St. Stephen. This day set in celebration to remember him and his doings, also he is said to be one of the first martyrs of Christianity. This day is a festival of events to give offerings or leftovers of spare food to the hungry and needy in the local communities.

The 27^th is set to celebrate John the Baptist and his doings for Christianity but was later used as a day do designate the celebrations of different positions of the clergy in certain circles of Christianity. The other more specific days also would eventually be used to celebrate other clergy members as well but with a focus on particular saints in the celebration. Except the 28^th.

The 28^th of December would and is still recognized as the Feast of the Innocents. A feast to remember all the innocent babies, infants, and young children murdered by King Herod so very long ago.

Although the celebrations and feast are focused on the deaths of people we must remember that they are done in remembering the good deeds that these people did do or in paying our respects top those who so unfortunately died.

A Little Note to Readers and Holiday Sign-off, and Thanks:

As a general blog to just finish up on the winter/Christmas focuses of topics I decided not to delve too deep into this one but also not to put it into my “Eerie for Thoughts” category.

I just like to start by giving everyone a jumping off point into there on research on certain topics to prevent any bias tone in my research or delivering of said research. Or even the personal opinions that I do sometimes express.

Due to the holiday season and being busy with personal matters this will be my last blog for the year. I would like to thank each and every one of my followers, influencers, supporters, and random visitors who come to my website or other social media sites for such a wonderful year.

You have all been very supportive on helping me get this part of my life going and pursuing my book writing career.

I have watched the number of fans/followers rise rapidly through the year and even though the book has already been released it will have its official launch in a couple months. But you all helped make it possible and for that I thank you.

Be safe for the rest of the holidays and I look forward to another interesting year with all of you and hope to provide you with some informative blogs as well as some more thoughtful posts just to get people involved in some productive thinking.

Thanks for Reading,

Joshua Crane Dowidat