It's still Christmas. Yes it is. Unfortunately nowadays we Do Christmas by having a four-week splurge of spending, Christmas Parties, Carol Concerts etc etc etc from December 1st until Dec 24th, stuff ourselves on Dec 25th, then...that's it. Say 'Merry Christmas' to someone after Dec 25th and they look at you like an idiot.This is what I call Doing Christmas Wrong.
Christmas is the twelve-day period from 25 Dec to 5 Jan. That is the period in which we are supposed to sing Christmas Carols, have Christmas parties, wish each other 'Merry Christmas' and all that. THAT is "Christmas" - not the four weeks leading up to it. It is NOT Christmas on December 1st, December 15th or even December 24th.
Christmas traditionally starts and ends with a bang. It is supposed to start with a party on Christmas Day (the First Day Of Christmas) and to end with a Twelfth Night Party on the night following Jan 5th, during which the Christmas Decorations get ceremoniously taken down, to the accompaniment of specific Twelfth Night carols (Wassailing - here's an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1Ea-fIPj6k). It's the loss of the tradition of the Twelfth Night Party which has lead to most modern Christmases feeling a bit...anti-climatic. Twelfth Night used to be a huge celebration - as big as Christmas Day itself. Shakespeare's play "Twelfth Night" was specifically written to be performed at a Twelfth Night Party. Nowadays we spend weeks preparing for one day - when we should be preparing for 12 days. Today, we have done with our celebrations before the festive season has actually started!
Commercialism is, of course, to blame for this - we are pressurised by retail stores and TV advertising to start feeling'christmassy' as early as late November, and the pressure to be Festive is applied throughout the first three weeks of December - but stops completely before Christmas day, which is in fact the first true day on which we are meant to celebrate Christmas!
Here's how a 'proper' Christmas - in the traditional, non-commercial sense- should be celebrated:
1st - 24th December - Do nothing. It's not Christmas yet. Mark the 'Advent' season by lighting a candle on each of the four Sundays before Christmas.
24th December - put Christmas Decorations up, buy cheap, token presents & food.; If you are religious, attend Midnight Communion.
25th December - Christmas Day, the First Day of Christmas. Have big party, sing Christmas songs for the first time, exchange presents; if you are religious, attend church.
26th December - Boxing Day - the Feast of St Stephen. Have party, sing 'Good King Wenceslaus'
27th - 30th December - Hold your Office Christmas Parties, sing Christmas Carols, exchange Christmas Cards & seasonal greetings
31st December - 1st January - New Year Celebrations (although this is a modern tradition - until 1752, New Year's Day was actually March 25th)
2nd January - 5th January - Hold Christmas Parties, sing Christmas Carols, exchange Christmas Cards & seasonal greetings
Evening of 5th January - 6th January - Throw Twelfth Night Party, centered around food and drink. Serve Wassail punch and sing Wassail songs. Serve a Twelfth Night cake, containing a bean which makes the finder the King of the festivities for the evening.During the celebrations, officially mark the end of Christmas by taking down the Christmas Decorations while singing Christmas Carols.Some parts of the country have specific Twelfth Night traditions, such as Kent's tradition of Wassailing Apple Trees on this night to ensure a good harvest in the coming year (see picture)
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