The Twelve Days

Everything has to start somewhere. In the case of Christmas, it was in the fourth century, when the early Christian Church adopted the period around late December and early January as the time for celebrating the birth of Christ. In doing so it harnessed a broad-ranging set of existing traditions, most of which focused on lighting fires, feasting and drinking. It was the quietest time of the year for farming, thus lending itself to time off. The word Christmas was first recorded much later, in the eleventh century. Two centuries after that, there were already complaints that it was a season of gluttony, groping and having far too much to drink. Throughout its history the celebratory side of the season has always triumphed over the religious side.² That’s not to say the religious observance didn’t matter, but the Christian Church (or most of its denominations) pragmatically took the view that wild partying and gustatory enjoyment was all part of the festival. It meant that Christmas was highly successful and widely observed. As a universal festival, it also meant that it quickly became seen as highly traditional, with certain themes – notably hospitality, goodwill and making merry – embedded within it from very early on.