everydayinamerica

Merry Christmas!!! While today is December 25th and Christmas Day…Did you know that the Twelve Days of Christmas also begin today? It is the belief that the 12 days of Christmas were the amount of time it took the Three Wise Men, or Three Kings to travel to Bethlehem for the Epiphany after Jesus was born. Accordingly, the Epiphany was the “revelation” that Jesus was revealed to be the “Savior” of Mankind as promised by the Divine through Prophecy…

The First Day of Christmas, which is Christmas Day, Celebrates the birth of Jesus…The Christ.

The Second Day of Christmas, Boxing Day or Saint Stephen’s Day, remembers the first martyr of Christianity, which was St. Stephen.

The Third Day of Christmas Celebrates Saint John, the Apostle, or Saint John the Beloved. He is the patron saint of love, loyalty, friendships, authors, booksellers, burn victims, poison victims, art-dealers, editors, publishers, scribes, examinations, scholars and theologians…Saint John wrote the Book of Revelation.

The Fourth Day of Christmas is the Feast of the Holy Innocents…this day remembers all of the babies murdered by King Herod in his search to find and kill baby Jesus.

The Fifth Day of Christmas remembers the Archbishop of Canterbury, Saint Thomas Becket, who was killed because he challenged the king’s authority of the church.

The Sixth Day of Christmas Celebrates Saint Egwin of Worcester who is known as the protector of orphans and the widowed…he died in 717.

The Seventh Day of Christmas, which is New Year’s Eve, celebrates Pope Sylvester I, who filled the see of Rome at an important era of the Christian Roman Empire, or the Western Church…He died in Rome, Italy on December 31, 335 AD.

The Eight Day of Christmas on New Year’s Day, Celebrates Mary, the mother of Jesus.

The Ninth Day of Christmas honors two important Christians, Saint Basil the Great and Saint Gregory Nazianzen, from the 4th century. Saint Basil the Great was a Byzantine bishop and influential theologian who supported the Nicene Creed and opposed the heresies of the early Christian church. He was born in Kayseri, Turkey in 330 AD and died January 1, 379 AD. Saint Gregory was born in Arianzum, (known as Nazianzus) Cappadocia in 329 AD and was the Archbishop of Constantinople and a theologian, considered the most accomplished rhetorical stylist of the Patristic Era, or early Christian writers who were designated Church Fathers. He died January 25, 390 AD.

The Tenth Day of Christmas Celebrates the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus…when Jesus was named in the Jewish Temple.

The Eleventh Day of Christmas Celebrates Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American saint. She was born on August 28, 1774, In New York, NY, and died January 4, 1821, in Emmitsburg, MD. She was a Catholic religious sister and an educator, and the founder of the country’s parochial school system.

The Twelfth Day of Christmas is Epiphany Eve, known as that because it is January 5, the day before Epiphany, the Three Kings’ Day, a Christian Festival, which begins on January 6, celebrating how a star led the Magi to the baby Jesus….

The Twelve Days of Christmas isn’t just a Christmas song…it is also known as Twelvetide, a Christian religious celebration centered around the Nativity.

It is believed also that the Twelve Days of Christmas symbolize a different aspect of the Christian religion…

A partridge in a pear tree represents Jesus…

Two turtle doves…the Old and New Testaments…

Three French hens…Faith…Hope and Charity…

Four calling birds….the four gospels…

Five golden rings…the first five books of the Old Testament…

Six geese…the six days of creation….

Seven swans…the gifts of the Holy Spirit…

Eight maids…the eight blessings given by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, in the Gospel of Matthew…

Nine ladies dancing…the nine different fruits of the Holy Spirit…

Ten lords….the Ten Commandments…

Eleven pipers…the eleven faithful Apostles…

Twelve drummers…the twelve points of the doctrine in the Apostle’s Creed…

Take these twelve days of Christmas and create at least twelve days more to carry out the Spirit of Christmas…

Continue with Faith…Hope…and Charity. Begin your own new tradition….We have been through a two-year period of thoughtful isolation…time alone that has allowed us to reflect…and given us moments through this travail…to touch the face of God…

Let us change in the twinkling of an eye…let us reach out…let us give our hearts in the spirit of what was given to all of us with the birth of Christ…Let us remember that we are all blessed….that we are all saviors…and shepherds…Messengers…and Deliverers…remember that life is not an everyday promise…but a gift…

As you continue to ponder your thoughts and reflect on the events of your Christmas Day…be good…be kind…be forgiving…be thankful…to yourself…and to others…

Renew…with your twelve days of Christmas…

Give and receive the love….

Your twelve days of Christmas awaits…

Make someone smile…and feed your soul…..

Merry Christmas to all…and to all…

Feel the Love…because you are….