Christmas Isn't When You Think It Is

(Image Credit)

Our regional vice president at work is a fantastic man. He truly cares about his employees, and genuinely wants them to succeed and be happy. But last year he demanded on December 27th that the Christmas decorations be taken down immediately; the holiday was over, and it was back to business.  Oh, how mistaken he was.

Christmas isn’t when most people think it is. What we think of as "the Holiday Season" is actually two separate seasons—Advent and Christmas—the latter of which lasts longer than our current culture would suggest. Furthermore, Advent and Christmas each contain their own unique message and beauty. (Note 1).

So let’s break down the timeline of the seasons of Christmas and Advent.

(Image Credit)

Advent: From the Latin ad venire or "arrival."  The season of preparation for Christ’s coming in 3 ways: a) historically, b) at the end of time, and c) in our individual hearts (Note 1a). As such, Advent (liturgically speaking) is not about "decking the halls" quite yet, but a season of hopeful anticipation. Before the 9th century, it was a 40-day season of fasting and penance akin to Lent starting after St. Martin’s Day (Nov 11th), but now it begins four Sundays before December 25th. The fasting is now optional in the Western church. This is not yet the season of “Joy to the World” and the like.  Songs of waiting and longing in a minor key such as “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and “The King Shall Come” are popular in the liturgy, but also peppier songs such as “On Jordan’s Banks”. Songs about the Virgin Mary are also popular.

• The First two weeks of Advent, the readings in church focus on the coming of God at the end of time.
• The Third and Fourth weeks of Advent, the readings focus on Christ’s historical coming.
• Gaudete Sunday is the name of the Third Sunday of Advent, and it is one of only two days in the church year when Rose is used as the liturgical color. This is to symbolize joy at being more than halfway through Advent (and also to provide a break in what was historically some very intense fasting.)
• Below is a non-comprehensive list of feasts (Note 2) that fall during the four weeks of Advent.  You'll notice that most of them were brought to the United States by a particular immigrant group, as each enriched the season of Advent in the United States.
• December 6th(Note 3)--St. Nicholas Day: While no longer a very important feast in the United States (Note 4), this 4th century Turkish bishop used to be one of the most popular Saints among early Dutch immigrants to the United States (akin to Saint Anthony of Padua or St. Francis Assisi to Italian-Americans). Traditions surrounding his feast day—such as placing presents in stockings or shoes—moved to Christmas over time.
• December 8th--The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Despite a popular misconception (Note 5), this is *not* the feast celebrating the conception of Jesus, but the conception of Mary by Sts. Anne and Joachim. The theology behind this dogma deserves a blog article of its own.  Mary under the title of Immaculate Conception is the patron saint of the United States.
• December 12th--Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe: I know the story (honestly more from the episode of Wishbone as much as my Catholic education), but my family never celebrated this one, so I can’t shed a light on a lot of the traditions surrounding it.  It is especially loved by Mexican Americans.
• December 13th--St. Lucia Day: My eldest sister always made the family St. Lucia rolls on this day, as is the tradition in Sweden and Norway, (though no, we aren't Swedish).  St. Lucia was an early Roman martyr, devotion to whom is very popular in Nordic countries.
• December 24th--Christmas Eve: This is difficult day to categorize, because it is Advent before 4 pm, and Christmas after 4 pm; (cannon lawyers, please check my math on this). Italians still eat fish on this day, which dates from a time when Christians used to fast from meat on certain vigils (Note 2). 

(Image Credit)

Christmas:  Literally "Christ Mass". A season celebration of Christ’s historical coming and his coming into our lives and hearts. The liturgical season of Christmas is broken down into the twelve days of Christmas and the Epiphany.

• The Twelve Days of Christmas: December 25th-January 5th.  Further broken down into the Octave of Christmas and well, those other days of Christmas.  Musically, this is the proper place for "Joy to the World," "O Little Town of Bethlehem" etc.
• The Octave of Christmas: December 25th-January 1st.  The Christmas Octave is very different than the Easter Octave. For more on Octaves, see this blog.
• December 25th--Christmas Day, i.e. The Nativity of the Lord
• December 26th--St. Stephen’s Day: The feast day of the first martyr and first deacon in the church
• December 27th--The Feast of Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist
• December 28th--The Feast of the Holy Innocents
• The Feast of the Holy Family (usually occurs on the first Sunday after Christmas)
• January 1st--The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
• January 5th--Twelfth Night, of the Elizabethan drama fame. The final day of the first half the the Christmas season before moving on to the Epiphany. Some years in the United States, there is no Twelfth Night, as the Epiphany is observed on the nearest Sunday.
• The Epiphany: The Epiphany celebrates the revelation of God's incarnation to the world.  Though theologically important, this season is not as elaborately celebrated in the Western church as it is in the East (Note 6) (where is goes by the much more metal-sounding name "The Theophany"). Musically, the songs of this season include “We Three Kings of Orient Are” and “They Followed a Bright Star”
• January 6th--The Solemnity of Epiphany, also known as Three Kings Day: This celebrates that Christ's salvation is offered to whole world, not just to one people, race or nation. Historically, it celebrates the revelation of Christ to the gentiles as symbolized by the visit of the Magi (Note 7).  In the Southern Hemisphere of the world, this, not Christmas, is the day for gift giving, though for all I know this might be changing due to American influence.
• The Feast of the Baptism of Christ: This celebrates Christ’s Baptism in the Jordan by John the Baptist, and the start of his public ministry. It is celebrated the first Sunday after the Epiphany.  

So you see, Christmas doesn’t start after Thanksgiving. It doesn't end on the 25th or on New Year's.  When we start our feasting on Thanksgiving and end it on New Year's, we are missing out on much of the richness the season has to offer, from the quiet anticipation of Advent to the gift-giving of the magi.

One final complication: The Feast of Jesus' Presentation in the Temple is on February 2nd, also known as Candlemas. This is 40 days after Christmas day, and many of today and yesteryear still consider Candlemas the official end of the Christmas season.  Heck, up until 2009 the Vatican kept its Christmas tree until February 2nd.  One could thus argue (dubiously) that Christmas actually continues almost to the start of Lent.

So tell the facilities people in your office to leave those decorations up. Water that tree again. The banquet has yet to begin.

The Ghost of Christmas Present by Greg Hildebrandt

___________________________________________________________________________

Footnotes:

1) Despite being born and bred Catholic, I didn’t know any of this until college. I owe my initial retraining in this matter to the stellar teaching of Fr. Bede Cameron of Saint Anselm Abbey.

1a) Citation needed for this third one. I thought I read this somewhere but couldn't find it again.  One would hope Christ is already in our lives, so this may not be strictly accurate.  On the other hand, our relationship can always deepen.  Regardless of whether the focus is on Christ’s historical or future arrival, we also long for Christ to dwell in our hearts and lives. Christians are a people of Advent, for our entire focus is on bringing about the Kingdom of God in all times and places, within and without. 

2) The Catholic Church uses several names for holidays depending on how important they are.  Solemnities are the most important, followed by feasts, memorials, and optional memorials.  Vigils are the evening before a Solemnity.

3) In this article, I am referring primarily to the dates and traditions in the Western church.  The Eastern churches calendar and traditions have several variations (though less for the Eastern Catholic Church than for the Eastern Orthodox Churches still on the old calendar)

4) No, SantaCon does *not* count

5) I sincerely and seriously do not intend a pun here.

6) Citation needed.  I'm too busy to do even my normal level of minimal research for this article, so some of this is coming from a vague memory of things I've heard.

7)  Not kings, that is a mistranslation.  Also, the bible never specifically says there are three of them.  There are three gifts (Note 8), but no number is given to the magi.

8) There is a theological significance in each of the magi’s gifts to Jesus. Gold was used to crown a king. Frankincense, an incense used in religious worship, acknowledges Christ's divine nature. And myrrh, used for funerals, foreshadowed his sacrifice.

PS: I am deeply indebted to the USCCB Liturgical calendar for correcting my memory on several points.