I’ve been fascinated most of my life with the Church calendar, from when I was a somewhat devout child at my Episcopal parish in Chattanooga through adulthood which I began as an aspirant to the priesthood then converted to Roman Catholicisim. I eventually became a stone-cold atheist, but my interest revived briefly after reading the Deryni novels by Katherine Kurtz and later from the point-of-view of a historian.
The parish in which I grew up was dedicated to St. Martin of Tours, and while not fully Anglo-Catholic (no smells or bells, for instance), our services, teachings, and practices shared many High Church features. Our rector at the time was at the forefront of the movement for PECUSA (Protestant Episcopal Church in the USA) to retain the 1928 edition of the Book of Common Prayer. Our next rector graduated from Nashotah House seminary, PECUSA’s one Anglo-Catholic seminary.
There are two major cycles within the Christian year, the first centered on the Nativity (Christmas) and the second centered on the Resurrection (Easter, or Pasch). In the Nativity cycle, nearly all the major days are fixed on the calendar, more or less. In the Easter or Paschal cycle, by contrast, they are nearly all moveable.
Since the Christian year starts with the preparation season for Christmas, that’s where I will start. The Christmas cycle is the most fun anyway.
Next will be the Easter cycle, then major feast days, then how the Church calendar has in the past and still is determining the legal calendars of Scotland and England.
Where practical and possible, I have included the liturgical colors used by the ancient pre-Reformation Scottish Church and the Church of England in the Use of Sarum, the Use of York, and the Use of Lichfield.
Note: In the Christian liturgical calendar, a day begins at sundown (usually, in most places).
CHRISTMAS CYCLE
The Christian ecclesiastical year begins with Advent, the season of preparation for Christmas, but Advent is not the first festival tied to the Nativity on the civil calendar.
Officially, at least on the ecclesiastical calendar, the season of Christmas runs from sunset on 24 December of the civil calendar, which is on the ecclesiastical calendar the beginning of 25 December, Christmas Day or the First Day of Christmas, through sunset on 4 January on the civil calendar, which is on the ecclesiastical calendar the beginning of 5 January, the Twelfth Day of Christmas.
In the Early Middle Ages, Epiphany had more of the focus on merry-making and gift-giving, because of the imagery of the Three Wise Men (or Three Kings). Christmas surpassed Epiphany early in the High Middle Ages, becoming larger in both festivities and length until in the Late Middle Ages it lasted until Candlemas on 2 February and reached back to Martinmas and even further to Allhallowtide.
Feast of the Annunciation
Also known as Lady Day in England, this feast has been observed by the Church since as early as 4th century, but the first definite mention of it in written record was at the Council of Toledo in 656 in the West followed by the Council of Constantinople in 692.
Early widespread belief held 25 March to be the actual date of Jesus’ death.
On the Roman calendar, 25 March was the official date of the Spring Equinox, as well as the day Romans celebrated the festival Hilaria Matris Deum (“Joy of the Mother of God”), part of a multi-day festival of Cybele and Attis. The Romans borrowed it from the Greeks, who called it Ascension.
If 25 March falls during Holy Week or Easter Week, the observance of this feast is moved to the Monday after Low Sunday.
There was no Vigil of the Annunciation, and no Octave observed (except for a few locales in northeastern Italy), at least not in the Isles. The liturgical color was white.
Feast of the Visitation
This festival commemorating the visit of the just pregnant St. Mary the Virgin to her cousin the six months pregnant Elizabeth was not observed in the West until 1389 (and not adopted in the East until the 19th century), when it was established by Pope Urban VI on 2 July. However, this took place a day after the octave of the Feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist on 24 June, creating an anomaly in liturgical continuity, and a 1969 revision transferred it to more the chronologically compatible 31 May. In the Use of York, however, this problem did not exist, because there the Visitation was observed on 2 April.
There was no Vigil, 1 July being the Octave of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, but there was an Octave. The litrugical color was white.
Allhallowtide
In the countries of the British Isles, what was considered the Christmas or Yule season (as opposed to the official liturgical version) reached back to take in this triduum of events, called Allhallowtide in England, by the High and Late Middle Ages and into the Early Modern Age.
So, 21st century capitalists were not the first to stretch Christmas back to Hallowe’en or before (Xmas decorations at Walmart this year, 2021, went up at the beginning of October).
Though attached to the following holy day, the observance of All Hallows’ Eve (Hallowe’en, or Vigil of the Solemnity of All Saints) on 31 October represented a remnant of the old Celtic celebration of the new year which the Irish called Samhain. The proper spelling is Hallowe’en as the word is a contraction of Halloweven.
All Saints’ Day (Hallowmas) was moved in the 8th century to 1 November from its original day of observance (as St. Mary and All Martyrs) on 13 May to shift the focus away the still popular former Celtic festival.
All Souls’ Day (officially, the Commemoration of All Faithful Departed) was standardized in the West during the 10th century by St. Odilo of Cluny to fall on 2 November.
In 1450, Pope Sixtus IV expanded Hallowmas into the Octave of All Saints (1-8 November), keeping the Vigil. In the liturgy, Octave refers to both the same day a week later and to eight-day period of daily Mass. The liturgical color for All Saints’ Day in most locations was white, but in the Scottish Church, it was red.
Feast of the Holy Savior
On 9 November in the Scottish Church, this feast, quite popular across Europe in the High Middle Ages, commemorated the miraculous bleeding of a crucifix icon in Beirut. Its designation as a double feast signals importance.
The same occasion was commemorated on 24 May in the Use of Sarum and on 23 October by the Order of Redemptorists, and is otherwise called the Feast of the Suffering Icon of the Savior.
In the Eastern churches, the feast, still observed but on 11 October, is called the Remembrance (or Commemoration) of the Miracle of the Icon of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Beirut.
The province of Utrecht celebrated an (mostly) unrelated Feast of the Icons of Our Savior Jesus Christ on 19 November.
In Rome, 9 November marked the Feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of the Lateran, originally called the Feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of the Most Holy Savior, the basilica in question being thus dedicated.
Martinmas
The Feast of St. Martin of Tours falls on 11 November (also the date upon which Armistice-Remembrance-Veteran’s day is now observed). From his death in the late 4th century through the Late Middle Ages, St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, ranked above all other saints except the more prominent of the Biblical ones. His feast was preceded with the Vigil of St. Martin.
Among his more important influences was the inspiration he gave to legions of monks and nuns in the early Irish Church who basically reintroduced, or revived, Christianity across the Continent. In France, he is highly regarded even today and served as the official patron saint of the Third Republic (1870-1940).
In the High and Late Middle Ages, Martinmas served as a sort of harvest thanksgiving festival somewhat comparable to the American Thanksgiving Day. Today it remains a significant calendar marker in the legal systems of all the countries of the United Kingdom.
St. Martin’s Lent
Advent began as Quadragesima Sancti Martini, or St. Martin’s Lent. While its observance preceded it in Spain, the first authoritative prescription we have for it was by St. Perpetuus (d. 490), who decreed three days of fasting per week from the day after Martinmas until Christmas, with abstinence from meat throughout. Elsewhere, clergy and laity were ordered to abstain from meat and fast weekdays.
In 567, the Second Council of Tours ordered monastics to fast from the beginning of December until Christmas. In 582, the Council of Macon specified that fasting was to be conducted on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Pope Nicholas I reduced Advent, no longer called St. Martin’s Lent, to four weeks in the 9th century.
In Eastern churches, the Nativity Fast in preparation for the feast runs from 15 November to 24 December.
Advent
Within a couple of centuries, the time of ritual preparation for Christmas was greatly shortened. Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) reduced Advent to four weeks (or, more specifically, four Sundays), with the First Sunday in Advent being the Sunday following the (then) feast day of St. Linus, Pope and Martyr, on 26 November (now 23 September). By 1172, fasting and even abstinence during Advent were only a suggestion.
In the early medieval Irish Church, the season was also called Winter Lent and the Lent of Elijah. The name Advent derived from the term used in provincial districts of the Roman Empire for a ceremony at the visit by the emperor or his deputy.
The season of preparation for Christmas begins on what is usually the first Sunday in December. The actual calendar date fluctuates, but Advent Sunday, or the First Sunday of Advent, is always the one closest to the Feast of St. Andrew on 30 November, so on occasion Advent Sunday does fall late in the month of November. The earliest date it can fall is 27 November, which it will do next year (2022).
Originally, “season of preparation” explicitly meant a fast and certain abstinences along with increased prayer.
In the ancient (pre-Reformation) Scottish Church, the liturgical color for vestments and antependium (altar frontal) for Advent was blue, and it was the same in the case of the Use of York in England. Blue was first used as the liturgical color for Advent in Scandinavia. In the Use of Sarum, the color was red until the Late Middle Ages, when it became black. In the Use of Lichfield and the Use of York, the color for the season was also black, as was the case for the Use of Rome, followed by the Diocese of Exeter in Devon and Cornwall.
During Advent, the Sarum Missal has specific lections for Mass on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
St. Nicholas Day
Called Sinterklaasfeest in the Netherlands, 6 December is especially celebrated in Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, northwestern France, northern Germany, Switzerland, Ukraine, Poland, and the Balkans as the Feast Day of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra, who died this day in the Anatolian seaside city of Myra in 363 CE.
The evening before the feast day (liturgically the beginning of the day), or St. Nicholas Eve, is marked in these countries as the day on which Saint Nicholas secretly distributes toys and treats to all the good children. Often Saint Nicholas is accompanied by helpers, Black Pete in some countries, an angel and a devil in other countries, and the most notorious of all in most of these countries, Krampus.
The Dutch version of Saint Nicholas, Sinterklaas, became the ancestor of the later American Santa Claus when Dutch colonists to the New Netherlands brought Sinterklaas and St. Nicholas Eve to the Hudson Valley.
In icons of the Eastern churches, Saint Nicholas is depicted as with dark brown skin and forehead ridges, giving Trekkies (fans of Star Trek) cause to speculate that the sainted bishop of Myra may have been a Klingon.
Though he is effectively the Joseph among his brethren (i.e., the youngest of them), Santa Claus has become the Christmas standard, with his elder forerunners taking on many of his attributes: Father Christmas, St. Nikolaus, Sinterklaas, Kris Kringle, Pere Noel, Joulupukki, Weihnachtsmann, Saint Basil, Babbo Natale, La Befana, and Father Frost.
Because St. Nicholas is patron saint of children, in England and Spain during the Middle Ages, it became practice to elect a Boy Bishop to serve from St. Nicholas’ Day through to Childermas. With other boys as priests in attendance, the Boy Bishop would preach sermons, conduct services (except Mass), and lead procession around town. In England, the practice was abolished in the 16th century.
Krampus Night
The legend of Krampus arose in the Holy Roman Empire (now Germany) during the Middle Ages. Depicted as a tall, horned, hairy demon creature, Krampus travels the towns and countryside, either with Saint Nicholas or alone, depending on the local traditions, to punish bad children. For this reason, St. Nicholas Eve is known as Krampus Night, or Krampusnacht.
While the tradition of Krampus waned beginning with the Reformation, a resurgence began in Germany (especially in Bavaria), Austria, Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia, Tyrol, and Friuli in the late 19th century and grew exponentially in the 20th.
Crom Dubh na Nollaig
A similar tradition to Krampus existed on the Hebridean Isle of Islay, the Crom Dubh na Nollaig (the ‘Dark One of Christmas’), though here it was tied more to Christmas Day rather than to St. Nicholas Day.
Feast of the Conception of St. Mary the Virgin
One of the lesser (during the Middle Ages) feasts of St. Mary, this commemoration on 8 December nonetheless falls within what was considered “Christmas time” from the High Middle Ages into the Early Modern Era. The Annunciation (25 March) and the Assumption (15 August) far surpassed this day in devotion, in large part because Pope Pius IX had not yet declared her conception to be “immaculate”.
St. Lucy’s Day
The Feast of St. Lucia of Syracuse falls on 13 December. Lucia of Syracuse was the daughter of a Roman merchant in Sicily who died a virgin-martyr in the Diocletian Persecution (302-303).
During the Middle Ages to early Modern Age, St. Lucy was especially revered in Scandinavia, northern Italy, France, England, and the Highlands of Scotland. Today, she remains hugely popular in Scandinavia and Finland, as well as in northern Italy.
Her medieval cult was popular enough that one of the four sets of Ember Days was assigned to follow her feast day.
Ember Days of Winter
Ember Days were sets of three days (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday) set roughly three months apart in the year for fasting, prayer, and abstinence with a focus on agriculture, nature, and benevolence toward the poor. The first set in the calendar were the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after St. Lucy’s Day. The other three sets were placed after the First Sunday in Lent, Whitsunday, and Roodmas (Holy Cross Day on 14 September).
Gaudete Sunday
Also known as the Rejoice Sunday, Rose Sunday of Advent, and in some cases, Refreshment Sunday of Advent, this Third Sunday of Advent takes that name from the Latin text of the medieval Introit which opened it (the literal meaning of Gaudete is “rejoice”). The rules of abstinence and fasting were relaxed this day, the liturgy less penitential, and the color of the vestments and antependium was rose rather than black (later violet), at least at Rome since the time of Innocent III.
Blue Christmas
Long before Elvis Presley made famous the song by this name written by Bill Hayes and Jay W. Johnson in 1948, Western churches observed the Blue Christmas on the actual Winter Solstice, for which reason the occasion is also dubbed the Longest Night. The focus is on those who have suffered grief and loss, and imagery usually includes the longest night losing ground to the increasing light.
The observance coincides with the Feast of St. Thomas the Doubter, and with the Iranian celebration of Yalda.
Vigil of Christmas
Called Christmas Eve in the Sarum Missal, Mass on this vigil was regarded as the first Mass of Christmas. During the Middle Ages, normal Mass in secular parishes was celebrated in the morning after the hour of Terce (9 am) was said (secular clergy were required to say the hours of the Daily Office at least privately). The Gospel for Christmas Eve was Matthew 1:18-25, which deals mostly with the Visitation of St. Joseph, with the actual Nativity taking up but a single verse at the end.
Night of St. Mary
In countries following the Celtic Rite (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Devon & Cornwall, Isle of Mann), Christmas Eve was known as the Night of St. Mary, and on the Isle of Mann is still an occasion for big celebration.
Christmas Day
Although later adopted by Eastern churches, Christmas is primarily a Western feast to mark what is officially called the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The date was deliberately chosen as the date of the Winter Solstice on the old Roman calendar, and marks the beginning of the official (in terms ecclesiastic) start of Christmastide.
The first service of Christmas began at midnight immediately after the Te deum at the end of Matins. It was called the Angels’ Mass on account of its Gospel, Luke 2:1-14, the birth of Christ and visitation of the angels to the shepherds in the field.
The second Mass was at dawn, called the Shepherds’ Mass because its Gospel, Luke 2:15-20, recounts the visit of the shepherds to the manger in Bethlehem.
The third Mass later in the morning (shortly after Terce at 9 am), was called the Mass of the Divine Word after its Gospel, John 1:1-14, the passage about the Incarnate Word, or Logos, of God.
The liturgical color for Christmas was white across all traditions.
Yule
Yule is the word for Christmas Day in Scots, and how most Scots refer to Christmas, derived from the Angles who settled Laudian (Lothian), what became southeast Scotland, which at the time reached the Tweed.
Among the Anglo-Saxons (actually, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians, and a few Franks) who brought Yule to Great Britain (the name of the island from the Latin Britannia Major, in contrast to Britannia Minor, Brittany), Yule marked not only the (actual) Winter Solstice but the beginning of the year.
In Scotland, that influence was augmented by the Norse in Shetland, Orkney, Caithness, Sutherland, much of Argyll, and the Hebrides, and by the Danes occupying Northumbria.
Modranicht
The night before Yule, Christmas Eve, was called Modranicht (Mother’s Night or Night of the Mothers) by the Anglo-Saxons and began their celebration of the new year.
Dies Natalis Solis Invicti
On the old Roman calendar, 25 December was the date of the Winter Solstice, which is why it became Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, the day of the birth of the Unconquered Sun, which, in turn, was why it became Christmas.
Yuletide/Christmastide
Originally, Christmastide ran from 25 December to the Octave of Christmas, the octave being 1 January. Extending Christmastide to include the following days to the Feast of the Epiphany began in the 6th century, courtesy of the prelates at the Council of Tours in 567.
In the Western traditional ecclesiastical calendar, the 1st Sunday after Christmas commemorated the Visitation of the Archangel Gabriel to St. Joseph the Carpenter. There was no special commemoration for the 2nd Sunday after Christmas even if one should happen to occur, primarily because that only happened four times out of every seven years.
The three great religious celebrations of the Twelve Days of Yuletide were/are the Nativity, the Circumcision, and Twelfth Night.
Popular celebrations of Christmas festivities involved drinking, eating, masquerade, role-swapping, and various forms of debauchery. It was because of this that the Reformers in Scotland and the Puritans in England outlawed Christmas when they attained power. In England, this was reversed legally upon the Restoration, but Nonconformist clergy in the Church of England actively worked to suppress it. In Scotland, the Reformers captured the entire Church of Scotland.
The disdain for Christmas carried over to the colonies in the Americas, where the Puritans ruling the colony of Massachusetts Bay outlawed Christmas from 1659 to 1681. But disdain for, or at least indifference to, Christmas lasted long enough that not only did the new Congress first meet on Christmas Day but as late as 1861, President Lincoln’s first State of the Union address to Congress took place on that date.
On both sides of the Pond, however, Christmas began to make a comeback in the 19th century. In England, the 1843 publication of Charles Dickens’ novel A Christmas Carol, and in America, the 1822 publication of Clement Moore’s poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” did much to shift the focus on the season from licentiousness to family. Still, Christmas was not a national holiday until President Grant declared it as such in 1870. And in Scotland, however, Christmas was not restored as a holiday until 1958.
In 2000, the Church of England authorized use of the Book of Common Worship, which officially extended Christmastide to include Candlemas on 2 February as well as the still separate Epiphanytide (as a season within and part of the bigger season). Of course, this had long been the practice among many of the laity going back to the High Middle Ages.
The liturgical color for Christmastide in the Scottish Church, in the Use of York, and in the Use of Rome was white. In the Use of Sarum, the original color was red, then later white. The Octave of Christmas is celebrated as the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ, with most of the intervening days being feast days of major saints.
The Sarum Missal contained specific lectionary readings for Mass every of the octave.
Daft Days
Another name in Scotland for the similar but not quite the same period of days as Yuletide or Christmastide, the Daft Days here include Yule through Handsel Monday.
Twelve Days of Christmas
Celebration of the Twelve Days of Christmas from Christmas Day to the Vigil of the Epiphany was first prescribed by the Council of Tours in 567.
These Twelve Days of Christmas, Christmastide to traditional Christians and Yuletide to Scots (and others), are 25 December thru 5 January.
Let me state emphatically that the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas have never at any time by any authority in any place include 6 January. The only people who confuse this are those who know not the fuck about which they speak. The Sixth of January has always been about the Epiphany, a totally separate observation from that of the Nativity, at least until 1955, and no other church has followed that extension.
In 1955, Pope John XXIII the Roman Church expanded the season of Christmastide the Roman Church to include Epiphany and the Sunday after the Epiphany.
Boxing Day
Boxing Day is the day after Yule unless that day is Christmas Sunday, in which case Boxing Day is that Monday. It is also St. Stephen’s Day, and in Ireland is also known as Wren Day.
The original reason for its observance was as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, but became primarily a shopping day. It began in England but eventually spread north to Scotland.
St. Stephen’s Day
The Feast of St. Stephen the First Martyr is observed on 26 December, and during the Middle Ages especially celebrated deacons.
In England, the day following Christmas Day came to be known as Wren Day after the cruel practice of stoning a wren to death on this day. The name carried over to Ireland where it is still in use.
St. John’s Day
The Feast of St. John the Evangelist is observed on 27 December, and during the Middle Ages especially celebrated priests.
In the Gallican Rite, the brothers Sts. James and John, Apostles, were both commemorated on this date.
Childermas
The Feast of the Holy Innocents on 28 December commemorates the massacre of children portrayed in the Gospel of Matthew. Observed since the 5th century, during the Middle Ages it also celebrated choristers and members of the minor orders (acolytes, exorcists, lectors, and porters).
St. Thomas of Canterbury’s Day
The Feast of St. Thomas Becket commemorates the Archbishop of Canterbury murdered on 29 December by soldiers from the court of Henry II, King of England, the Fifth Day of Christmas.
The Visigothic Rite on this date commemorated St. James the Less (Younger), Apostle.
Sixth Day of Christmas
This day falls on 30 December, which in the Use of Rome commemorated St. Felix I, Pope and Martyr, but not in the Use of Sarum, which instead commemorated St. Egwin of Evesham, Bishop of Worcester.
St. Sylvester’s Day
The Feast of St. Sylvester, Pope Sylvester I who is supposed to have been responsible for the conversion of Constantine the Great is observed on 31 December, the Seventh Day of Christmas.
Hogmanay
More than being merely New Year’s Eve (in terms of being the day before New Year’s Day), Hogmanay is the celebration of the last day of the solar year. The observance probably first came to northern Great Britain with the Norse in the Northern Isles (Shetland and Orkney), Caithness, and the Southern Isles (Hebrides) and with the Danes in Northumbria.
On the latter, Hogmanay was celebrated in those parts of the north of England occupied by the Danes, particularly Northumberland, Durham, and Yorkshire, until a late date.
In Scotland, Yule celebrations declined with the Scottish Reformation, and they were surpassed until the 20th century by Hogmanay, which became the main occasion for festive gift-giving in the country. It was only in 1958 that Christmas Day even became an official holiday.
New Year’s Day
Ne’erday is what Scots call New Year’s Day.
1 January was not always the first day of the year in the West.
In the original Roman calendar, the year began on 1 March. That’s why the months September (seventh), October (eighth), November (ninth), and December (tenth) are thus named. According to Roman historian Titus Livius, the beginning of the year in the Roman Republic was moved to 1 January in response to a rebellion in Hispania in 153 BCE.
Under the Roman Empire, even those parts which adopted its Julian calendar did not move the beginning of their own year to 1 January, but left it on the same or approximate same date. In the Alexandrian calendar, for example, the year began on 29 August.
In the later “Byzantine” calendar adopted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 691 and the Roman Empire (which survived in the East until 1453 CE, often incorrectly referred to as the “Byzantine” Empire since the 16th century) in 988 CE, the year began 1 September.
In the Middle Ages, the most common date for the start of the year was 25 March, the same day as the Spring Equinox in the old Roman reckoning, as well as being Marymas. Part of the reason for this was that the Church in the 5th century had moved the start of the year to that date. Other dates for the start of the year were 1 May, 1 March (Venice), and Easter (France)
Many places clung to what had become the tradition of marking the new year on Christmas Day itself. The Anglo-Saxons, for example, clung to that day for the start of their year until 1087, when William the Conqueror decreed that it be moved to 1 January so as to coincide with the anniversary of his coronation. England adopted 25 March in 1155.
In many parts of rural Ireland and Highland Scotland, the people kept Samhain, 1 November, as the start of the new year. In France and some other countries, the new year started on Holy Saturday.
The Germans of the Holy Roman Empire also counted 25 December as the beginning of the year until 1544, as was the case in Rome and most of Italy until 1582 when the Gregorian calendar was adopted.
The Inuit still mark the new year on 25 December, calling it Quviasukvik; the festival starts on the evening of 24 December and runs to 7 January.
it was not adopted as such in Europe until the 16th century CE. Scotland only did so in 1600, while England, Wales, and the British colonies in the Americas only did so in 1752. The date was, however, widely observed as a feast because it is the Octave of the Nativity.
Feast of the Circumcision
Eastern churches have always commemorated the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ on this date, which being eight days after the observance of the Nativity would thus fall under the Torah.
In the West, 1 January was originally called the Anniversary of the Mother of God. After this feast day because overshadowed by the feasts of the Annunciation and the Assumption adopted from the East in the 7th century, the day came to be marked in Rome simply as the Octave of Christmas.
However, at roughly that same time, the churches following the Mozarabic Rite (mainly in Spain) and the Gallican Rite (mainly in Gaul), adopted the Eastern celebration of the date. Rome finally adopted the celebration from those two sources in the 14th century. In 1969, the Vatican proclaimed it to be the “Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, and commemoration of the conferral of the Most Holy Name of Jesus”.
During the Tudor era, the Feast of the Circumcision was considered one of the three great feasts of the twelve days of official Christmastide (the others being the Nativity and Twelfth Night).
During the Middle Ages, this feast day also celebrated subdeacons.
Feast of Fools
Coinciding with the Feast of the Circumcision, possibly as an outgrowth of the day’s side focus on subdeacons and possibly because it seemed strange to celebrate one’s God getting his foreskin cut off (or both), this aspect of the day involved a lot of role reversal, with the subdeacons taking the parts of higher clergy for one.
To preside over the festivities, each Scottish community elected Abbot of Unreason, each English community a Lord of Misrule, and each French community a Prince des Sots (Prince of Fools).
The practice was abolished in France during the 15th century, in England during the 16th century, and in Scotland by the Calvinists.
Handsel Monday
In Scotland, the Monday after Ne’erday is called Handsel Monday, “handsel” being the word in Scots for a gift meant to note the start of something, derived from Old Anglish and Old Norse for “hand-gift”. In origin, the reason for the occasion was comparable to the original reason for Boxing Day in England, being a time for giving tips and small gifts to children, servants, service workers such as postmen, newspaper deliverers, and scavengers.
In rural Scotland, Auld Handsel Monday is traditionally observed the first Monday after 12 January.
Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night (Uphalynicht in Scots) is either the evening preceding 5 January or the evening of 5 January, depending on liturgical or civil reckoning, or in other terms, going by lunar day or civil day.
The evening of 5 January in civil reckoning is the eve or evening of 6 January liturgically. Properly celebrated, as it was undoubtedly in England during the 16th century, Twelfth Night takes place on what most lay people would consider the evening of 4 January, because liturgically that is actually the start of 5 January.
Remember the difference between a lunar day and a solar day. If someone were to incorrectly celebrate Twelfth Night on what to most lay people is the evening of 5 January, they would be doing so on what liturgically is the start of the Epiphany.
Little Christmas, Old Christmas
Little Christmas or Old Christmas is 6 January, which is officially the Feast of the Epiphany.
In the Highlands of Scotland, northern England, and the Isle of Man, Ne’erday is also known as Little Christmas while 6 January is known as Old Christmas, in reference to that being when Christmas falls on the Julian calendar.
In Ireland, Little Christmas (6 January) is also known as Women’s Christmas.
In Scandinavia, Little Christmas refers to Christmas Eve.
Octaves and a Vigil
The remaining days of official Christmastide are celebrated as the Octave of St. Stephen, the Octave of St. John, the Octave of the Holy Innocents, and the Vigil of the Epiphany.
Epiphany
On the Western ecclesiastical calendar, the Epiphany falls on 6 January, as it has since it was adopted from the East. In the Early Middle Ages, the feast, with a focus on the Visitation of the Magi and gift-giving, ranked more in popularity than Christmas, though by the High Middle Ages this reversed.
In the West, the main, and in some places sole, focus of the feast is on the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles in the form of the Magi, or Three Kings (the main reason for the number being the three gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh). Some Eastern churches, particularly the Syriac groups, hold that there were twelves Magi, not three.
In the Eastern Christian traditions, the Nativity, the Visitation of the Magi, the Circumcision, the Presentation in the Temple, and the Baptism of Christ, were all celebrated on the Feast of the Theophany, 6 January on the Gregorian calendar or 19 January on the Julian calendar, which some Eastern Christians still follow. After Constantinople adopted 25 December for the Nativity in the 4th century, the Feast of the Theophany began to focus solely on the Baptism of Christ, with only the Armenian Apostolic Church still celebrating Theophany as originally observed.
In the Scottish Highlands, along with other places around the world, the Epiphany is known as both as the Feast of the Three Kings. In the Scots language, it is called Uphalyday.
In Spain and Spanish-speaking countries, Epiphany rather than Christmas is the time for gift-giving, especially for children. Those countries mainly hold Christmas as the time for family reunion, besides religious observance.
Western churches originally commemorated three events on Epiphany, the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles (i.e. the Magi or Three Kings), the Baptism of Christ, and the Wedding at Cana, where Christ performed his first public miracle according to the Gospel of John.
Eastern churches always held this day, which they call Theophany, higher than Christmas (which they adopted comparatively late, and even then mostly as a concession to the West). Originally, Theophany celebrated the Nativity, the Manifestation to the Gentiles, the Circumcision, the Presentation in the Temple, and the Baptism.
In 1969, Pope Paul VI decreed that celebration of the Feast of the Epiphany may be moved to the Sunday between 2 and 8 January.
In some places, the Feast of the Epiphany is referred to as the “thirteenth day of Christmas”.
As one of the more important Feasts of the calendar, Epiphany has both a Vigil and an Octave.
Uphalynicht, Uphalyday
In Scots, the night before Epiphany (or evening of the day before, rather) is called Uphalynicht, and Epiphany itself is known as Uphalyday. Since the use of this name is most common in Shetland, its most likely source is the Old Norse of the Vikings.
Epiphanytide
In Western traditional churches, official Epiphanytide begins on 6 January, the Feast of the Epiphany, and runs thru the Octave of the Epiphany. The Sunday within the octave was called Sunday Within the Octave of the Epiphany. All of the Sundays after the Octave until the start of Shrovetide were called Sundays After Epiphany.
In 1955, Pope John XXIII obliterated the entire season of Epiphanytide for the Roman Catholic Church when he extended Christmastide to the Sunday after the Epiphany. However, the Encyclopedia of Catholic Devotions and Practices (which has the imprimatur of Bishop John Michael D'Arcy) defines Epiphanytide as lasting from Vespers of Epiphany Eve (liturgically the start of Epiphany) until just before Vespers of Septuagesima Sunday.
Under the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) released in 1994 used by PECUSA (Protestant Episcopal Church in the USA), Lutherans, and other Protestant churches, the season of Epiphany extends from 6 January to Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, with the Sunday before Ash Wednesday designated Transfiguration Sunday.
In 2000, the Church of England authorized use of the Book of Common Worship, which defined Epiphanytide as lasting from the Feast of the Epiphany on 6 January through to include Candlemas on 2 February.
Epiphanytide under the traditional calendar could have as little as one Sunday after Epiphany depending upon how early Easter fell, since Easter falling on 22 March, for example, would put Septuasgesima Sunday (the start of Shrovetide) on 17 January. At the other end, 25 April for example, there would be six Sundays after Epiphany. However, on the calendar the first Sunday after Epiphany is called Sunday Within the Octave, and only the (up to) five succeeding Sundays are called a Sunday After the Epiphany, the First Sunday After the Epiphany actually being the first after the octave.
The ancient Scottish Church continued with white as the liturgical color until Septuagesima, the first Sunday of Shrovetide. In the Use of Lichfield, the color was red. In the Use of Sarum, white was the color through the Octave of the Epiphany and green for the Sundays after that until Septuagesima, as was the case with the Use of Rome.
Opetide
A contraction of Open Tide, the period from Epiphany to Ash Wednesday was the traditional time for marriages in the medieval church.
St. Distaff’s Day
This occasion fell on 7 January. There is no actual “St. Distaff”. A distaff is a device for keeping fibers untangled while hand-spinning them into yarn and onto a spindle. In the Middle Ages, the distaff represented “women’s work”, largely because nearly all women did it, even noblewomen, and traditionally across much of the West, the day after the Epiphany was when women returned to their work.
Plough Monday
Dating back to the 15th century, Plough Monday in England is, generally, the Monday after the Epiphany on 6 January. It marked the resumption of normal, especially, agricultural work by men after the holidays in northern and eastern England. The observation faded in the 19th century but made a comeback in the 20th. A signal feature of the occasion is plough races.
On occasions when St. Distaff Day and Plough Monday coincided, the day was marked with women and men playing pranks on each other.
Return From Egypt
In early medieval times, the Irish Church and its satellites on the island of Great Britain marked the return of the Holy Family to Galilee from Egypt on 11 January.
St. Knut’s Day
Celebrated 13 January, this feast day in honor of Canute Lavard, a prince of Denmark and first Duke of Schleswig, marks the last day of the Christmas season in Sweden, Norway, and Finland, with taking down of decorations, removal of Christmas trees, and celebrations.
St. Canute Lavard, son of King Eric I of Denmark and nephew of his successor St. Canute IV, was canonized shortly after his murder on 7 January by cousin Magnus the Strong, who later became King Magnus I of Sweden by some accounts. In Denmark, they do observe the religious feast day on 7 January, but without the celebration in the rest of Scandinavia.
Feast of the Baptism of Christ
The Feast of the Baptism of Christ was not officially decreed as such by the Roman Church until 1955, when Pope Pius XII abolished the Octave of the Epiphany and substituted the (officially) new Feast of the Baptism on 13 January.
Many other Western churches had already long been commemorating the Feast of the Baptism on the Octave of the Epiphany or at other times, such as the Lutheran bodies and PECUSA. The commemoration by PECUSA of the event on the Third Sunday after the Epiphany since 1928 preceded this by nearly three decades.
In 1969, Paul VI changed its commemoration to the Sunday after the Epiphany. PECUSA has likewise observed the commemoration since its new Book of Common Prayer was introduced in 1979.
Although not officially a feast day under that title, the Gospel in the Sarum Missal for both Sunday Within the Octave (John 1:29-34) and The Octave of the Epiphany (Matthew 3:13-17) was the pericope of Christ’s baptism by John in the Jordan River.
Feast of the Ass
Commemorated in medieval Europe, mainly in France, on 14 January (three days after the Irish Church marked the Return From Egypt), this occasion marked the Flight of the Holy Family into Egypt. It was a mostly popular observance with a lot of cosplay, though official Mass was often celebrated. It died out in the 15th century along with the Feast of Fools.
Commemoration of the Miracle at Cana of Galilee
An observance unique to the Coptic Orthodox Church, this feast celebrates the first public miracle of Christ at the wedding feast in Cana where his disciples drank so much wine, that Mary, Christ’s mother, got embarrassed and convinced her son Jesus to make more. It falls on 21 January on the Gregorian calendar.
In the West, the occasion was commemorated on the 2nd Sunday of the Epiphany.
Candlemas
The Feast of the Purification of St. Mary occurs on 2 February. This comes forty days after the celebration of the Nativity on 25 December, being the amount of time under the Torah after giving birth a woman took before presenting herself to be ritually purified.
The name Candlemas derives from the fact that traditionally all the candles to be used at the church throughout the coming year, a practice that began in the 11th century.
Observation of the festival originated in the East, at a time when the East still observed the Nativity as part of Theophany (Epiphany), taking place forty days after Theophany on 14 February (though originally this feast, too, had been part of Theophany). Its name was Presentation of Christ in the Temple, which has in the past century been adopted as a subtitle or sole name of the feast. After the East recognized 25 December as the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, observance of the Presentation moved to 2 February.
By the High Middle Ages, Christmas celebrations had stretched to this date twenty-eight days beyond the liturgical end of Christmastide, and became even more firmly entrenched in the Late Middle Ages until the triumph of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland and the Puritan ascendancy in England of the 17th century.
In the Use of Sarum, the liturgical color was white (a change from the seasonal green), the same as the seasonal color for the ancient Scottish Church from Christmas until Septuagesima.
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When I did an image search for Christmas Cycle, this is what I got:
