Old Christmas Day

 Anne here. Cara/Andrea's post brought us to the end of our Christmastide daily posting and, like many people, we're taking down our decorations (and reindog horns)  and going back to our regular schedule. However I just want to slip in one last little sliver of Christmas, because in some traditions the 6th January is the last day of Christmas.

In fact in some parts of the UK, the 6th January is still occasionally called "Old Christmas Day" because for many years it was the day celebrated as Christmas Day.

Christmas Day on 6th January? Why?  

As with many things, it all started with the Romans. Before the rule of Julius Caesar, calendars were based on the cycles of the moon. Julius Caesar and his astronomers introduced a new, more accurate system based on the sun, and introduced the leap year.  (Caesar also named a month after himself - July. Later Augustus did the same thing. Claudius and Nero also tried to have months named after them and while they succeeded for a short time, their months didn't last.)

However the astronomers' calculations were slightly out and they overestimated the length of the year by eleven minutes and sixteen seconds. Over time this built up and by the sixteenth century, the calendar was out by ten days, so in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII deleted the extra days and reformed the calendar. Catholic countries throughout Europe adopted the Gregorian Calendar.

 Not, however, Protestant countries, who stuck to the old system rather than follow the edict of a Pope. Finally in 1751 England bowed to common sense and passed the Calendar Act. In order to bring England into line with the rest of Europe, the government simply deleted eleven days in September, and thus the dates went 1st, 2nd, 14th, 15th, etc.  

As you can imagine, it was highly controversial, and in some parts of the country people rioted, demanding they have their stolen eleven days returned.

Thus, before this reformation, Christmas Day was celebrated on the equivalent of the Gregorian 6th January, and some, considering it a God-given holy day, and not to be messed about with by foreign popes and governments, continued to celebrate it on the 6th January.

Orthodox Epiphany   

For those in the Eastern Orthodox church, the 6th January, the Feast of Epiphany, when the three wise men are said to have found the newborn Jesus, is a more important date than Christmas. (I couldn't resist including this vintage Australian Christmas stamp on the right.)

 In many countries on this day there is a ceremony in which a cross is thrown into the water and the young men dive for it. It's hugely popular in Melbourne, where I live, where it's usually hot, but I recall a snowy winter in the mountains of northern Greece many years ago where they had to break ice in the local river. Brrrr. Luckily it wasn't deep. Guess which of these pictures was taken in Australia and which in Bulgaria.

 For some of us the holidays are just getting started, but for many others it's back to work. What are you up to at the moment? And how was your Christmas?

Comments

[anne gracie]

And I forgot to say, to my friend Jenny in London, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

[Keira Soleore]

Anne, what a fun conincidence. I blogged about a facetious Twelve Days of a Romance Lover's Christmas poem to coincide with the Vigial of Epiphany. I find it so curious that the main holy days of Christianity is a hotly debated topic across the various practising factions. It's the only religion where there are such fundamental differences.

[Linda Banche]

I love all this stuff about time and calendars. When I read a book and the author says the moon was full, I wonder if it really was. It's easy enough to find out. Here's a link:
http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/

and here are the moon phases:
http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/moonphases.html

[Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose]

What a fun post Anne! Ilove learning the history behind customs, etc.

I have a friend from the Philippines who always finds our custom of giving gifts on Christmas Day strange. In countries with a Spanish heritage, gifts are given on Jan 6, or "Three King's Day" when the gifts from the three kings were given to the baby Jesus.

[maryjoputney]

LOL about people rioting to get their lost 11 days back! I knew about that calendar change, but hadn't realized it was quite such a controversial issue.

Mary Jo, who had better check out Linda's time/date link...

[theo]

Merry twelfth day of Christmas, Anne. :) I am behind this year on my 12 day gifts. I need to finish them and get them out. But our Christmas was quiet and that was nice.

Hope you had a wonderful holiday too.

(and I'm glad we didn't get stuck with Neroary and Claudioary) :-P

[Catherine Mann]

Wow! Fascinating blog!! Am sharing this one with my family...

[Nick Matyas]

Its really nice post....
I was searching this kind of posting .....
I just liked it....
Thanks....

webroyalty

[Anne Gracie]

Keira, yes, it's fascinating how the Christian groups divide and argue constantly and can't even agree on dates and celebrations, but I suspect all religions have groups who differ in interpretations of religious law. Muslims do, too, I believe, though not as many as Christians do. The Christian splintering into groups came after the original Protestant breakaway, and once the Pope's authority could be flouted, well, anything was possible...

Linda, thanks for the moon calendar. I used it for a few books, then lost the link when the old computer died. But these days I think if I need the moon to be full for the story, then it will be full. ;)

[Anne Gracie]

Cara/Andrea, I love the way Christmas traditions have a different take in each country. It probably comes from the way the original priests who brought Christianity to them grafted Christian events onto old pagan cultural events and incorporated the local culture into the new religion.

I remember when i was a kid how shocked my mother was that Christmas Day wasn't that big a deal in Scotland. Hogmanay (New Years Eve) now, that was something worrrrth celebrating.
And the playing down of Christmas wasn't because they weren't religious -- it's that the Scots Protestant church leaders knew full well the date had been grafted on a pagan festival and were not encouraging such heathen notions. I presume Hogmanay being a heathen festival had already escaped from their control.
I don't think my mother ever got over the fact that shops were open through Easter, either.

[Anne Gracie]

Mary Jo, no doubt those riots were led by Virgos robbed of their birthdays. ;)

Theo, I find the whole calendar thing fascinating. In Roman times before the Julian calendar, the year started in March (Spring), so, March being the first month, months named after numbers like September (7), October (8) November (9) and December (10) make sense.
Claudius pinched May for his month, and you were never in danger of Naroary - LOL - it was Nerolius and it was April.

[Anne Gracie]

Theo, I meant to say, I've never known anyone who gives 12th day gifts -- unless they're late with Christmas gifts.

Catherine, and Nick, thanks for dropping by.

[Sherrie Holmes]

Happy birthday, Jenny in London! I don't know you, but birthdays are special and should always be celebrated in style!

Anne, you asked what we were doing right now. Well, I'm making plans for the coming year, as far as projects around the house. I want to install wainscotting in the hallway and finish detail/trim work throughout the house. Stuff I've let slide for years and grown used to seeing unfinished. 2010 will be a year of Finishing. Finishing carpentry projects, finishing manuscripts, finishing artistic endeavors.

I think 2010 is going to be an utterly fabulous year, with many happy surprises for Americans as a nation, and the world as a whole. Get ready.

[Eleni Konstantine]

Hi Anne,

Yes, the 6th is 'to photou' (light) and many of the Orthodox Churches do celebrate Xmas on that day. However, the Greek Orthodox Church decided to celebrate it on Dec 25th (& has for some time now). However, our Easter is still different.
Go figure.

LOL about the stolen days. Hey I wouldn't want to loose them in either ;)

Happy New Year!!
E x

[Anne Gracie]

Sherrie, your positive energy that we wenches were talking about in our comments on your blog shines through here. Sounds like a good year for tackling those unfinished projects.

Eleni, Hronia Pola to you (I can pronounce it, dunno how to spell it, LOL) I didn't know some Orthodox churches have a different Christmas day. I know the Greeks have the 25th -- I remember a snowy Christmas Day in Greece many years ago where we were dragged out of bed to go to church at something like 4 am. I'll never forget tramping along in the freezing dark, hearing the snow squeak beneath our boots and seeing a line of lights bobbing along ahead of us. Magic.

[theo]

Anne, lol! Naroary?

And not late, but I do handwork through the year and work at my own pace. Just seems like 12 days works out better for me with those things. I can set them aside through the rush and hubbub of Christmas and send them at my leisure after.

It's just easier. :)

[Patricia Rice]

I'm ready to lose eleven days of this winter!
And your post reminds me that I keep meaning to look up the people in Parliament in 1751. They seem to have been a progressive lot since that's also the era of the Marriage Act that threw out a lot of medieval idiocy. But I've not yet had a good excuse other than curiosity to do so.