I’ve been spending much of December immersed in the holiday traditions of Renaissance England. That’s because I’ve been posting new bits of holiday goodness to the digital advent calendar I sent to all the mailing list subscribers at the beginning of the month. (Still want in? Sign up for the mailing list and I’ll send it to you – you have 3 days to go through everything, but that’ll be fun, right?) I’m going to post the highlights in a post next week as Christmas really begins.
Because that leads me to the first thing I want to talk about. Historically, liturgically, etc etc etc… Christmastide hasn’t started yet! We are in Advent. Christmas doesn’t start until December 25. And it goes until January 6, the celebration of the Epiphany, when the three king’s arrived at Jesus’ manger. All these people who throw out their tree on December 26 drive me insane! We will keep the 12 Days of Christmas in my house now, and forever. That’s all there is to that.
Want some immediate holiday history? Then listen to the episode I did nearly 6 years ago. It’s short. And I’m amazed at how young I sound. Enjoy!