When do The Twelve Days of Christmas begin?

According to one Web site, “The Twelve Days of Christmas is probably the most misunderstood part of the church year among Christians who are not part of liturgical church traditions. Contrary to much popular belief, these are not the twelve days before Christmas, but in most of the Western Church are the twelve days from Christmas until the beginning of Epiphany (January 6th; the 12 days count from December 25th until January 5th).”
Thus, “The Twelve Days of Christmas are the festive days beginning Christmas Day (25 December). This period is also known as Christmastide. The Twelfth Day of Christmas is 5 January, with the celebrations of Christmas traditionally ending on Twelfth Night and is followed by the Feast of the Epiphany on 6 January.”
Wikipedia states: “As in olden days, Twelfth Night to Epiphany morning is then the traditional time to take down the Christmas tree and decorations.”
And for those who don’t know or have forgotten, “Epiphany is a Christian festival, observed on January 6, commemorating the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles in the persons of the Magi or wise men. In the Western church, Epiphany is usually celebrated as the time the Wise Men or Magi arrived to present gifts to the young Jesus (Matt. 2:1-12). Traditionally there were three Magi, probably from the fact of three gifts, even though the biblical narrative never says how many Magi came. In some cultures, especially Hispanic and Latin American culture, January 6th is observed as Three Kings Day, or simply the Day of the Kings (Span: la Fiesta de Reyes, el Dia de los Tres Reyes, or el Dia de los Reyes Magos; Dutch: Driekoningendag). Even though December 25th is celebrated as Christmas in these cultures, January 6th is often the day for giving gifts. In some places it is traditional to give Christmas gifts for each of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Since Eastern Orthodox traditions use a different religious calendar, they celebrate Christmas on January 7th and observe Epiphany or Theophany on January 19th.”
So now you know when the twelve days of Christmas are, and when to take down your Christmas decorations and why! And also why some give Gifts on Jan 6th and why others don’t Celebrate Christmas until January 7th. So with that, I will close here by wishing you and yours, a very Merry Christmas, no matter where, when or how you celebrate it.

Ichthus again.

I have talked about this Christian symbol of a fish before but thought it worth looking at again here On Christmas Day.
Although the fish symbol has been used in other cultures before the Christian Community at large adopted it, most of those cultures had had no contact with one another, and it thus these generally "homegrown" meanings, meant different things to the people of these different cultures.
For the Christians, they believe that the link between their religion and the fish symbol is seen in the Greek word for fish (ictus, spelled: Iota Chi Theta Upsilon Sigma). Thus making it an acrostic for "Jesus Christ, of God, the Son, the Savior" [Iesous (Jesus) CHristos (Christ) THeo (of God) Uiou (the Son) Soter (the Savior)].
An acrostic is an "arrangement of words in which the first letter of each line ordinarily combines with others to form a word or words or the alphabet." Put this way, it would read:
Iesous (Jesus)
CHristos (Christ)
THeou (God)
Uiou (Son)
Soter (Savior)
Adding to its common and wide acceptance, the symbol was simple to draw and was often used among Christians as a type of password during times of persecution by the Roman government. If two strangers met and were unsure whether each other was a Christian, one would draw an arc in the earth like: ). If the other were a Christian, they would complete the symbol with a reverse arc: (), forming the outline of a fish.
Thus that is how the fish symbol both came into being and its original usage as a secret sign of Belonging to Christ. However it is now no longer a secret sign and is openly displayed everywhere from letterheads, to Fridge Magnets and stickers for your car.
So now you know both what Icthus and the fish symbol means, what does it mean to you especially now at Christmas? Does it point you to Jesus Christ as God’s son and your Saviour? Or is it just another pretty symbol to you with absolutely no other significance? Just like the Christmas tree and all its baubles – pretty to look at but pretty useless too. Over to you now for true reflection on Jesus and all He’ is as Jesus the Christ and God’s own Son and Saviour.