Celebrating The 12 Days of Christmas - by Chris Marchand (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The song ""The 12 Days of Christmas"" is a mainstay of the holiday season, but the practice of celebrating Christmas as a twelve-day festival fell out of fashion long ago in most cultures. In Celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas, author Chris Marchand explores the history behind the season and individual feast days from December 25 to January 6, and then offers suggestions for how you can celebrate it with your family, church, or community. Along with this, he provides answers to many of the nagging questions surrounding the holiday, such as the history behind the twelve-days song, why December 25 was chosen as the date, and what to do about its supposedly pagan origins. The challenge before us is to first help people see Christmas as a holiday that begins, rather than ends, on December 25, and then to together figure out how to reinvent Christmas in the present by learning how it was celebrated in the past.

Review Quotes

"Chris Marchand's Celebrating The 12 Days of Christmas is both inviting, challenging, and necessary. He helps us think critically about our Christmas traditions, offers gentle correction to some of our misconceptions, and proposes both new and old ways in which families and congregations might more fully celebrate the season."
--E. Byron Anderson, Styberg Professor of Worship, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

"This comprehensive volume offers believing readers, families, and congregations worship-filled ways to approach with intention and joy the entire Christmas season, from the first Sunday of Advent through the twelfth day of Christmas. In addition to thoughtful, practical ideas for how to discover the riches of the liturgical season of Christmas, it offers warm, accessible explanations of the season's history, traditions, and expression in contemporary culture. Highly recommended!"
--Michelle Van Loon, author of Moments and Days: How Our Holy Celebrations Shape Our Faith

About the Author

Chris Marchand is an ordained Anglican minister and pastor of worship and music at Epiphany Church in Peoria, Illinois. He publishes the blog and podcast PostConsumer Reports.