12 Days of Christmas

[FireDragon76]

Do Orthodox have the equivalent of the "12 days of Christmas", or the liturgical season of Christmastide?

It has been a long time and honestly the Nativity was one of those times of year when I could not often make it to church, so it's the part of the Orthodox church I am least familiar with. Great Lent and Pascha were what I focused on.

 

[ArmyMatt]

yep, the 12 days from Nativity to Theophany is the Christmas season.

 

[Dewi Sant]

On a lighter note
How Many Days is Orthodox Christmas? — Roads from Emmaus

 

[FireDragon76]

I was not aware that Copts had another calendar other than the Julian.

 

[ikonographics]

In the Orthodox Church we have a festal period of the 12 Days, but they are not the 12 Days of Christmas. The Feast of Christmas ends after 7 days. Today, in fact is the Leavetaking of Christmas. Tomorrow is the Feast of the Circumcision followed by the Forefeast and Feast of Theophany on 6 January. In the West Christmas is celebrated for 12 days because 6 Jan is the feast of the Magi. We, however celebrate the coming of the Magi on Christmas day. On 6 January we celebrate Theophany, the Baptism of the Lord which happened 30 years after he was born, so it has nothing to do with Christmas and is a much more important feast in Orthodoxy than it is in western Christianity. We could call the period the 12 Days of Epiphany. In the Ancient Church before there was an official celebration of the Nativity the Lord's coming/ self revelation (Epiphany) was celebrated on 6 January which at that time sort of combined the Nativity and Theophany.