Celebrating The 12 Days of Christmas: A Guide for Churches and Families
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.
“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
“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
Product Details
- Title : Celebrating The 12 Days of Christmas: A Guide for Churches and Families
- Authors:
- Marchand, Chris
- Clark, Blair E.
- Publisher: Wipf and Stock
- Publication Date: 2019
- ISBN: 9781532655357
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.