When the secular world starts putting its ‘holiday’ things away, and as shopping malls stop blaring ‘Here Comes Santa Claus’, Catholics should just be getting started! The cleaning and baking during penitential Advent pays off now, and the feasting and carolling begin. The days from the Feast of the Nativity to the Epiphany are known as ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’, with Christmas itself being the first day, and Twelfthnight (5 January) being the last of the twelve days. But Christmas doesn’t end spiritually; i.e. the celebration of the events of Christ’s life as a child doesn’t end, and the great Christmas Cycle doesn’t really end until Candlemas Day on 2 February (Feast of the Purification) and the beginning of the Season of Septuagesima.

[The image above shows the Altar of the Nativity in the grotto beneath the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The fourteen-pointed silver star in the floor beneath the altar marks the place where, according to tradition, Our Lady gave birth to the world's Lord and Saviour. Public domain image.]