Découvrez le nouveau livre événement "Les Aventures de Ronald Tintin, LE JOURNAL INTIME DE SUBLIMA " de l’écrivain, du professeur et du marathonien Ronald
Happy New
Year 2020!!! From Ronald Tintin, Le Journal Intime de Sublima, Super Professeur
and Ronning Against Cancer
The 12 Days of Christmas start on Christmas Day and
last until the evening of the 5th January - also known as Twelfth Night. The
12 Days have been celebrated in Europe since before the middle ages and were a
time of celebration. The 12 Days
each traditionally celebrate a feast day for a saint and/or have different
celebrations:
Day 1 (25th December):Christmas Day- celebratingthe Birth of Jesus
MERRY CHRISTMAS 2019 TO YOU and A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2020 !!! From Ronald Tintin, Super Professeur
and Ronning Against Cancer
The 12 Days of Christmas are now most famous asa song about someone
receiving lots of presents from their 'true love'. However, to get to the
song there had to be the days to start with! The 12 Days of Christmas start on Christmas Day and
last until the evening of the 5th January - also known as Twelfth Night. The
12 Days have been celebrated in Europe since before the middle ages and were a
time of celebration. The 12 Days each
traditionally celebrate a feast day for a saint and/or have different
celebrations:
Day 2 (26th December also known asBoxing Day): St Stephen’s Day. He was the first Christian martyr
(someone who dies for their faith). It's also the day when the Christmas Carol 'Good King Wenceslas' takes place.
Boxing Day takes place on December
26th and is only celebrated in a few countries; mainly ones historically
connected to the UK (such as Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand)
and in many European countries. In Germany it is known as "Zweite Feiertag”
(which means 'second celebration') and also “Zweiter Weihnachtsfeiertag” which
translates as Boxing Day (although it doesn’t literally mean that)!
It was started in the UK about 800 years ago, during the Middle Ages. It
was the day when the alms box, collection boxes for the poor often kept in
churches, were traditionally opened so that the contents could be distributed
to poor people. Some churches still open these boxes on Boxing Day.
It might have been the Romans that first brought this type of collecting
box to the UK, but they used them to collect money for the betting games which
they played during their winter celebrations!
InHolland, some
collection boxes were made out of a rough pottery called 'earthenware' and were
shaped like pigs. Perhaps this is where we get the term 'Piggy Bank'!
It was also traditional that servants got the day off to celebrate
Christmas with their families on Boxing Day. Before World War II, it was common
for working people (such as milkmen and butchers) to travel round their
delivery places and collect their Christmas box or tip. This tradition has now
mostly stopped and any Christmas tips, given to people such as postal workers
and newspaper delivery children, are not normally given or collected on Boxing
Day.
Boxing Day has now
become another public holiday in countries such as theUK,Canada,AustraliaandNew
Zealand. It is also the traditional day thatPantomimesstarted to play.
There are also often
sports played on Boxing Day in the UK, especially horse racing and football
matches!
It's also when shops traditionally had big sales after Christmas in the UK
(like Black Friday in the USA).
The 26th December is
also St. Stephen's Day. Just to confuse things, there are two St. Stephens
in history! The first St. Stephen is believed to have been a very early
follower of Jesus and he is said to have been the first Christian Martyr (a
person who dies for their religious beliefs). The Bible says that Stephen (who
was a Jew) was stoned to death by some other Jews (who didn't believe in
Jesus).
The second St. Stephen was a Missionary, in Sweden, in the 800s. He
loved all animals but particularly horses (perhaps why there is traditionally
horse racing on boxing day). He was also a martyr and was killed by pagans in
Sweden. InGermanythere was a tradition that horses
would be ridden around the inside of the church during the St. Stephen's Day
service!
St. Stephen's Day (or 'the feast of Stephen') is when the Carol 'Good King Wenceslas' is set. It's about helping the
poor - so it has a strong connection to Boxing Day.
