12 Ideas for Celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas (2024)

FAQs

What are you supposed to do on the 12 days of Christmas? ›

Christians who celebrate the Twelve Days may give gifts on each of them, with each of the Twelve Days representing a wish for a corresponding month of the new year. They may feast on traditional foods and otherwise celebrate the entire time through the morning of the Solemnity of Epiphany.

Some families choose to mark the 12-day period by observing the feast days of various saints (including St. Stephen on December 26) and planning daily Christmas-related activities, but for many, things go back to business as usual after December 25.

The "12 Days of Christmas" in the carol reference the 12 days following Christmas, also known as Twelvetide in Christianity. The period begins with the birth of Christ on December 25th and ends with the coming of the Three Wise Men on January 6th, also known as the Epiphany or Three Kings Day.

Kick off your campaign with a Christmas greeting. This is a good opportunity to get creative — perhaps with an animation, illustration or video message from your team. Remember, there'll be lots of similar Christmas messages going out on this day, so make yours stand out with eye-catching visuals. Ask a question.

For the 12 days of Christmas at work, consider a different festive activity each day. This can include themed dress-up days, a Secret Santa gift exchange, a holiday trivia quiz, crafting sessions, caroling, a charity drive, and culminate in a big holiday party or luncheon on the final day.

One idea is that the 12 days represent the time it takes for Christmas to fall on the same day each year, as well as the time it takes for Jesus to be born. Another theory is that the 12 gifts are meant to represent Jesus and his 12 apostles.

the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five gold rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

Twelvetide officially begins on Christmas Day, 25th December, and finishes on 5th January, known as the Twelfth night, when Christmas decorations and Christmas trees are traditionally taken down. During these 12 days, there are celebrations both secular and religious.

What does 8 Maids of milking mean? ›

It's a shortened form of maiden, a young, unmarried woman. This combination of milking and maid lends itself to the idea that a gift of eight maids-a-milking might have more to do with romance than with cows. During this time period the term go a-milking did have strong romantic connotations.

Your true love has given you a whopping number of 364 gifts over the 12 Days of Christmas. That's almost one gift a day for a whole year! It's only one gift short (2 during a leap year), but with that many gifts, including 42 geese a-swimming, 36 ladies dancing and 12 drummers drumming, who's counting?

In each round, players gift a card to the player on their left; play a card from their hand; try to win the round with the lowest valued card; and draw a new card to refill their hand. After twelve rounds, players score points for each Holiday card they've collected.

364 gifts (each day repeats the gifts of the previous day, so you end up with 12 partridges in pear trees, 22 turtledoves, 30 french hens, 36 calling birds, 40 gold rings, 42 geese-a-laying, 42 swans-a-swimming, 40 maids-a-milking, 36 ladies dancing, 30 lords-a-leaping, 22 pipers piping, and 12 drummers drumming.

There is also a popular belief that it is unlucky to leave Christmas decorations hanging after Twelfth Night, though some may leave them up until Candlemas. Other popular Twelfth Night customs include singing Christmas carols, having one's house blessed, merrymaking, as well as attending church services.

Replacing 'n' with the number 12 in this formula (we call this 'substitution'), the twelfth tetrahedral number – and the answer to our puzzle – is T(12) = (1/6)(12)(13)(14) = 364, or one gift for every day of the year except for Christmas Day itself!

Your true love has given you a whopping number of 364 gifts over the 12 Days of Christmas. That's almost one gift a day for a whole year! It's only one gift short (2 during a leap year), but with that many gifts, including 42 geese a-swimming, 36 ladies dancing and 12 drummers drumming, who's counting?