from Katherine's wassailing explanation, I imagine drunk carolers showing up at people's door, and the mental image of people at dinner rolling their eyes and muttering 'great, these idiots again' and then having unsteady drunk people sing O Holy Night at their door made me laugh.
Catholic Theology teacher here! So, Christmas is both a celebration of Christ birth, but mostly us remembering that He will come again, hence the reference to His blood. The whole remembering his birth thing is actually a lesser thing to us being reminded that he’s coming again.
Mythology nut, here. So, in the UK region where the mistletoe and holly traditions started, the berries symbolized the blood of the sun King/God who died every year at the solstice to be born again the following year on the spring equinox! (There was a little more to it than that.) I just think it's neat how religious traditions and interpretations folded in on each other as Christianity took over. Christmas, Easter, and (I swear) Ground Hog Day all have some fascinating histories.
theoriginalsache Well, I mean, it was certainly much easier to get "those barbaric, evil pagans" to celebrate the Christian, all-loving, "barabaric, evil god" if they didn't have to change their behavior, their dates, or their anything xD
the 12 days of Christmas is the time it took the 3 kings to get to Jesus. In France, January 7 is King's day and you eat a pastry/cake thing with a mini figurine inside. The person who has the figurine in their piece gets to be king for the day (or at least that is the tradition my french mom did). Also Coptic and Russian orthodox celebrate Christmas on January 6.
LOL 'Waissailed at the Wenceslaus estate.' I'm Episcopalian, and we do celebrate 12 days of Christmas! Any Christians who follow the liturgical calendar celebrate Christmas as a season in the church year, not just a single day. It goes from 25 December to 6 January, aka the Feast of Epiphany (nailed it, Katherine!). It's definitely more of a 'thing we do in our churches' than a 'thing we do out in wider society.'
According to church calendars, Christmas is the twelve days from December 25 through to January 6 (Epiphany). We just have condensed what was more of a weeklong type of thing into a one day thing over the years.
Figgy pudding also known as Christmas pudding is a steamed sponge desert containing currants, raisins, sultanas, citrus peel, glace cherries, brandy or sometimes whisky or sherry, spices (cloves, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg) muscovado sugar, flour and eggs. Traditionally it also contained sixpences and finding one was considered good luck for the coming year. When it is brought to the table it usually has brandy poured over it which is set on fire then you eat it with a sweet white sauce or custard that contains brandy or sometimes whisky or sherry, or sometimes just plain custard or pouring cream.
Hank leave sherry, or wine out for Santa if you're worried about the milk. Santa's definitely an adult, but it's ok to leave milk out at room temperature for around 4-6 hours. (Less if it's very warm.)
Hi! I'm from Hawaii. We get our Xmas trees shipped. We mostly get em from Walmart lmao. P.S: People who live in Hawaii are not Hawaiians, they're Hawaii residents. Hawaiians are a race. (I am both.)
But....you don't have a word for people from the state in general? Like I get that "Hawaiian" is the native race. But like, people from California are Californians, people from Texas are Texans, etc. It seems odd that you don't say Hawaiian to also mean people from the state just generally.
Oh, and I celebrate the 12 Days. They are from Christmas to the day before Epiphany (which is on Jan 6). The night of the 5th is sometimes referred to as "Twelfth Night," which is where the name of that play comes from. ;)
Red and green are also conplimentary colors - they look nice together. And when painting, for example, if you want a dull or dark green, add red instead of black. A dull color is closer to brown than black. Its hard to mix paint, this is just what my art camp instructor told us.
I'm glad to know your Google home also plays up. We get lots of: "Okay Google, what's the weather like outside?" "According to the website polskifoods.net, sauerkraut is fermented cabbage" etc. It's hilarious.
Hank, it's wassail (emphasise the sail), where you go visiting the local lord and he'd lay on some drink and nibbles. The locals would drink his health. The lord would then be sporting and give the locals a few minutes head start before he released the dogs. This all happens on twelfth night (Jan 5th/6th).
yeah the twelve days of christmas start on christmas day. my friend's family always leaves all the decorations and the tree up until after the 12 days, and sometimes they have a "twelfth night" party on the last day (which i think is the 6th). i heard recently that the days leading up to christmas are actually called Advent, and i never realized there was a reason for the name of those calendars lol. and i've seen some people getting "twelve days of ____" things at target this year, like twelve days of themed socks, but they look like advent calendars so everyone was doing them leading up to christmas, and now they're on sale when this is technically the time they're supposed to be done lol
Figgy pudding is the traditional Christmas pudding in the UK (pudding meaning dessert) it contains dates and other dried fruit and lots of brandy. It is also traditionally steamed for several hours to cook it. It is traditional to, when serving, pour brandy over the pudding and light it on fire. I don't why it's an English tradition. Btw not many people actually like it, one person on the family might like it but families will have a Christmas pudding anyway.
So the Christian Church has a liturgical calendar that is used to plan out when Easter and Saint’s feast days are and when to emphasise certain biblical lessons. The Twelve days of Christmas, (aka Christmastide) is one of these calender divisions - like season in the regular calendar. Other ‘liturgical seasons’ that people would be familiar with include Lent before Easter, and Advent which itself is not strictly the first 25 days of December, but is instead 4 Sundays before Christmas. Bonus Fact: The 4th Sunday before Christmas (3rd Dec in 2017) is the start of a new year in the litrugical calendar.
I love when Hank just makes a second vlogbrother's video on this channel; DOUBLE THE FUN. Also, Kathrine is such a funny person. You can her should do a regular podcast together. About why certain months have certain themes and where they came from. And then just answer questions or something when that runs out. ;D
The red from Santa comes from Coco-cola and their campaign to make him wear red. He used to wear green. Refrigerate - 1530s, back-formation from refrigeration, or else from Latin refrigeratus, past participle of refrigerare "make cool or cold." Related: Refrigerated; refrigerating. Earlier words in the same sense of "to make cold, to cool" were infrigiden, infrigidate (both early 15c.)
The red comes from holly berries and is symbolic of the female aspect of the divine in Pagan Wiccan traditions. Similarly, the white mistletoe berries symbolise the male aspects of the divine. Both berries (and the greenery they're attached to) are traditionally used to decorate houses around Yule as part of the Midwinter celebrations. Red had nothing to do with Jesus or Christmas until they co-opted the Wiccan traditions in an effort to tempt Pagans into the fold of Christianity. It's also why Christmas falls around the Pagan festival of Yule (which starts on the Midwinter Solstice as I recall). In a similar vein, the name Easter derives from the Teutonic pagan festival of Oestra/Ostara (at the Vernal Equinoxe). Bonus fact: The feast day for the Roman god Mithras is on 25th December. Coincidence? I think not.
Here in Argentina (where it's summer) we get fake trees and eat cold food because it's really reaaaaaally hot. We've got some traditional christmas food but it's got nothing to do with the usual stuff people from the northern hemisphere eat... I suppose this changes for each country obviously, ours is a mix of salads and other dishes that originated in Italy and Spain. But of course it's really common to just have Asado. We celebrate by getting together to have dinner on the 24th and the presents are opened at 0:00hs, not the morning after! There's usually a pretty big amount of fireworks as well.
I live in Australia. It's hot at Xmas. We have had the one plastic tree for about 30 years. It does have a smell, but it's not the same as a the smell of a pine tree - it's mustier ;) My German aunt did bring in a Xmas tree one year from the garden, but I think it was a small bottle brush......not the same as a pine tree.
Hank, I want you to look up what a Palm tree looks like when you put lights on it, and then enjoy the thought that you had in this video where you think Hawaiians put Lights on Palm trees. XD
The twelves days of Christmas are from Christmas to the Epiphany. The night before the Epiphany also used to be called Twelfth Night, hence the Shakespeare play.
Most liturgical (church) calendars would still celebrate the twelve days. The gift of the blood of Christ for most Christians is always on their mind as they celebrate his death and resurrection at least every week through the eucharist. But the blood is not just about his death but also a reminder that God became flesh and dwelt among us as is said in Johns gospel, the exact meaning would vary depending on the Christology. The gift of Christ in both ways are remembered at Christmas.
You two are just the best people. Where did Katherine get her sweater?? I don’t celebrate Christmas but I’d like one anyway! Merry Christmas to you and your families :)
Wassailing (at least where I live in the West Country in England) is usually done in early January and is singing to and blessing the Apple trees for a good harvest in the year to come. While getting merrily pissed on cider of course. For some reason it seems to involve putting a piece of toast in a tree, but like a lot of folk traditions no-one seems to know why.
Refrigerator is a back-formation from refrigeration, which comes from Latin directly, sorta along the lines of re-cool-bringer! Many words in Romance languages reflect this: European Portuguese and Spanish (among other words) have frigorífico, Catalan is (among other words) frigorífic, Italian is frigorifero, refrigerador/a is also common in Spanish, French has réfrigérateur, and there are others.
Some people actually still do twelve days of Christmas, and it's fun! I'm Catholic, so Christmas is actually the entirety of the Advent season leading up to Christmas (which involves a wreath and candles and daily readings, as well as a second tree called a Jesse Tree / special ornaments for the readings), then Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, which is the first of the Twelve Days of Christmas (which at least in my family also entail special ornaments for each), and then Epiphany (the twelfth day after Christmas, when we celebrate the visit of the Three Wise Men, three Magi-rando astrologer guys, probably from Persia, who were most likely part of a class of intellectual court advisers who were essentially considered wizards at the time, and basically the very distant ancient forerunners of alchemists and then later scientists-who journeyed super far from the East and were all in on Jesus being a future King, presenting him with presents, which is often attributed as the origin of the Christmas gift-giving tradition). So yeah, Christmas for Catholics is absolutely huge, it's a significant chunk of the year. Advent and Lent are basically the two major seasons of the Catholic liturgical year, with chunks of time in between them that are more chill.
You kept setting of my Google! Also, listen to the words to "The Holly and the Ivy." It sorta explains the holly berry/Jesus' blood thing. Basically, it's a reminder of *why* Jesus was born.
I believe that Merry Christmas comes from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and that before the classic, people did say Happy Christmas. But that's just an idea, a *CHRISTMAS IDEA*
HELLO! Resident Catholic Nerdfighter here. There are 12 days of Christmas because the religious season of Christmas that Catholics and some other Christian denominations celebrate is 12 days long. It begins with Christmas day and lasts 12 days, ending with The Epiphany (like Katherine said) which was when the three wise men arrived and presented gifts to the baby Jesus.
I am an American living in Macedonia. I have been confused by Macedonian only having ONE word for happy and lucky. This explains the combination a bit!
Christmas was originally pagan and was then Christianafied (that's a word now), so red and green probably stems from that. I know Christmas trees stem from it. But I don't know the details of the original pagan practices... I've made myself curious now.
In Sweden we take down the christmas decorations on Trettondan ("Thirteen-day") which is thirteen days after christmas, so I guess there are twelve days (of christmas?) before that.
You can drink spoiled milk. Since it is pasteurized there are no harmful bacteria. Spoiled milk tastes almost as bad as it smells, but is totally safe to drink.
Re: 12 Days of Christmas - This is a leftover from the Christian appropriation of pagan Yule traditions (particularly Heathen/Scandinavian and Germanic, possibly others as well) to ease the transition of the natives from polytheism to monotheism. The (approximately) 12 days of Yule surrounded the winter solstice and could take place anywhere from the end of what is now November to the middle of January, depending on the regions and the people. My family now celebrates the 12 days of Yule from approximately December 21st to January 1st, depending on the date of the solstice that year. As for the red and green thing, it may be another pagan holdover from the British isles (I think) and the people who told stories about the great battles between the Holly King and the Oak King around this time of year. **Note: I am NOT an expert and speak only from my own experience, research and personal family traditions.
I live in Perth Australia and there are live pine trees that some people buy but because its usually around 34-40 degrees most of them die pretty fast and also alot of spiders come with them ( the one experience that I had with a live tree). Typically most Aussie families buy a fake tree from Target, Kmart or Myers ( Myers if you want to get a fancy one). But food alot of Australians still do the roast turkey and veg or go all out with the prawns and crayfish of course the booze just flows so everyone is kinda drunk.
Well there's not a town, but there is Christmas Island, where I suspect there is a small amount, but only very small, of Christmas celebration. The majority of the population is non-Christian with most being of Asian descent.
Y'all triggered my phone's Google search from talking in the video. Also the pickle is some German tradition, some people get one for newlyweds for their first tree. On St Stephens we go murdering (thanks Costello) and the twelve days song (as I recall) was a way for Catholics to surreptitiously pass on doctrine in Protestant areas that might be hostile to Catholics. Each item supposedly represents a factor of doctrine, though they aren't all uniquely Catholic. Also, yay for that Muppets reference! And Merry Happy Season, whatever your persuasion may be!
The season of Christmas is from December 25 to Epiphany (January 6). In the Christian Church that is the season of Christmas. Thus there are 12 days of Christmas. Also, my dad wants to know how you guys don't know about Epiphany.
