All Things Harvest Christmas Tradition-Twelve Days of Christmas...On the eighth day...

Christmas Tradition–Twelve Days of Christmas…On the eighth day…

HAPPY NEW YEAR! The eighth day of Christmas is New Year’s Day as well as the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God and the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ. The celebration of Mary as the mother of Jesus can be traced back to as early as 431 AD. This day has undergone different names throughout history and was originally known as the Anniversary of the Mother of God. By the 7th century it was known as the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As other feasts to Mary were placed on the calendar, January 1 came to be known as the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ sometime in the 13th century. This would have been the day that the Christ child was circumcised in accordance with Jewish tradition.

In the 18th century a feast honoring Mary as the Mother of God was once again put on the calendar in various churches on the first Sunday of May then moved to October 11 in 1914. Mary’s feast day as Mother of God was returned to its original date of January 1 in the General Roman Calendar as the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God in 1974. However, January 1 is still referred to as the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ on other liturgical calendars. It is also the last day in the Octave of Christmas.

The celebration of New Year’s Day goes back at least to 2000 BC but it was originally celebrated mid-March. The first time it was celebrated on January 1 was in 153 BC in Rome. New Year’s Day was celebrated on various dates thereafter but in 1582 the Gregorian calendar restored it to January 1. New Year’s Day is traditionally seen as a day that marks a clean slate—a day to begin anew. As such it is traditional to make New Year’s resolutions meant to improve one’s life. It is a day that is believed to set the tone for the rest of the year. Traditions include hospitality and gathering with family and loved ones and it is common to hold an open house.

The serving of certain foods that are seen as bringing good luck for the New Year is also another common tradition. Some of these foods include: Grapes representing sweetness and good fortune eaten in twelve or thirteen for each month of the year and one for good luck; greens representing paper money; black-eyed peas or legumes representing coins; cornbread representing gold; pork symbolizing prosperity and progress; fish symbolizing abundance; noodles symbolizing long life; and cakes or foods shaped in a circle symbolizing the year in its fullness.

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love sent to me…