Twelfth Night

Epiphany, the feast day that celebrates the visit of the Magi to the baby Jesus, is on January 6th.

Most authorities, including the Church of England, mark Twelfth Night on January 5th – the day before Epiphany.

If you include Christmas Day as one of the Twelve Days of Christmas – and why wouldn't you? – the twelfth and last day is January 5th.

Wikipedia quotes someone called Bruce Forbes (a methodist minister, born in Michigan in 1948, from his book Christmas: A Candid History, 2007): "In 567 the Council of Tours proclaimed that the entire period between Christmas and Epiphany should be considered part of the celebration, creating what became known as the twelve days of Christmas, or what the English called Christmastide." Later, he writes: "After Christmas and Epiphany were in place, on December 25 and January 6, with the twelve days of Christmas in between ... "

The trouble is that the Revd. Mr. Forbes doesn't seem to have done his math (as he would probably say). There are only eleven days between Christmas Day and Epiphany; if you include those two days as well, that's 13 days.

Even though I was brought up as a Methodist, I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know what the Methodist Church's official line is on this matter. But for me, Christmas begins on Christmas Day, and that means the twelfth day is January 5th. I'm with the Anglicans: Twelfth Night is January 5th, the day (or night) before Epiphany.