Hodie!

Hodie -— it's a Latin word that can be translated as "this day" or "today". I title my entry "Hodie" because this day (December 26) has a double significance in the historic calendar of the Western Church.

Today is the 2nd day of Christmas. You all know the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas". I wonder how many people who sing that song know just which days on the calendar are those twelve days? Some people mistakenly think it's the twelve days before Christmas. Sounds plausible, but actually the song refers to the twelve days of the Christmas season leading up to (but not including) the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6. So that means the first day of Christmas is December 25; the second day is December 26; the third day is December 28; etc., leading up to the twelfth day on Januay 5. Historically there has been a big celebration on Twelfth Night, celebrating the end of the Christmas season. In fact, William Shakespeare wrote a comedic play titled Twelfth Night.

Having said all that... Since today is the second day of Christmas, your true love should be giving you two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree! If your true love hasn't given you either of these presents, be sure to tell him or her to go out shopping. I'm not exactly sure where you can buy some turtle doves, but I expect that if you do a Google Search in your area you can find some! :-)

Today is also St. Stephen's Day, or the Feast of Stephen. It is the day when we commemorate Stephen who is considered the first martyr of the Christian Church. You can read his story in the New Testament book of Acts chapters 6-7. If you don't have a Bible handy, you can find online Bibles at Oremus and BibleGateway.

Speaking of St. Stephen, it's kind of ironic that one of the popular "Christmas" songs is not about Christmas, but actually about St. Stephen's Day:

Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay 'round about,
Deep, and crisp, and even;
Brightly shone the moon that night,
Though the frost was cruel,
When a poor man can in sight,
Gathering winter fuel.

Although not an official day on the Church calendar, this day is also known as "Boxing Day" in countries of British persuasion. Nothing to do with the sport of boxing, the day after Christmas is a time for boxing up goodies and left-overs from Christmas celebrations so that they might be given to the poor and needy.

And lest I forget what fuels the economy in capitalist countries like our own, the day after Christmas is also one of the most important shopping days of the year, along with the day after Thanksgiving and the Saturday before Christmas.

So on this day, there is much to celebrate and remember. Hodie!