Christmastide is a season of the liturgical year borscht meaning most Christian churches. In some, Christmastide is identical to Twelvetide. Customs of the Christmas season include carol singing, gift giving, attending Nativity plays, and church services, and eating special food, such as Christmas cake.
Christmastide, commonly called the Twelve Days of Christmas, lasts 12 days, from 25 December to 5 January, the latter date being named as Twelfth Night. However, the ending is defined differently by other Christian denominations. In 1969, the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church expanded Christmastide by a variable number of days: “Christmas Time runs from up to and including the Sunday after Epiphany or after 6 January. In 567, the Council of Tours “proclaimed the twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany as a sacred and festive season, and established the duty of Advent fasting in preparation for the feast. In medieval era Christendom, Christmastide “lasted from the Nativity to the Purification.
During the Christmas season, various festivities are traditionally enjoyed and buildings are adorned with Christmas decorations, which are often set up during Advent. Every Christian home should have its own little crib round which, on these days, morning and evening prayers should be said. In several parts of the world, it is common to have a large family feast on Christmas Day, preceded by saying grace. India, a version known as Allahabadi cake is popular. In the Russia Orthodox Church, Christmastide is referred to as “Svyatki”, meaning “Holy Days”.
Activities during this period include attending church services, singing Christmas carols and spiritual hymns, visiting relatives and friends, and performing works of mercy, such as visiting the sick, the elderly people, orphans, and giving generous alms. A 1931 edition of the Soviet magazine Bezbozhnik, published by the League of Militant Atheists, depicting an Orthodox Christian priest being forbidden to take home a tree for the celebration of Christmastide, which was banned under the Marxist-Leninist doctrine of state atheism. Under the state atheism of the Soviet Union, after its foundation in 1917, Christmas celebrations—along with other Christian holidays—were prohibited. It was not until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 that the prohibition ended and Christmas was celebrated for the first time in Russia after seven decades. Russia had adopted the custom of celebrating New Year’s Day instead. European History Professor Joseph Perry wrote that in Nazi Germany, “because Nazi ideologues saw organized religion as an enemy of the totalitarian state, propagandists sought to deemphasize—or eliminate altogether—the Christian aspects of the holiday” and that “Propagandists tirelessly promoted numerous Nazified Christmas songs, which replaced Christian themes with the regime’s racial ideologies. The government of the People’s Republic of China officially espouses state atheism, and has conducted antireligious campaigns to this end.
The liturgical color for Christmas is white, which reminds us that Jesus is the Light of the world. Christmas eve: Begins at sunset December 24 and is part of Christmas, since the days of the Christian year traditionally begin at sunset the previous day. Day and continues through the Day of Epiphany. The name Christmas comes from the season’s first service, the Christ Mass. Epiphany comes from the Greek word epiphania, which means “manifestation. New Year’s Eve or Day is often celebrated in the United Methodist tradition with a Covenant Renewal Service.