The Twelve Days of Christmas 2023

The Twelve Days of Christmas 2023 starts on Monday, December 25, 2023 (in 94 days) and ends on Friday, January 5th 2024 (in 105 days).  Calendar for 2023

The Twelve Days of Christmas, also called Christmastide ("Christmas time") and sometimes referred to as Twelvetide, is another name for the festive Christmas season celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. It is a period of celebration, feasting and Saints' Days. It starts on Christmas Day, December 25, and ends on January 5 of the following year, known as Twelfth Night or Epiphany Eve.

It is a common misconception that the Twelve Days of Christmas are the twelve days before Christmas, coinciding with Advent and culminating in Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, however this is incorrect! In fact the Twelve Days of Christmas start on Christmas Day, considered the "First Day of Christmas".

They encompass a number of important religious and secular celebrations, including Christmas Day on December 25, St. Stephen's Day/Boxing Day on December 26 (also called "Second Christmas Day" or "Second Day of Christmas" in some countries), Childermas (or the Feast of the Holy Innocents) on December 28, New Year's Eve on December 31, New Year's Day on January 1, and Twelfth Night/Epiphany Eve on the evening of January 5. However, Christmas Eve on December 24 and Epiphany on January 6 are not part of the Twelve Days of Christmas.

While for most Western Christian churches the Twelve Days of Christmas fall on the dates listed on this page, for some denominations they start only on December 26 and last until January 6 of the following year.

"The Twelve Days of Christmas" is also the title of a popular English song, describing a series of gifts given on each of the twelve days of the Christmas season. The song starts as follows:

      On the First day of Christmas my true love sent to me
      a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

      On the Second day of Christmas my true love sent to me
      Two Turtle Doves
      and a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

and continues like this for every of the twelve days, adding a new gift in every verse and repeating and accumulating the already received gifts.

Further reading:

• Twelve Days of Christmas on Wikipedia
• The Twelve Days of Christmas (song) on Wikipedia

The Twelve Days of Christmas 2024 starts on Wednesday, December 25, 2024 (in 460 days) and ends on Sunday, January 5th 2025 (in 471 days).  Calendar for 2024

Dates of The Twelve Days of Christmas 2023 and surrounding years as downloadable image file