Dei tolv juledagane

Dei tolv juledagane er ein del av kyrkjeåret i dei fleste kristne kyrkjene.[1] I mange vestlege kyrkjer dekkjer omgrepet same tidsrom som julekrinsen, frå juledagen 25. desember til og med heilagetrekongarsaftan 5. januar.[2] For mange kyrkjesamfunn (som den anglikanske og den lutherske kyrkja) er dei tolv dagane identisk med juletida,[3][4] men for andre, som den katolske kyrkja, varer kyrkjetida lengre enn dei tolv dagane.[5]

Julemesse avbilda i Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry frå 1410-talet.

I 567 fastla kyrkjemøtet i Tours dei tolv juledagane som ei heilag høgtid til å feira, med faste i advent som ei plikt for å førebu seg til feiringa.[6][7][8][9][10] Ifølgje historikarar som Christopher Hill og William J. Federer blei dette gjort for å koordinera bruken av den julianske kalenderen i det vestlege Romarriket med dei månebaserte kalendrane ein nytta i dei austlege provinsane av riket.[11][12][13]

Kyrkjemøtet merka seg at dagane mellom fyrste juledag og Kristi openberringsdag alle var festdagar for ulike helgenar, slik at munkar ikkje trengte fasta på desse dagane.[14] Dei fyrste tre dagane av året skulle vera fylt av bøn og soning, slik at truande kristne skulle la vera å ta del i dei ville og heidenske markeringane av nyttårfeiringa. Det fjerde kyrkjemøtet i Toledo i 633 gjekk inn for ein streng faste i desse dagane, lik fastetida før påske.[15][16]

'Tolvte natta (kongen drikk') av David Teniers ca. 1634-1640

I England i mellomalderen var dette ein periode av uavbroten festing, med eit klimaks på den tolvte dagen, Twelfth Night, som tradisjonelt markerte enden på juletida. I tudortida blei denne siste dagen kulturlet befesta då William Shakespeare brukte han som bakgrunn for eit av dei best kjende stykka sine, Twelfth Night. Ofte blei det vald ut ein Lord of Misrule til å leia julefeiringa.[17] Julesongen «Twelve Days of Christmas» viser også til desse dagane.

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  1. Green, Jonathan: Christmas Miscellany, Skyhorse Pub., 2009, s. 116. ISBN 978-1-60239757-6. Henta 28 mars 2015. ”This period of time has come to be known as both Twelve-tide and Christmastide. In Medieval England, it was a time of continuous feasting and merrymaking” 
  2. Hatch, Jane M. (1978). The American Book of Days. Wilson. ISBN 9780824205935. «January 5th: Twelfth Night or Epiphany Eve. Twelfth Night, the last evening of the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas, has been observed with festive celebration ever since the Middle Ages.» 
  3. Bratcher, Dennis (10 October 2014). «The Christmas Season». Christian Resource Institute. Henta 20 December 2014. «The Twelve Days of Christmas ... in most of the Western Church are the twelve days from Christmas until the beginning of Epiphany (January 6th; the 12 days count from December 25th until January 5th). In some traditions, the first day of Christmas begins on the evening of December 25th with the following day considered the First Day of Christmas (December 26th). In these traditions, the twelve days begin December 26[th] and include Epiphany on January 6[th].» 
  4. Truscott, Jeffrey A. (2011). Worship. Armour Publishing. s. 103. ISBN 9789814305419. «As with the Easter cycle, churches today celebrate the Christmas cycle in different ways. Practically all Protestants observe Christmas itself, with services on 25 December or the evening before. Anglicans, Lutherans and other churches that use the ecumenical Revised Common Lectionary will likely observe the four Sundays of Advent, maintaining the ancient emphasis on the eschatological (First Sunday), ascetic (Second and Third Sundays), and scriptural/historical (Fourth Sunday). Besides Christmas Eve/Day, they will observe a 12-day season of Christmas from 25 December to 5 January.» 
  5. Bl. Pope Paul VI, Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year, #33 (14 February 1969)
  6. Fr. Francis X. Weiser. «Feast of the Nativity». Catholic Culture. «The Council of Tours (567) 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. The Council of Braga (563) forbade fasting on Christmas Day.» 
  7. Fox, Adam (19 December 2003). «'Tis the season». The Guardian. Henta 25. desember 2014. «Around the year 400 the feasts of St Stephen, John the Evangelist and the Holy Innocents were added on succeeding days, and in 567 the Council of Tours ratified the enduring 12-day cycle between the nativity and the epiphany.» 
  8. Hynes, Mary Ellen (1993). Companion to the Calendar. Liturgy Training Publications. s. 8. ISBN 9781568540115. «In the year 567 the church council of Tours called the 13 days between December 25 and January 6 a festival season.» 
  9. Martindale, Cyril Charles (1908). «Christmas». The Catholic Encyclopedia. New Advent. Henta 15 December 2014. «The Second Council of Tours (can. xi, xvii) proclaims, in 566 or 567, the sanctity of the "twelve days" from Christmas to Epiphany, and the duty of Advent fast; …and that of Braga (563) forbids fasting on Christmas Day. Popular merry-making, however, so increased that the "Laws of King Cnut", fabricated c. 1110, order a fast from Christmas to Epiphany.» 
  10. Bunson, Matthew (21 October 2007). «Origins of Christmas and Easter holidays». Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). Henta 17 December 2014. «The Council of Tours (567) decreed the 12 days from Christmas to Epiphany to be sacred and especially joyous, thus setting the stage for the celebration of the Lord’s birth...» 
  11. Hill, Christopher (2003). Holidays and Holy Nights: Celebrating Twelve Seasonal Festivals of the Christian Year. Quest Books. s. 91. ISBN 9780835608107. «This arrangement became an administrative problem for the Roman Empire as it tried to coordinate the solar Julian calendar with the lunar calendars of its provinces in the east. While the Romans could roughly match the months in the two systems, the four cardinal points of the solar year--the two equinoxes and solstices--still fell on different dates. By the time of the first century, the calendar date of the winter solstice in Egypt and Palestine was eleven to twelve days later than the date in Rome. As a result the Incarnation came to be celebrated on different days in different parts of the Empire. The Western Church, in its desire to be universal, eventually took them both--one became Christmas, one Epiphany--with a resulting twelve days in between. Over time this hiatus became invested with specific Christian meaning. The Church gradually filled these days with saints, some connected to the birth narratives in Gospels (Holy Innocents' Day, December 28, in honor of the infants slaughtered by Herod; St. John the Evangelist, "the Beloved," December 27; St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, December 26; the Holy Family, December 31; the Virgin Mary, January 1). In 567, the Council of Tours declared the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany to become one unified festal cycle.» 
  12. Federer, William J. (6 January 2014). «On the 12th Day of Christmas». American Minute. Henta 25. desember 2014. «In 567 AD, the Council of Tours ended a dispute. Western Europe celebrated Christmas, December 25, as the holiest day of the season... but Eastern Europe celebrated Epiphany, January 6, recalling the Wise Men's visit and Jesus' baptism. It could not be decided which day was holier, so the Council made all 12 days from December 25 to January 6 "holy days" or "holidays," These became known as "The Twelve Days of Christmas."» 
  13. Kirk Cameron, William Federer (6. november 2014). Praise the Lord. Trinity Broadcasting Network. Hendinga finn stad ved 01:15:14. Arkivert frå originalen 25. desember 2014. Henta 25. desember 2014. «Western Europe celebrated Christmas December 25 as the holiest day. Eastern Europe celebrated January 6 the Epiphany, the visit of the Wise Men, as the holiest day... and so they had this council and they decided to make all twelve days from December 25 to January 6 the Twelve Days of Christmas.» 
  14. Jean Hardouin; Philippe Labbé; Gabriel Cossart (1714). «Christmas». Acta Conciliorum et Epistolae Decretales (på latin). Typographia Regia, Paris. Henta 16. desember 2014. «De Decembri usque ad natale Domini, omni die ieiunent. Et quia inter natale Domini et epiphania omni die festivitates sunt, itemque prandebunt. Excipitur triduum illud, quo ad calcandam gentilium consuetudinem, patres nostri statuerunt privatas in Kalendariis Ianuarii fieri litanias, ut in ecclesiis psallatur, et hora octava in ipsis Kalendis Circumcisionis missa Deo propitio celebretur. (Translation: "In December until Christmas, they are to fast each day. Since between Christmas and Epiphany there are feasts on each day, they shall have a full meal, except during the three-day period on which, in order to tread Gentile customs down, our fathers established that private litanies for the Calends of January be chanted in the churches, and that on the Calends itself Mass of the Circumcision be celebrated at the eighth hour for God's favour.")» 
  15. Christopher Labadie, "The Octave Day of Christmas: Historical Development and Modern Liturgical Practice" i Obsculta, vol. 7, nr. 1, art. 8, s. 89
  16. Adolf Adam, The Liturgical Year (Liturgical Press 1990 ISBN 978-0-81466047-8), s. 139
  17. Frazer, James (1922). The Golden Bough. New York: Macmillan. ISBN 1-58734-083-6.  Bartleby.com