The Twelve Days of Christmas, or Twelve Days of Christmastide, is the festive Christian season celebrating the Nativity of Jesus. In Western Christianity it begins with Christmas Day (25 December) and includes Saint Stephen's Day (26 December), the Feast of Saint John the Apostle (27 December), Childermas (28 December), New Year's Eve or Saint Sylvester's Day (31 December), New Year's Day or the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ (1 January), and the Feast of the Holy Family (date varies). It ends with Twelfth Night or Epiphany Eve (the evening of 5 January).
For Christian denominations such as the Evangelical-Lutheran Churches and Anglican Communion, the Twelve Days are identical to Christmastide (25 December through to 5 January), and this is followed by the season of Epiphanytide, which begins on 6 January. For the Roman Catholic Church, however, Christmastide lasts longer, until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. For some, the Twelve Days are considered 26 December to 6 January, thus including Epiphany.
