Easter was the big holiday in the early church. For hundreds of years, Christians didn't even agree on the date of Jesus' birth. The decision for December 25 may have been a way of appropriating the popular Roman celebration tied to the winter Soltice. Initially and periodically later, some Christians tried to institute the practice of Christmas being a fast day. As we can imagine, other Christians wanted to continue the practice of feast. By the Middle Ages, Christians had designated the birth of the saint Nicholas, January 6, as the date to celebrate Epiphany.
December 25 to January 6 = 12 days.
December 25: Christmas Day
December 26: Feast of St. Stephen
December 27: Feast of St. John
December 28: Commemoration of the Holy Innocents
January 1: Feast of the Holy Name
The source I used for this post is Living the Christian Year by Bobby Gross. Get the book and read it.
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