By John Auers
We here at Turner, Mason & Company, both individually and collectively, continue to be blessed beyond belief and hope all of you receive similar blessings in the days and months to come. We also wish that you have experienced a refreshing and inspirational holiday season, enjoying time spent with family and friends and away from the daily challenges and worries that are part of both our personal and work lives.
I’m sure that many (if not most) of you are seeing Christmas 2016 in the rear view mirror, perhaps with the tree already on the curb and other decorations headed to the attic. I for one have always regretted how our society has been so quick to put Christmas aside as soon as the clock strikes midnight on the 25th. Although this has been the popular practice for many here in the U.S. for some time, it is not how the Christmas Season is celebrated in other countries and certainly not consistent with the history of how Christ’s birth is commemorated. Perhaps the biggest confusion for many of us in the U.S. is when the “12 Days of Christmas” begins and end. While many (at least the non-liturgical and secular) assume Christmas is the 12th day, it is in fact the first day, with the eve of Epiphany (January 5th) being the 12th day. In today’s blog, we take time away from our weekly industry analysis to remind y’all that we are still in the midst of the Christmas Season by providing some historical perspective on the “12 Days” and a reprint of the section of the Gospel of Matthew which describes the visit of the Magi on which the 12 days is based. We hope this adds to your Holiday celebrations and extend all our Best Wishes to everyone as you enjoy time with family and friends during this Holiday Season.
Historical Perspective
The actual twelve days of Christmas are meant to represent the period between the birth of Christ and the arrival of the Magi from the east to visit the Christ child. As with the actual date for the birth of Christ (likely in the spring and certainly not on December 25), liberties have been taken as the Magi’s journey would probably have required several months. Instead, sometime in the 4th century, January 6, 13 days after Christmas, was chosen as the feast day of Epiphany to celebrate the arrival of the Magi and the revelation of Christ to Gentiles.
The tradition of gift giving during the Christmas Season is also biblically connected to the visit of the Magi. The Gospel states that the Magi brought three gifts (gold, frankincense and myrrh) to the infant Jesus. This led to various forms of gift exchanges, with the timing different depending on specific cultural traditions. Here in the U.S. the gift giving has ultimately evolved into a Christmas Eve or more commonly Christmas morning event. In the U.K. and other Commonwealth countries, the big day to exchange gifts comes on the day after Christmas Day, known as Boxing Day in those cultures. Catholic Hispanic cultures often still reserve Epiphany as the main day for opening presents, while in some communities, 12 days of Christmas gifts are given during the period between Christmas Day and the beginning of Epiphany. It is this last tradition which is memorialized in the classic 18th century English Christmas Carol (which is actually thought to be of French origin). William Shakespeare’s play, the Twelfth Night also refers to the 12 Days tradition, focusing on the “Twelfth Night” or January 5, the day in which final gifts are exchanged, Christmas decorations are taken down, copious amounts of drinking is done and (hopefully) the visit of the Magi is reflected on.
So now that we’ve provided some historical perspective to the celebration of the 12 days, let me reprint the section of the Gospel in which the visit of the Magi is detailed:
The Gospel of Matthew 2: Verses 1-12
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2and asked, “Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”
3When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5”In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6’But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel’.”
7Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you have found him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 12And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
We hope you enjoyed our blog today and that it brings you the inspiration to look for and follow a meaningful star of guidance in your own lives. All of us here at Turner, Mason & Company also issue all of you a Merry 3rd Day of Christmas, and Best Wishes for the remainder of the 12 Days. May you spend some time away from the daily grind during each of the next 9 days (if only for a few minutes) to contemplate the hope and joy that the Christmas Season is intended to bring to all of us, whether practicing, nominal, or even non-Christians. Next week we will get back to our normal analysis and discussion of industry topics, with the first of a three part series on key developments which took place in 2016 and expectations of what can be expected to shape the industry in the coming months and years.