The Forty-Day Christmas Season and Feasts

In the Holy Catholic Church, following the Season of Advent (the Season of preparation preceding the celebrations of Christmas), the Christmas Season begins on Christmas Day and ends after the Feast of Epiphany (liturgically) or on Candlemas Day (traditionally). In the secular sphere, the Christmas season begins in the United States the day after Thanksgiving and ends the day after Christmas. Think about this: the secular Christmas season begins on Black Friday, the day of greed and materialism, and ends suddenly the day after Christmas! This very noticeable difference is beautifully addressed in an unforgettable quote: "Never forget that there are only two philosophies to rule your life: the one of the cross, which starts with the fast and ends with the feast. The other of Satan, which starts with the feast and ends with the headache" (Fulton J. Sheen, Seven Words of Jesus and Mary: Lessons from Cana and Calvary).

In the Catholic Church, the Christmas Season used to be celebrated from Christmas Day (December 25th) until Candlemas Day (February 2nd). Now the Christmas Season has been significantly shortened liturgically to end just after Epiphany (January 6th). In our home (domestic church), we celebrate until Candlemas Day, although by that time it is no longer celebrated as intensely as during the Christmas Octave (by the way, it is interesting to note that the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" refers to the twelve days beginning on Christmas Day and ending on Epiphany).

There are three levels of intensity in the celebration of the Christmas Season. The first and greatest level is the Christmas Octave, which is spans Christmas Day through January 1st (New Year's Day). The next and second level lasts from January 2nd through January 13th (the Baptism of the Lord). The third level of celebration spans the days from January 14th through Candlemas Day.

Below, I will list the important feasts of the Christmas Season, beginning with the Christmas Vigil, along with all the other major and minor feasts we celebrate in our family. In the spirit of Pope Benedict XVI's Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, I will include the following indicators of which calendar the feasts fall in: "EF" indicates the Extraordinary Form (Traditional Latin Mass), "OF" indicates the Ordinary Form (Novus Ordo Missae), and "H" indicates feasts that were historically in the Sacred Liturgy but are no longer celebrated as such. The arrangement here has the feasts on their proper, fixed dates, before the minimalism of many Bishops in the United States had some of the important ones transferred to the Sundays nearest the dates of their actual feasts.

The Greatest Intensity in the Christmas Season: The Christmas Octave
December 24th (Christmas Eve): The Vigil of Christmas, a day of fasting and abstinence (EF)
December 25th (Christmas Day): The Solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ (EF & OF)
December 26th: Saint Stephen, Protomartyr (EF & OF)
December 27th: Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist (EF & OF)
December 28th: The Holy Innocents (EF & OF)
December 26th: Saint Thomas Becket (EF & OF); Saint David the King of Israel (H)
December 30th: Sixth Day in the Octave of Christmas (EF & OF)
December 31st: Saint Sylvester I, Pope, baptized Emperor Constantine (EF & OF)
January 1st (New Year's Day): Octave Day of the Nativity (EF & OF); The Circumcision of Our Lord Jesus Christ (EF); The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God (OF)
Sunday within the Octave: The Holy Family (or December 30th if there is no Sunday between Christmas and New Year's) (OF)

The Middle Intensity in the Christmas Season: Through the Baptism of Our Lord
January 2nd: The Most Holy Name of Jesus (EF)
January 3rd: The Most Holy Name of Jesus (OF)
January 4th: Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton (U.S.A.) (OF)
January 5th: Saint John Nepomucene Neumann (U.S.A.) (OF)
January 6th: Epiphany (EF & OF); Saints Caspar, Balthasar, & Melchior, the three Wise Men (H)
First Sunday after Epiphany: The Holy Family (EF)
January 13th: Commemoration of the Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ (EF); The Octave Day of the Epiphany (H)

The Lowest Intensity in the Christmas Season: Through Candlemas Day
January 15th: Our Lady of Prompt Succor (EF, some places); Saint Maurus, First Disciple of Saint Benedict (EF)
January 16th: Our Lady of Refuge (H)
January 18th: Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter at Rome (H)
January 19th: Saints Marius, Martha, Audifax, & Abachum (parents and two sons, martyrs) (EF); Saint Canute, King of Denmark (EF)
January 20th: Saint Sebastian, Patron of soldiers, archers, and athletes (EF & OF)
January 21st: Saint Agnes, Patroness of the Children of Mary (EF & OF)
January 23rd: The Espousals of the Blessed Virgin Mary (H)
January 24th: Saint Timothy, Patron against stomach disorders (EF)
January 25th: Conversion of Saint Paul (EF & OF)
January 27th: Saint John Chrysostom, Patron of orators (EF)
January 28th: Second Feast of Saint Agnes (EF); Saint Thomas Aquinas, "The Angelic Doctor", Patron of Catholic schools, scholars, theologians, and booksellers (OF)
January 29th: Saint Francis de Sales, Patron of writers (EF)
January 31st: Saint John Bosco, Founder of the Salesian Order, Patron of editors, apprentices, and young boys (EF & OF)
February 1st: Saint Ignatius of Antioch (EF); Saint Brigid of Ireland (H)
February 2nd (Candlemas Day): The Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ (OF); The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary (EF); Our Lady of Good Success (Ecuador, EF & OF)