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III · The Season

What are the 12 days of Christmas? When they start and end

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A gray partridge sitting in a pear tree with golden pears.
PlateA partridge in a pear tree.

The twelve days of Christmas are the season that begins on Christmas Day, not the run-up to it: Christmas is often kept for twelve days, ending at the Epiphany. Counted from Christmas Day, they reach Twelfth Night on the evening of January 5, the night before the Epiphany on January 6.

At a glance

  • Day one: Christmas Day, December 25
  • Twelfth Night: the evening of January 5, counted from Christmas Day
  • The day after: the Epiphany, January 6
  • A longer season: forty days, to Candlemas on February 2, in some churches

A season, not a day

Christmas is not one day but a season, and churches often keep it for twelve days, ending at the Epiphany. Some churches, the Church of England among them, also keep a longer season of forty days, ending at Candlemas on February 2.

Twelfth Night

Count twelve days from Christmas Day and you reach Twelfth Night, the evening of January 5, the night before the Epiphany. In Shakespeare’s England it was the last night of the season’s celebrations. A Twelfth Night cake hid a dried bean or a trinket, and whoever found it in their slice was crowned king of the evening.

The Epiphany, January 6

The word Epiphany means a showing: the day Jesus was shown to the world. In English it was also called Twelfth Day.

In the Western churches the Epiphany remembers the wise men’s visit to the child Jesus; in the Eastern churches the same day has long centered on his baptism. The wise men have their own page.

Not everyone keeps it on January 6. In the United States, Catholic churches celebrate the Epiphany on the Sunday between January 2 and 8, so in it falls on . Orthodox churches that keep the old calendar, like the Russian Orthodox Church, celebrate Christmas on January 7 and Christ’s baptism, the Theophany, on January 19. When Christmas falls for each church has a page of its own.

Christmas magic

In Italy, by night at Epiphany, La Befana comes down the chimney and fills good children’s stockings with sweets.

The song

The song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” was once a memory game played by the fire, and its words were first printed about 1780, in a little London children’s book called Mirth without Mischief. Library copies of the book are dated anywhere from about 1780 to about 1800. The song and its gifts will have a page of their own.

Quick answers

When do the 12 days of Christmas start?

With Christmas Day itself, December 25. From there they run on into the new year.

When is Twelfth Night?

The evening of January 5, counted from Christmas Day. In Shakespeare’s England it was the last night of the Christmas celebrations, with a cake that hid a bean.

What comes after the twelve days?

The Epiphany, on January 6. In the Western churches it remembers the wise men’s visit to the child Jesus.

Is Christmas over after twelve days?

Often, yes: churches often keep it for twelve days. Some churches, the Church of England among them, keep a longer season of forty days, to Candlemas on February 2.

More: the whole Christmas season, Christmas Eve, Christmas in Italy, Twelfth Night, the Epiphany and taking the decorations down.

Where our facts come from

  1. Church of England, Common Worship, "Times and Seasons: Christmas", "Introduction to the Season" ("The Christmas season is often celebrated for twelve days, ending with the Epiphany"; "an alternative tradition, in which Christmas lasts for a full forty days, ending with the Feast of the Presentation on 2 February")
  2. Juliana Avery, "Celebrating Twelfth Night", Shakespeare & Beyond, Folger Shakespeare Library, December 30, 2025, Section "What is Twelfth Night?" ("Twelfth Night is the final night in the celebration of the Twelve days of Christmas"; the Feast of the Epiphany "was celebrated on January 6, making the night of January 5 Twelfth Night"); the linked-post panel for Folger's "A recipe for Twelfth Night cake" (December 30, 2016: whoever finds the dried beans or hidden trinkets in their pieces of cake is crowned a Twelfth Night King); section "Was Twelfth Night performed on Twelfth Night?" ("February 2, 1602, in Middle Temple Hall, London, during Candlemas")
  3. Folger Shakespeare Library, "A recipe for Twelfth Night cake", Shakespeare & Beyond, December 30, 2016, The quotation from Michael Dobson after paragraph 1 (the day "in Shakespeare's time came as the climax of the festive season", with parties "during which whoever found the bean baked into a special cake would be declared 'Lord of Misrule' for the night"); the paragraph beginning "See the big cake" ("A traditional Twelfth Night cake has three dried beans or trinkets hidden inside"; the finders "are crowned the 'Twelfth Night Kings'")
  4. C. C. Martindale, "Epiphany", Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 5 (1909), The introduction, list of names ("festivitas declarationis, manifestationis"; "Twelfth Day"); "History", paragraph 1 (6 January); paragraph 2 ("It seems fairly clear that the Baptism was the event predominantly commemorated" in the East); paragraph 5, beginning "It is simpler to say" (the West gave "overwhelming importance … to the apparition of the Magi")
  5. Dictionary.com, "Epiphany", The "Cultural" entry ("Epiphany means 'a showing forth' — in this case a showing forth of Jesus to the Gentiles"); American sense 1 ("a Christian festival, observed on January 6, commemorating the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles in the persons of the Magi; Twelfth-day")
  6. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, "Proper Calendar for the Dioceses of the United States of America" (Internet Archive capture of December 20, 2025), Final section, "In the Proper of Time" ("Sunday between January 2 and 8 — THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD")
  7. The Passionists of Holy Cross Province, "The Epiphany of the Lord, Solemnity" (event, January 3, 2027), The event heading ("The Epiphany of the Lord, Solemnity, January 3, 2027"); the description ("Celebrated on the Sunday after January 1, this feast remembers the Magi visiting Jesus")
  8. Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church, "Fixed Great Feasts", List entries 1 and 2 ("January 7 – The Nativity of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ"; "January 19 – The Baptism of Our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ")
  9. Erin Blakemore, "Why Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas in January", National Geographic (last updated December 30, 2022), Section "Christianity's great calendar schism", the paragraph beginning "Following Pope Gregory's course correction" (the Orthodox Church "continued to rely on the Julian calendar"); section "Resolving the Orthodox calendar crisis", the paragraph beginning "But other Orthodox churches" ("like those of Russia and Egypt, refused"; "They celebrate Christmas on January 7")
  10. Orthodox Church in America, "Lives of the Saints", January 6, 2027, The feast's heading ("Feast of the Theophany of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ") and its first sentence ("Theophany is the Feast which reveals the Most Holy Trinity to the world through the Baptism of the Lord")
  11. Andrea Immel, "A 'Twelve Days of Christmas' Chapbook Where the Lords Leap on Poles", Cotsen Children's Library blog, Princeton University Library, January 6, 2013, Paragraph 1 ("a memory-and-forfeits game played by the fire"); paragraph 2 ("Mirth without Mischief (London: Charles Sheppard, ca. 1780), where the rhyme made its first appearance in print")
  12. Internet Archive, "Mirth Without Mischief" (scan of the book, Gale ECCO print edition), Item record: imprint "London: Printed by J. Davenport, George's Court, for C. Sheppard, No. 8, Aylesbury Street, Clerkenwell, [1800?]"; title page "Comtaining [sic] The Twelve Days of Christmas"
  13. Treccani, Vocabolario, "befana", Sense 2a (the old woman who, on the night of Epiphany, comes down the chimney and leaves sweets in good children's stockings); the etymology (from Latin epiphania)