American Minute with Bill Federer
"On the 12th Day of Christmas ..."
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Western Europe
celebrated the birth of Christ on
Christmas Day, December 25,
as the holiest day of the season.
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Eastern Europe
celebrated
January 6, Epiphany,
as the holiest day.
"Epiphany"
is a Greek word meaning
"appearance"
or
"manifestation."
January 6
is also called
Three Kings Day,
recalling the
visit of the Wise Men to Jesus in the manger
-- his
"manifestation"
to the Gentiles, as foretold in
Isaiah 49:6:
"I will also give thee for
a light to the Gentiles,
that thou mayest be my
salvation
unto
the end of the earth."
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In addition,
Epiphany
commemorates
Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River,
as recorded in John 1:29-34:
"The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world ... that he should be made manifest to Israel ...
And John bare record, saying ... He that sent me ... said ... Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God."
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The
Eastern
and
Western Christian Roman Empire
could not agree on which day was holier, so at the
Council of Tours
in 567 AD, it was decided to make
all 12 days
from
DECEMBER 25
to
JANUARY 6 "The Twelve Days of Christmas."
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They were called
"holy days,"
which came to be pronounced
"holidays."
The
Council of Tours
also returned the beginning of the year back to
the ancient date of March 1st.
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January 1st
was thought to be a pagan date since it originated with
Roman Emperor Julius Caesar's solar-based "Julian Calendar."
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Remnants of
March
being the
first month of the year
can be seen in the
old Roman Latin names
of months:
September, October, November,
and
December.
- "Sept" is Latin for seven;
- "Oct" is Latin for eight (ie. octogon=eight sided);
- "Nov" is Latin for nine; and
- "Dec" is Latin for ten (ie. decimal=divisible by ten).
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In 45 BC,
Julius Caesar
was, in a sense, the first globalist.
He wanted
a unified calendar
for the
entire Roman Empire.
His successor,
Augustus Caesar,
had his version of NSA tracking, conducting
an empire-wide census
to
track everyone under his control.
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Ancient peoples, for millennia, had used
calendars based on the moon,
whose
lunar cycles,
incrementally shifting through the seasons, served as an enormous generational clock.
As the
Roman Empire
expanded and conquered nations, these
lunar calendars
were difficult to reconcile with each other.
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Julius Caesar
introduced the
Julian Calendar,
with 365 days, and
a leap day
at the end of February every 4th year.
Rome's old fifth month,
Quintilis,
was renamed after
Julius Caesar,
being called
"July."
As it only had 30 days,
Julius Caesar
took
a day from the old end of the year, February,
and added it to
July,
giving the month
31 days.
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The next emperor,
Augustus Caesar,
renamed the old sixth month,
Sextilis,
after himself, calling it
"August."
He also took a day from the old end of the year,
February,
was added to
August,
giving that month
31 days,
and leaving
February with only 28 days.
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The most important event in the Christian calendar was
Christ's crucifixion
as the
Passover Lamb
on the
Jewish Feast of Passover,
His being
in the grave
on the
Feast of Unleavened Bread,
and his
Resurrection of the Feast of First Fruits,
or as it was later called,
Easter.
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The
Apostle Paul
wrote in First Corinthians 5:7-8
"For even
Christ our Passover
is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us
keep the feast,
not with
old leaven,
neither with the
leaven
of malice and wickedness;
but with the unleavened
bread
of sincerity and truth."
First Corinthians 15:20 "But now is
Christ
risen from the dead,
and
become
the firstfruits
of them that slept."
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When
Constantine
became
Roman Emperor,
he stopped the persecution of Christians, and, at the
Council of Nicaea
in 325 AD, he decided to set
a common date to celebrate Easter - Christ's Resurrection,
to help unify the "Christian" Roman Empire.
Constantine's
insistence that the date of
Easter
be on a
Sunday
in the
Roman solar calendar,
resulted in abandoning the original
Jewish
method of determining the date of the
Passover Feast,
based on the lunar calendar - traditionally beginning
the evening of 14th day of Nissan.
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Constantine's
act was a defining moment in the split between what had been a
predominately Jewish Christian Church
-- as Jesus and all his disciples were Jewish -- and
the emerging Gentile Christian Church.
The
new method of determining the date of Easter
was the
first Sunday after the first paschal full moon falling on or after the Spring Equinox.
Tables
were compiled with the
future dates of Easter,
but over time a slight
discrepancy
became evident.
"Equinox"
is a solar calendar term:
"equi" = "equal"
and
"nox" = "night."
Thus
"equinox"
is when the
daytime and nighttime
are of
equal duration.
It occurs once in the
Spring
around March 20 and once in the
Autumn
around September 22.
In the year 325 AD, Easter was on March 21.
During the Middle Ages, France celebrated its New Year Day on Easter.
Other countries began their New Year on Christmas, December 25, and still others on Annunciation Day, March 25.
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By 1582, it became clear that the
Julian Calendar
was slightly inaccurate, by about
11 minutes per year,
resulting in
the compiled tables
having the date of
Easter ten days ahead of the Spring Equinox,
and even further from its origins in the
Jewish Passover.
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In 1582,
Pope Gregory XIII
decided to
revise the calendar
by
eliminating ten days.
He set a
leap year
every year
divisible by 4
,
except for years divisible by 100, unless that year is divisible by 400.
It sounds complicated, but it is so accurate that the
Gregorian Calendar
is the most
internationally used calendar
today.
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Pope Gregory's "Gregorian Calendar"
also returned the
beginning of the new year BACK to Julius Caesar's January 1st date.
As
England
was an
Anglican Protestant country,
it reluctantly postponed adopting the more accurate
Catholic Gregorian Calendar.
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Most of
Protestant Europe
did not adopt the
Gregorian Calendar
for nearly
two centuries.
This gave rise to some interesting record keeping.
For example:
ships
would leave
Protestant England
on one date according to the
Julian Calendar,
called
"Old Style"
and arrive in
Catholic Europe
at an
earlier date,
as much of
Europe
was using the
Gregorian Calendar,
called
"New Style."
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Another example is that
England's William Shakespeare
and
Spain's Miguel de Cervantes,
author of
Man of La Mancha.
They died on the same date, April 23, 1616, but when the differences between
England's Julian Calendar
and
Spain's Gregorian Calendar
are removed,
Cervantes
actually died
ten days before Shakespeare.
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In 1752,
England
and
its colonies
finally
adopted
the
Gregorian Calendar,
but by that time there was an
11 day discrepancy
between the
"Old Style"
(OS) and the
"New Style"
(NS).
When America finally adjusted its calendar, the
day after September 2,
1752 (Old Style),
became September 14,
1752 (New Style).
There were reportedly accounts of confusion and rioting.
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As
countries of Western Europe,
particularly
Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch
and
English,
began to trade and establish colonies around the world, the
Gregorian Calendar
came into
international
use.
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All dates in the world are either
BC "Before Christ"
or
AD "Anno Domini"
-- meaning in the
Year of the Lord's Reign.
In the late 19th century and early 20th centuries, secularists in academia popularized the use of
BCE - "Before Common Era"
and
CE "Common Era."
The futile nature of their effort is displayed with the question: When did the recording of time change from
Before Common Era
to
Common Era?
The answer is, the birth of
Christ.
In their attempt to ignore
Christ
they are, nonetheless, forced to acknowledge Him.
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England's Henry VIII
made the
Anglican Church
the country's
established denomination
in 1534.
As in other nations, the government proceeded to
impose state-approved beliefs
, demanding uniformity of doctrine and services, thus restricting the freedoms of conscience, speech, and expression.
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During this time, Christian dissenters, nonconformists, separatists, such as Puritans, Presbyterians, Quakers, Anabaptists, and Catholics,
fled
from England to other European countries, or
to the colonies in America.
Jews
were expelled from
England
in 1290 by
Edward I
and not allowed back in till
Oliver Cromwell
in 1657.
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Dissenters
who remained in
England practiced their faith in secret
, sometimes suffering the intolerance judges in court, open government persecution, and even martyrdom.
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In 1625,
a type of Sunday school catechism song
came into use to teach children Christian doctrine, titled
"In Those Twelve Days,"
where a spiritual meaning was assigned to each day.
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IN THOSE TWELVE DAYS (1625)
Chorus:
In those
twelve days,
and
in those
twelve days,
let us be glad,
For God of his power hath all things made.
1. What is that which is but
one?
What is that which is but
one?
We have but one God alone
In Heaven above sits on his throne.
Chorus
2. What are they which are but
two?
What are they which are but
two?
Two Testaments, as we are told,
The one is New and the other Old.
Chorus
3. What are they that are but
three?
What are they that are but
three?
Three persons in the Trinity,
The Father, Son, and Ghost Holy.
Chorus
4. What are they that are but
four?
What are they that are but
four?
Four Gospels written true,
John, Luke, Mark, and Matthew.
Chorus
5. What are they that are but
five?
What are they that are but
five?
Five senses we have to tell,
God grant us grace to use them well.
Chorus
6. What are they that are but
six?
What are they that are but
six?
Six ages this world shall last,
Five of them are gone and past.
Chorus
7. What are they that are but
seven?
What are they that are but
seven?
Seven days in the week have we,
Six to work and the seventh holy.
Chorus
8. What are they that are but
eight?
What are they that are but
eight?
Eight beatitudes are given,
Use them well and go to Heaven.
Chorus
9. What are they that are but
nine?
What are they that are but
nine?
Nine degrees of Angels high
Which praise God continually.
Chorus
10. What are they that are but
ten?
What are they that are but
ten?
Ten Commandments God hath given,
Keep them right and go to Heaven.
Chorus
11. What are they that are but
eleven?
What are they that are but
eleven?
Eleven thousand virgins did partake
And suffered death for Jesus' sake.
Chorus
12. What are they that are but
twelve?
What are they that are but
twelve?
Twelve Apostles Christ did chuse
To preach the Gospel to the Jews.
Chorus
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Though it cannot be proven, the song,
"In Those Twelve Days,"
may have been a precursor to the English folk song,
"The Twelve Days of Christmas,"
first printed in London in 1780, in the children's book,
Mirth without Mischief.
An explanation of the song's possible meanings are:
My True Love =
God Himself
1. Partridge =
Jesus Christ
(A partridge will feign injury to decoy predators from helpless nestlings - "He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities." Isaiah 53:5)
Pear Tree =
Cross
2. Turtle Doves =
Old & New Testaments
3. French Hens =
Faith, Hope & Love
4. Calling Birds =
Four Gospels
5. Golden Rings =
Pentateuch-First 5 Books of Bible
6. Geese A-Laying =
Six Days of Creation
7. Swans a-Swimming =
Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit
8, Maids A-Milking =
Eight Beatitudes
9. Ladies Dancing =
Nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10. Lords A-Leaping =
Ten Commandments
11. Pipers Piping =
Eleven Faithful Apostles
12. Drummers =
Twelve Points in Apostles Creed
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American Minute is a registered trademark of William J. Federer. Permission is granted to forward, reprint, or duplicate, with acknowledgment.
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Schedule Bill Federer for informative interviews & captivating PowerPoint presentations: 314-502-8924
[email protected]
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