Celebrating The Twelve Days of Christmas - Chris Marchand

The song "The 12 Days of Christmas" is a mainstay of the holiday season, but the practice of celebrating Christmas as a twelve-day festival fell out of fashion long ago in most cultures. In Celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas, author Chris Marchand explores the history behind the season and individual feast days from December 25 to January 6, and then offers suggestions for how you can celebrate it with your family, church, or community. Along with this, he provides answers to many of the nagging questions surrounding the holiday, such as the history behind the twelve-days song, why December 25 was chosen as the date, and what to do about its supposedly pagan origins. The challenge before us is to first help people see Christmas as a holiday that begins, rather than ends, on December 25, and then to together figure out how to reinvent Christmas in the present by learning how it was celebrated in the past.

‘Tis the season, and so this week we’re talking all things Christmas — all twelve days of Christmas to be accurate (for those of you who start Christmas the day after Thanksgiving, pay attention!) Chris Marchand, welcome to Martin Matthews Writes!

Thanks, Martin, It's honestly a pleasure to be here.

Well, before we get into the book, tell us a little about yourself

I grew up in Central Illinois and I suppose a Midwestern view on life informs a lot of what I do. I've always seen myself as an artist who makes things and for years I wanted be a professional musician and singer-songwriter. I've recorded a few albums (which are available on Bandcamp) but I was never able to figure out how to make a music career work. When I was in fifth grade I won my school's young author competition, so I guess I should have stuck with writing, because I've found much more success with that over the years. After graduating from Eureka College with a degree in literature and music, and then marrying my wife Elisa, I went to Garrett Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, where I studied theology and church music. It was there, after writing a Master's thesis and doing a special project, that I really began to learn to write. After graduating we moved back down to Peoria and have been involved in church ministry ever since. We have four kids ranging from 10 years old on down to 1, so life is full and crazy.

Tell us a little about your book, Celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas

 My book is about the history and traditions of the 12 days of Christmas, which is a cultural practice we've mostly forgotten about. It primarily falls under the genres of history, education, and church ministry, and I wrote it with families, churches, and the general culture in mind. I have always had this burning desire to know what the 12 days of Christmas were about, where it came from, and what ways people can celebrate it. Along with this, the "12 Days of Christmas" song has never made sense to me, and I wanted to get to the bottom of its specific history and the season as a whole. The first chapter goes into many of the questions and controversies of the holiday, such as explaining what the song is about, how December 25 was decided on as the day of Christ's birth, and how its pagan origins have influenced the way Christians celebrate it. From there, each chapter goes in the history of the individual days of the season and then gives lots of suggestions for how we can celebrate those days.

Where did the idea for this book come from?

One of the underlying concepts of the book is that we tend to celebrate holidays through four kinds of actions: worship or commemoration, leisure through celebration or partying, leisure through resting, and acts of service. What's fascinating about these four actions is they tend to flow right into one another if we allow them, where, for example, a more solemn time of singing, worship, and prayer naturally flows into a more jovial time of feasting, playing games, and opening presents. The most difficult one of the four to enter into is acts of service, as we do not naturally give our time and resources but have to make conscious efforts to do so. One of my encouragements in the book is for us to always be on the lookout for people in need within our communities and to then be proactive about inviting those people into our lives and times of celebration.

Is there a message behind your book? What is it?

 In many ways my book is a bit of a hard sell, as I'm asking people to shift how they celebrate their Christmases. A lot of people think the "12 days of Christmas" are the days leading up to December 25, but really they occur from the 25th until January 5. So, what I'm really hoping is that people can begin to see those 12 days as a longer extended season where we draw back from working and learn how to celebrate the holiday, either within our families or the broader community. For people of faith, one of the more important benefits of doing the holiday this way is it helps us to enter into the story of Jesus's birth more fully, where the different episodes in his early life are spaced out over the season.

Who or what are some of your biggest influences?

The full scope of C.S. Lewis' work has been a big influence on me, from his scholarly and theological work all the way to his adult fiction. Another influential writer from the church world is N.T. Wright, who is wonderful at taking complex ideas and simplifying them down to a broader audience. Other writers that have influenced me are Umberto Eco, David Foster Wallace, Mark Twain, Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Chaim Potok, Jane Austen, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Cervantes, and Walter Miller.

Probably the biggest creative influence on my life has been the musician and writer Rich Mullins.

As far as film goes, I've been greatly impacted by the work of Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, the Coen brothers, and Ingmar Bergman.

What are you currently reading?

I'm still reading books about Christmas! As soon as I finished writing I wanted to go back and keep researching because I didn't feel like I knew enough. Currently I'm finishing up "The Book of Christmas Folklore" by Tristram P. Coffin and I'm halfway through Stephen Nissenbaum's "The Battle For Christmas," which is a fascinating history of the modern development of the holiday beginning in the early 1800's with the poem "Twas the Night Before Christmas." Along with this, I'm reading "Twice Told Tales" because I've always wanted to read more Hawthorne.

Are you working on another novel? Can you tell us anything about it?

Although my book is non-fiction, I have hopes to someday write a novel. I have finished a short story that will fit into a longer work and I hope can get published somewhere. Along with this, I have ideas for other books about Christmas as well as books about church ministry and worship.

Well, Chris, thanks for stopping by and chatting with me today. I hope the book does well and you’ll be back to speak with us again soon!

I really appreciate the opportunity! I hope people are at least intrigued by a different way to celebrate their holidays!

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Chris Marchand lives in Peoria, Illinois with his wife and 4 kids. He has worked in church ministry and education for over a decade and is willing to discuss anything related to film, music, literature, and art at a moment's notice.

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