December 26 - On the Second Day of Christmas...

 Posted on December 26, 2021

This is an update of my post published on December 26, 2010:

Whether it's 2 Juledag in Denmark or Svatek Vanocni 2 in the Czech Republic, many people around the world continue the Christmas holiday on the following day. In the Netherlands, many couples spend the day with the husband's family, say, if they spent Christmas Day with the wife's family, and vice versa.

In some countries, people who had to work on Christmas Day, such as servants, get the next day off as their Christmas holiday. (This is commonly called Boxing Day.) 

Some people celebrate this day as Saint Stephen's Day by distributing aid to those in need—things that St. Stephen was reputed to do during his life. (“The Feast of Stephen” is mentioned in the Christmas Carol “Good King Winceslas.”)

For more on Boxing Day, see last year's post. 

By the way, when you hear “the second day of Christmas,” you may think of the famous song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”:

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Two turtledoves and a partridge in a pear tree.

 

Many people have come up with clever new versions of the lyrics. Try writing the entire song with the same rhythm and rhyming scheme, but all new gifts. It's fun!

To inspire you, here is a Shrek version. (For fun, try to find all the typos in the lyrics. There are a lot of them!)

This You Tube video doesn't do a parody of the song, but instead does a great mash-up. Check it out! 

Also on this date:

St. Stephen's Day

 

National Candy Cane Day

Anniversary of a Curie discovery

Anniversary of the commissioning of a hospital ship

Boxing Day

Anniversary of the patent for the Frisbee

Kwanza (from 12/26/11 to 1/1/12)

Day of Goodwill in South Africa

Independence and Unity Day in Slovenia

Junkanoo

 Wren Day

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest pages on:

• December holidays
• December birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in December

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• January holidays 
• January birthdays 
• Historical anniversaries in January
  

December 26 – St. Stephen's Day

Posted on December 26, 2015

I have always thought of Good King Wenceslas as a Christmas carol, but the very first lines—

Good King Wenceslas looked out / on the feast of Stephen,

—tell us that it is actually a St. Stephen's Day carol!

St. Stephen's Day, also known as The Feast of Stephen, is December 26. At least, that's the date of St. Stephen's Day in the Western Church. The Eastern Church celebrates this feast day on December 27 or even – using the Julian calendar date – January 9!

A lot of nations and regions celebrate St. Stephen's Day as an official public holiday. The list includes Alsace (in France), Austria, Balearic Islands (in Spain), Catalonia (in Spain), Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Moselle (in France), Norway, Philippines, and Sweden.

The Eastern nations who celebrate St. Stephen on January 9 include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

Let's check out a few of the St. Stephen's Day customs:

• There are ceremonial horseback rides in Austria, plus a blessing of the horses.

• In Catalonia, people gather to feast and to use up some of the Christmas leftovers; leftover meat is ground up and stuffed in canelons, which are tubular pastas.

• In Ireland, people dress up in straw hats and capes; they go from door to door and dance and sing.

• Finns take horse-drawn sleigh rides, complete with bells, and in this way visit relatives and friends. Some Finnish people hold parades and dances. Some, called Star boys or Star singers, do a door-to-door event, singing carols and enacting a play about the Three Wise Men.
  

Also on this date:

National Candy Cane Day 

Anniversary of a Curie discovery

Anniversary of the commissioning of a hospital ship

Second Day of Christmas

Boxing Day

Anniversary of the patent for the Frisbee

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest pages on:

• December holidays
• December birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in December

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• January holidays 
• January birthdays 
• Historical anniversaries in January

August 20 – St. Stephen's Day in Hungary

Posted on August 20, 2013

Today is the day that Hungarians celebrate the foundation of their country. It's named for the first king of Hungary, Stephen I, who was later made a saint.

There's everything you could hope for in a national day: flag raising, a parade, a historical play, archery shows, a water parade, an air show, and of course a fireworks spectacular along the river Danube!

Some extra added attractions include a festival of folk arts and open-air concerts. One of the day's traditions is the baking of “new” bread, which means making the first bread from the new wheat harvest.

Check out the foods and crafts and landscapes gathered in this All Things

Hungarian Pinterest board. 

Create or purchase paper dolls with Hungarian folk costumes. 

Read The Good Master. This book is about Kate and Jancsi and lots of horses growing up in Hungary. I loved this book—and its illustrations—when I was a child! 

For more on Hungary, check out this earlier post. 

Also on this date:

Anniversary of the launch of Voyager 2

Plan ahead:

Here are my Pinterest pages on August holidays, historical anniversaries in August, and August birthdays.

And here are my Pinterest pages on September holidays, historical anniversaries in September, and September birthdays.

December 26, 2010

Second Day of Christmas

Whether it's 2 Juledag in Denmark or Svatek Vanocni 2 in the Czech Republic, many people around the world continue the Christmas holiday on the following day. In the Netherlands, many couples spend the day with the husband's family, say, if they spent Christmas Day with the wife's family, and vice versa. In some countries, people who had to work on Christmas Day, such as servants, get the next day off as their Christmas holiday. (This is commonly called Boxing Day.) Some people celebrate this day as Saint Stephen's Day by distributing aid to those in need—things that St. Stephen was reputed to do during his life. (“The Feast of Stephen” is mentioned in the Christmas Carol “Good King Winceslas.”)

For more on Boxing Day, see last year's post. 

By the way, when you hear “the second day of Christmas,” you may think of the famous song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”:

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Two turtledoves and a partridge in a pear tree.

Many people have come up with clever new versions of the lyrics. Try writing the entire song with the same rhythm and rhyming scheme, but all new gifts. It's fun!

To inspire you, here is a Shrek version. (For fun, try to find all the typos in the lyrics. There are a lot of them!) 

This You Tube video has not so much a parody of the song, but a great mash-up. Try it!