Ask ten people when the 12 Days of Christmas begin and you’ll get at least three answers, and a fair few will say “the run-up to Christmas, surely?”
Let’s settle it, because if you’ve got your hands on our 12 Days of GingerBeard’s Preserves Calendar you get to choose how you open it and if you bought it for someone else, you can choose when to gift it.
So, when are the 12 Days of Christmas?
Despite what some of us might believe (we definitely believed it until we looked into it), the 12 Days don’t lead up to Christmas. They start on it.
Traditionally, the twelve days run from Christmas Day (25 December) to 5 January, ending on Twelfth Night. The following day, 6 January, is Epiphany, when the Three Kings turn up. Some traditions start counting on Boxing Day and finish on 6 January instead, so if anyone tells you you’ve got it wrong, you can smile and say “it depends who you ask.”
It’s also why the song makes sense. Your true love was never meant to deliver all those pipers and partridges before Christmas. It was the gifts that kept on coming after the big day, when the rest of us are usually staring at a fridge full of leftovers.
Four ways to open your calendar
Here’s the fun bit: there’s no wrong answer. Pick the one you want really!
The traditionalist: start on Christmas Day
Open Door 1 on 25 December and carry on through to 5 January. This is the most historically accurate route, and it’s a lovely way to stretch out the festive feeling when everyone else has taken the tree down and gone back to salad. Twelve days of treats, right when the cheeseboard needs company.
The countdown: start on 13 December
Want the excitement before Christmas? Start on 13 December and open one a day so the final door lands on Christmas Day itself. Think of it as a shorter advent, with all the anticipation and none of the 24-door marathon.
The Boxing Day starter: begin on 26 December
For those who go by the second tradition, open Door 1 on Boxing Day and finish on Epiphany, 6 January. It’s a good one if Christmas Day is already jam-packed with presents and roast potatoes, and you’d like something to look forward to once the wrapping paper is in the recycling.
The Savourer: start on 1 December, every other day
Prefer to spread the joy across the whole month? Start on 1 December and open a door every other day, landing neatly on your twelfth treat around Christmas Eve or Christmas Day itself. It’s a nice middle ground between a full 24-door advent calendar and the 12-day sprint, with just enough gaps to keep the anticipation going without using it all up in the first fortnight. This might also give you some time to think about what you’ll be pairing your treat with – although some of them are gone in just one bit!
Ready to choose your start date?
However you count them, we hope your twelve days are full of good food, good company and delicious discoveries!
Happy Christmas from all of us at GingerBeard’s. 