Christmastide

In many liturgical calendars Christmastide is followed by the closely related season of Epiphanytide that commences at sunset on 5 January—a date known as Twelfth Night.

[13] In 1969, the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church expanded Christmastide by a variable number of days: "Christmas Time runs from... up to and including the Sunday after Epiphany or after 6 January.

[16] In 567, the Council of Tours "proclaimed the twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany as a sacred and festive season, and established the duty of Advent fasting in preparation for the feast.

"[31] Many Churches refer to the period after the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas and up to Candlemas, as Epiphanytide, also called the Epiphany season.

In the Western Christian world, the two traditional days on which Christmas decorations are removed are Twelfth Night, Baptism of Jesus and Candlemas.

[39] The Saint Andrew Daily Missal (1945), authored by Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, stipulates:[16] Every Christian home should have its own little crib round which, on these days, morning and evening prayers should be said.

At this season, consecrated to childlike joys, children will understand that they must join with the shepherds and the wise men together with Mary and Joseph in worshipping the Child Jesus, the Babe who lying on His bed of straw is God and beseech Him that through His grace they may become ever increasingly children of God together with Him.

One of the earliest representation in art of the nativity was found in the early Christian Roman catacomb of Saint Valentine.

[46] In that year, Francis of Assisi assembled a Nativity scene outside of his church in Italy and children sang Christmas carols celebrating the birth of Jesus.

[46] Each year, this grew larger, and people travelled from afar to see Francis' depiction of the Nativity of Jesus that came to feature drama and music.

[49] Popular Christmas carols include "Silent Night", "Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus", "We Three Kings", "Down in Yon Forest", "Away in a Manger", "I Wonder as I Wander", "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen", "There's a Song in the Air", and "Let all mortal flesh keep silence".

[57] Throughout the twelve days of Christmastide, many people view Nativity plays,[58] among other forms of "musical and theatrical presentations".

[71] European History Professor Joseph Perry wrote that in Nazi Germany, "because Nazi ideologues saw organized religion as an enemy of the totalitarian state, propagandists sought to deemphasize—or eliminate altogether—the Christian aspects of the holiday" and that "Propagandists tirelessly promoted numerous Nazified Christmas songs, which replaced Christian themes with the regime's racial ideologies.

"[73] The government of the People's Republic of China officially espouses state atheism,[74] and has conducted antireligious campaigns to this end.

[75] In December 2018, officials raided Christian churches just prior to Christmastide and coerced them to close; Christmas trees and Santa Clauses were also forcibly removed.