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Twelve Days of Shell

(12days.cmdchallenge.com)
256 points zoidb | 1 comments | 08 Dec 25 10:13 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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throw0101d ◴[08 Dec 25 13:11 UTC] No.46191793[source]▶
Meta: the first day of the Twelve Days of Christmas is Christmas Day (December 25) itself:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Days_of_Christmas

The days before the 25th are part of the season of Advent:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advent

replies(1): >>46191862 #
xnorswap ◴[08 Dec 25 13:17 UTC] No.46191862[source]▶
Too many people I know spend their boxing day packing up their tree. Christmas is over before it's barely begun!

But that's kind of understandable when Christmas begins in September if you believe the retailers.

replies(2): >>46193007 #>>46194381 #
lo_zamoyski ◴[08 Dec 25 16:37 UTC] No.46194381[source]▶
Indeed. Christmas lasts until Epiphany (January 6th) or even Candlemas (February 2nd).

Commercialism is likely the culprit for the current state of affairs. By putting the "Christmas season" and the commercialized variety of festivity before Christmas and making Christmas day the big finale, you create a situation during which you can get people to buy, buy, buy. And then it's over.

Compare that with the real deal and as it was traditionally celebrated. Advent is a period of contemplation, waiting, quiet, abstinence from meat -maybe even fasting - in anticipation for the birth of Christ. Then, on Christmas Eve and especially Christmas day, the festivities kick off, and they last until January 6th (the 12 days of Christmas) or Candlemas (40 days of Christmas). And that's when people used to pack up their trees and decorations (either Jan 6th or Feb 2nd).

People today suck at festivity. We're boring.

replies(2): >>46195503 #>>46196662 #
1. OkayPhysicist ◴[08 Dec 25 18:00 UTC] No.46195503[source]▶
IMO, commercialism moreso moved into the empty husk left after the Calvinists got to holidays, especially the puritanical sects that took root in the US. Specifically, I blame double-predestination: if you tell a bunch of people with free will that everyone is sorted into two groups, one going to heaven, one going to hell, and that the people going to heaven behave a certain way, it creates a much more oppressive, all-encompassing culture than traditional Christian "apologize and go to heaven because Jesus loves you" teachings. If your concern is not being judged negatively in the afterlife, you basically just need to follow some rules, try to be a generally good person, and you're generally free to do whatever else that isn't covered in the above categories. If you're concerned about demonstrating to others in your community that you are one of the God's chosen, who behave a certain way, that necessarily becomes universal factor in your life, which keeps escalating with time. This preoccupation with not being perceived as "having to much fun" so-to-say killed festivals.