Merry Christmas, everybody!
No, we’re not crazy, it really is Christmas Day…Old Christmas Day, that is.
You see, way back in 1582 Pope Gregory XIII introduced his own calendar, the Gregorian calendar, to correct the original Julian calendar, which had failed to account for the year being 365 and a quarter days long. Over the centuries the old calendar had gotten off the solar year by 10 days, so the new calendar simply skipped over ten days to correct that mistake and added a leap day every four years going forward.
By the time the British got around to adopting this new calendar it was 1752, so they (and we, since we were part of the British Empire at the time) dropped 11 days, making December 25, Julian Calendar, become January 6, Gregorian Calendar. Not wanting to celebrate Christmas that late, most folks eventually moved it back to December 25th, calling it “New Christmas,” leaving January 6th as “Old Christmas.”
If you were born on Old Christmas you were considered blessed and said to have the power to heal the sick.
Animals are said to kneel at midnight on January 5th and are given the power of speech so they can praise God.
Water turns to wine, supposedly, at the same time. But don’t taste it because that is bad luck.
If you sit under a pine tree on Old Christmas Day you may hear angels sing. But if you do, you’ll be in Heaven by next January 6th.
It’s bad luck for a cat to meow on Old Christmas, because that will summon evil spirits to visit the home every day for the next year.
Again, Merry Christmas, y’all!
