That’s what yesterday was in the Liturgical Calendar. Today, 5 January 2026, is the Twelfth day of Christmas. And anyone who happened to go to an Anglican/Episcopal, Catholic or Lutheran parish or Cathedral Church yesterday saw at the top of the service leaflet: The Second Sunday of Christmas.
Most Protestants have no idea what that means, what that’s referring to, since, in their mind Christmas is over. These are some of the same people who sing or know the carol, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” But there’s this disconnect with them. They don’t make a connection between the Twelve Days and when they begin and when they end.
My choral friend years ago told me that he had a visitor and he took his visitor to the Anglican Cathedral where he was at the time. His visitor came from a Baptist background but was no longer religious. So they walked into the Cathedral and he knelt to pray as Anglicans do. His visitor remained seated on the pew. When he sat back on the pew after praying, his friend asked him, “What does it mean by the Second Sunday of Christmas? I thought Christmas was over.” He explained to her that there are two Sundays in the Twelve Days of Christmas and he reminded her of the carol about the Twelve Days. Things began to click for her. She asked, “Do you get a gift every day of the Twelve Days like in the carol?” He said: If someone gives you a gift each day, you do. Then she asked, “So last Sunday was the First Sunday of Christmas?” He said: Exactly. It was as if she were having this revelation: She said: Well this all makes a lot of sense now. I never connected that carol about the Twelve Days to anything. So the first day is the 25th of December and Day Twelve is through the night of the 5th of January? Yes, my choral friend said.
She said: In our household Christmas was over at New Years — if not before but that’s when our tree came down — which really doesn’t make much sense now after you’ve explained this.
She said, “You Anglicans make a lot of sense. He said: Well, it’s not just Anglicans. It’s also Catholics and Lutherans who follow the Liturgical Year Calendar, but I know that most Protestants do not, with the occasional exception to that.
And my choral friend, like myself, does not consider Anglicans to be Protestants, especially the High Church. Also here. Instead, Anglicans are in this grey area similar to the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who do not consider themselves to be Protestant either.
As for most Protestants not following or knowing anything about the Liturgical Year Calendar, one exception was the Southern Baptist church “in town” that I played for on occasion during my years in High School. They didn’t even act like the Southern Baptists I knew or had experience with. I asked my dad about them and he said, “Well yes, they are part of the Southern Baptist Convention.” I never would have guessed that about them. They followed the Liturgical Calendar at the insistence of their superb Organist, I think. They had an excellent music programme and I think that came from her. But I knew of no other Southern Baptist Church in the area who followed the Liturgical Year Calendar. Unfortunately, a relative of mine — a Southern Baptist — said about that church, “they’re weird there” because they did observe the Liturgical Year. He had gone there for awhile, but then left and started going to this rural/hick church.