# Saint's days in December

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-in-december/95837>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 29, 2001, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-in-december/95837 "2001-11-29T02:50:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-in-december/95837/1 "2001-11-29T02:50:11Z")

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It being the holiday season, I wondered what saint’s days are obseverved in December. [This site](http://www.swishweb.com/Religion_and_Mythology/Saints_Days/relmyth12sd.htm) gives me a list of offical saint’s days, but I guess what I’m really asking is which are celebrated in any special way. I know St. Lucia’s day is marked by festivals in Sweden. (I was really surprised to find that Saint Nicholas has his day weeks before Christmas).

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**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-in-december/95837/2 "2001-11-29T02:54:37Z")

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Actually, [this other site](http://saints.catholic.org/calendar/caldecember2001.html) seems to be more comprehensive. IAMAC, so I’m unfamiliar with Advent or Holy Day of Obligation.

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-in-december/95837/3 "2001-11-29T03:48:26Z")

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Well, St. Nicholas, December 6, was a special holiday in Greece and in the Lowlands (Flemish Belgium and the Netherlands).

St. Stephen is December 26, when the Brits celebrate Boxing Day (and King Wenceslaus looked out and spied his lowly subject in the song that seems to indicate a pre-Boxing Day celebration of the same sort).

I am not aware of any other _holidays_ associated with saints in December.

A Holy Day of Obligation is a day when Catholics have the same obligation to go to Mass as on Sunday. The feast of the Immaculate Conception is a Holy Day because Mary, under that title, is the patron of the U.S. (HDs of O are set by the national bishops, rather than by Rome.)

Advent (roughly “the coming”) is the period of fasting and prayers during which we prepare spiritually for the feast of Christmas, analogous to the longer Lent (“Spring”) during which we prepare for the feast of Easter.

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**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-in-december/95837/4 "2001-11-29T05:37:58Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by tomndebb \*  
> \*\*The feast of the Immaculate Conception is a Holy Day because Mary, under that title, is the patron of the U.S. \*\*

And to clear up a common misconception–the Immaculate Conception is NOT about Mary conceiving Jesus–that’s the Virgin Birth. The Immaculate Conception is about Mary being conceived in her mother (St. Ann, IIRC) in the usual fashion, except without original sin.