# What do Christians celebrate on the second days of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 26, 2021, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-christians-celebrate-on-the-second-days-of-christmas-easter-and-pentecost/956676 "2021-12-26T18:43:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2021, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-christians-celebrate-on-the-second-days-of-christmas-easter-and-pentecost/956676/1 "2021-12-26T18:43:39Z")
Just a random thought on boxing day: on Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, Easter his resurrection, and Pentecost the coming of the holy spirit upon the apostles. But what do Christians celebrate on the respective second days of those holidays? I was raised Catholic, but I’ve never really thought or known about it. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2021, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-christians-celebrate-on-the-second-days-of-christmas-easter-and-pentecost/956676/2 "2021-12-26T18:49:33Z")
December 26th is the Feast Day of the Innocents: > **[Massacre of the Innocents](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_the_Innocents)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > The Massacre of the Innocents is an incident in the nativity narrative of the Gospel of Matthew (2:16–18) in which Herod the Great, king of Judea, orders the execution of all male children who are two years old and under in the vicinity of Bethlehem. Christians venerate them as the first Christian martyrs. A majority of Herod biographers, and "probably a majority of \[...\] biblical scholars," hold the event to be myth or legend. > The Gospel of Matt... ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2021, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-christians-celebrate-on-the-second-days-of-christmas-easter-and-pentecost/956676/3 "2021-12-26T18:51:48Z")
I believe that is December 28th, the day Spain [ETA: and South America] makes the kind of jokes you make on April 1st. December 26th is San Esteban ([Saint Stephen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Stephen%27s_Day)) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2021, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-christians-celebrate-on-the-second-days-of-christmas-easter-and-pentecost/956676/4 "2021-12-26T18:51:57Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > December 26th is the Feast Day of the Innocents The children slaughtered by Herod? Didn’t that happen quite longer after Jesus’ birth? ETA: just saw that you edited in the wiki link, so the question is kinda moot. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2021, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-christians-celebrate-on-the-second-days-of-christmas-easter-and-pentecost/956676/5 "2021-12-26T18:54:47Z")
Quite right! My mistake! « Good King Wenceslas looked out, On the Feast of Stephen… » Stephen being the Proto-Martyr. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2021, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-christians-celebrate-on-the-second-days-of-christmas-easter-and-pentecost/956676/6 "2021-12-26T18:58:21Z")
And then Christmas is the beginning of Christmastide. In the Anglican and Lutheran traditions, that is the Twelve Days of Christmas, culminating on Twelfth Night, the Adoration of the Magi: > **[Twelve Days of Christmas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Days_of_Christmas)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > The Twelve Days of Christmas, also known as Twelvetide, is a festive Christian season celebrating the Nativity of Jesus. In some Western ecclesiastical traditions, "Christmas Day" is considered the "First Day of Christmas" and the Twelve Days are 25 December to 5 January, inclusive, with 6 January being a "thirteenth day" in some traditions and languages. However, 6 January is sometimes considered Twelfth Day/Twelfth Night with the Twelve Days "... And yes, that is out if sequence, since the Massacre if the Innocents occurred after the Magi arrived and left. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2021, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-christians-celebrate-on-the-second-days-of-christmas-easter-and-pentecost/956676/7 "2021-12-26T19:10:49Z")
In all these cases it is the second day of Christmastide/Eastertide/etc., commemorations that liturgically are **not** just **the** one day. But making a big deal of it and even having an official civil holiday or a church Holiday of Obligation seems more culturally and nationally determined – for instance I grew up in a Catholic-dominant culture (Puerto Rico) and **never** marked the Feast of Stephen as anything beyond just that and another day of Christmastide; nor did we mark or observe Easter or Pentecost Mondays as anything particularly notable, and none of them were Holidays of Obligation. > [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > > > December 26th is the Feast Day of the Innocents > > The children slaughtered by Herodes? Didn’t that happen quite longer after Jesus’ birth? I suppose the nominal “fanwank” sequence would be 25 December Y-year Jesus Born, 6 January Magi show up, 28 December _of Y-year+1_, Herod does his villainy (thus: “all boys under age 2”). The Western popular culture compresses the nativity stories to have the whole shebang happening within the confines of Xmas Eve/Xmas, but in fact the gospel provides for more than that (and the Magi are **not** at mangerside in Luke’s, they find the family in a proper house in Matthew’s). ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2021, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-christians-celebrate-on-the-second-days-of-christmas-easter-and-pentecost/956676/8 "2021-12-26T19:13:16Z")
Reading the Wiki article, it’s interesting how the majority of biblical scholars regard the story as a myth yet > Against this majority opinion some argue for the historicity of the event. [R. T. France](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._T._France), while acknowledging that the massacre is “perhaps the aspect [of Matthew’s infancy narrative] most often rejected as legendary” [[9]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_the_Innocents#cite_note-FOOTNOTEFrance200782-9) and that the story is similar to that of Moses, believes that it would not have arisen without historical basis.[[10]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_the_Innocents#cite_note-FOOTNOTEFrance200782-83-10) [Everett Ferguson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everett_Ferguson) argues that the story makes sense in the context of Herod’s reign of terror in the last few years of his rule… then further on the estimates of the dead children range from a couple dozen to 144,000. Sure sounds like an ass-pull to me. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2021, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-christians-celebrate-on-the-second-days-of-christmas-easter-and-pentecost/956676/9 "2021-12-26T19:16:41Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > But making a big deal of it and even having an official civil holiday or a church Holiday of Obligation seems more culturally and nationally determined – for instance I grew up in a Catholic-dominant culture (Puerto Rico) and **never** marked the Feast of Stephen as anything beyond just that and another day of Christmastide; nor did we mark or observe Easter or Pentecost Mondays as anything particularly notable, and none of them were Holidays of Obligation. Well, at least in Germany, the 26th of December and Easter and Pentecost Mondays are all official civil holidays. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2021, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-christians-celebrate-on-the-second-days-of-christmas-easter-and-pentecost/956676/10 "2021-12-26T19:49:15Z")
December 26th is also the Feast of the Holy Family, in Roman Catholicism. > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > . In the Anglican and Lutheran traditions, that is the Twelve Days of Christmas, culminating on Twelfth Night, the Adoration of the Magi: Roman Catholic tradition, too. On the liturgical calendar, Christmas and Easter aren’t _days_, but _seasons_, portions of the year set apart from “Ordinary Time”. December 25th and Easter Sunday are merely the first days of those seasons. (That is why, incidentally, Catholics don’t sing Christmas hymns during Mass until the 25th. Because the four Sundays previous are their own separate season of Advent.) ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2021, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-christians-celebrate-on-the-second-days-of-christmas-easter-and-pentecost/956676/11 "2021-12-26T20:24:35Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > But what do Christians celebrate on the respective second days of those holidays? In addition to the good answers already given, another is nothing. For most christians\* I know, Christmas is one day long (a day and a half if you count Christmas Eve). So is Easter (a long weekend notwithstanding). Pentecost often isn’t even on their radar. \* These christians are primarily of a fundamentalist protestant stripe. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2021, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-christians-celebrate-on-the-second-days-of-christmas-easter-and-pentecost/956676/12 "2021-12-26T20:52:25Z")
There is a very wide variety of practices between (and sometimes in) various denominations. Low-church Christians typically pay little or no attention to the liturgical calendar. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2021, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-christians-celebrate-on-the-second-days-of-christmas-easter-and-pentecost/956676/13 "2021-12-26T21:01:30Z")
Herod did a number of ugly things. Like the slander of a number of Roman emperors, some of it may be exaggerations cooked up by his enemies, media reporting and fact-checking of the day being sadly lacking. IIRC, Josephus who wrote the definitive history of the Jewish rulers never mentions the Slaughter of the Innocents; you would think the slaughter of hundreds or thousands of babies would be high on the list of “Bad Things Herod Did for 1000, Alex” but outside of the gospels, no contemporaries mention a peep of it. It’s right out of the “humble beginnings” legends playbook for every folk hero, the first danger they evade. (Along with “descended from noble blood”) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2021, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-christians-celebrate-on-the-second-days-of-christmas-easter-and-pentecost/956676/14 "2021-12-26T21:04:05Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > (That is why, incidentally, Catholics don’t sing Christmas hymns during Mass until the 25th. Because the four Sundays previous are their own separate season of Advent.) A distinction that’s lost on most people, because most people would consider Advent songs to also be “Christmas songs”. And while December 26 is the Feast of Stephen, that’s not really a big deal, given that every day of the year is the feast day of some saint or another. Or more precisely, the feast day of several saints, since there are a lot more than 365 canonized saints. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2021, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-christians-celebrate-on-the-second-days-of-christmas-easter-and-pentecost/956676/15 "2021-12-26T21:11:52Z")
Yeah, Herod was quite capable of doing evil crap like that, and if it was only like a couple dozen that explains why it was never a big deal, However, there was a popular joke at Herods expense about pigs being safer than children, … > **[It was safer to be his pig than his son](https://thirdspace.org.au/city/blog/it-was-safer-be-his-pig-his-son)** > > How different is the Christmas we know to the gritty picture presented in the book of Matthew? _by the time his reign came to an end, Herod was a depressed old man of 70, plagued with illness and the incessant disputes within his large family—he had in all, 10 wives and 19 children… Herod’s suspicions bordered on paranoia. He killed his own wife… and at a later date, her adult sons Alexander and Aristobulos… (the Emperor) Augustus made the grim joke that it was safer to be Herod’s pig[1] than Herod’s son. Josephus - the 1st century Historian - commented that Herod had ‘an evil nature, relentless in punishment and unsurpassing in action against the objects of his hatred.’” [2]_ So Herod was up to killing a couple dozen little known peasant boys in a little known backwater village. That doesn’t mean it did happen, of course, just that it could have happened. > [@md-2000](#): > > …Josephus who wrote the definitive history of the Jewish rulers never mentions the Slaughter of the Innocents; you would think the slaughter of hundreds or thousands of babies would be high on the list of “Bad Things Herod Did for 1000, Alex”… Sure, but a dozen or two? Meh. From wiki- _[Everett Ferguson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everett_Ferguson) argues that the story makes sense in the context of Herod’s reign of terror in the last few years of his rule,[[11]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_the_Innocents#cite_note-FOOTNOTEFerguson2003390-11) and the number of infants in Bethlehem that would have been killed – no more than a dozen or so – may have been too insignificant to be recorded by Josephus, who could not be aware of every incident far in the past when he wrote it.[[12]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_the_Innocents#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMaier1998179,_186-12)_ ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2021, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-christians-celebrate-on-the-second-days-of-christmas-easter-and-pentecost/956676/16 "2021-12-26T22:27:49Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Roman Catholic tradition, too. On the liturgical calendar, Christmas and Easter aren’t _days_ , but _seasons_ , portions of the year set apart from “Ordinary Time”. December 25th and Easter Sunday are merely the first days of those seasons. (That is why, incidentally, Catholics don’t sing Christmas hymns during Mass until the 25th. Because the four Sundays previous are their own separate season of Advent.) But doesn’t Christmastide go on longer in the Catholic calendar? In the Anglican calendar, it ends with Epiphany, which is a separate season. And same for Advent in the Anglican communion - it’s purple / Sarum blue, and no Christmas songs. The most common Advent hymn in the Anglican calendar is “O Come O come Emmanuel”, in a minor key. Not a Christmas carol. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-christians-celebrate-on-the-second-days-of-christmas-easter-and-pentecost/956676/17 "2021-12-27T01:23:58Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > But doesn’t Christmastide go on longer in the Catholic calendar? In the Anglican calendar, it ends with Epiphany, which is a separate season. Nope. Ends at Epiphany, same as with the Episcopalians. Then Ordinary Time, until Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-christians-celebrate-on-the-second-days-of-christmas-easter-and-pentecost/956676/18 "2021-12-27T01:24:47Z")
The Monday after Easter is called Dyngus day and is celebrated in Cleveland ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-christians-celebrate-on-the-second-days-of-christmas-easter-and-pentecost/956676/19 "2021-12-27T01:30:40Z")
Yeah, but that’s not a religious holiday, _per se_; it’s a cultural holiday celebrating Polish-Americans. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-christians-celebrate-on-the-second-days-of-christmas-easter-and-pentecost/956676/20 "2021-12-27T01:36:22Z")
Wikipedia led me astray! Dammit! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-christians-celebrate-on-the-second-days-of-christmas-easter-and-pentecost/956676.md?page=2)