Celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas – One Day at a Time

“But Jiminy Crickets, it is the 28th of December! Is it not too late for the 12 Days of Christmas?” you say.

Not to fear, Chanticleerians! The 12 Days of Christmas begins on December 26th! And it continues to the 6th of January – Three Kings Day. The four weeks leading up to Christmas is known as the Advent.

Some say that December 25th is the first day of Christmas, but we are going with the medieval date of the 26th because revelry could not take place on the 25th as it was a holy day. And the Twelve Days of Christmas is about revelry!

So if you haven’t finished wrapping presents, sending out those cards, and baking cookies—don’t worry—you’ve got an extra seven days!

Happy Holidays to You from the Chanticleer Team! 

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

Five Golden Rings

Four Calling Birds

Three French hens (Chanticleer’s favorite #justsaying)

Two turtle doves

And a partridge in a pear tree 

Not one ring to bind them in this case.

Of course, there is another age-old interpretation of the Five Golden Rings is that they refer to five ring-necked birds such as Ring-necked Pheasants or the European Goldfinches in keeping with the bird theme of the song. 

International Christmas Traditions – Portugal

A Portuguese  Christmas tradition is that small groups of people will go door to door in their neighborhoods singing songs. Usually the singers are accompanied by instruments. Sometimes they are in traditional dress, sometimes not. They typically open with a song to ask the resident for food and/or drink, and then continue about the birth of Jesus, good wishes for a happy new year, and for drinks and treats. If a resident doesn’t treat the singers well or refuses to open his door, they may sing songs jokingly mocking them. If the singers are treated well, they will sing about how handsome and beautiful the hosts are and how generous and nice they are.

The troubadouring does not take place until after Christmas Day and continues on to Three Kings Day also known as Epiphany.

On the Fifth Day of Christmas, Chanticleer brings to me…

Five First Place Blue Ribbons!

Generally, we only offer 5 of our coveted First Place Blue Ribbons per division, with one person going on to win the Overall Grand Prize.

There are 25 Book Award Divisions offered at Chanticleer, with genre divisions for Fiction and Non-Fiction as well as Series Awards and Shorts Awards. All our Divisions are soon to be open for 2023! Submit today!