Facts about December
Month Sayings, Customs and Traditions
Gemstone: Turquoise
December used to be the tenth month of the Roman year, and it gets its name from the word 'decem', which means ten.
Christmas month
December is very much associated with Christmas and a lot of December customs and traditions have therefore been swallowed up by the festival.
Christmas, the mass of Christ, is held on 25th December and commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ 2000 years ago.
At the beginning of December, the season of Advent starts. The word advent means 'coming', and as its name suggests it is a time of preparation for the coming feast of Christmas.
St Nicholas Day 6 December
This is the feast day of St Nicholas, Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor (now Turkey) in the 4th century AD. He is the patron saint of children.In the Netherlands and neighbouring countries of Europe, St Nicholas is said to bring sweets and presents to well behaved children on 6 December. This tradition was imported to the USA by Dutch settlers, and St Nicholas evolved into Santa Claus, those gift-giving rounds are preformed later in the month. In this new incarnation he subsequently returned across the Atlantic to merge with the British Father Christmas.
Holy Innocents Day - ChildermassHoly Innocents Day, also known as Childermas, falls on 28 December. It commemorates King Herod's massacre of all male infants in and around Bethlehem under the age of two in attempt to kill the young Christ.
In the days when Christmas was less child-centred, Childermas was a time for indulging children with treats and parties.
Unlucky.-On a more sombre note, 28 December is widely regarded as the unluckiest day of the year, so don't do anything and certainly don't start anything on this day!
