8- 12 Days of Christmas

8- 12 Days of Christmas

Abigail Holbert

“On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me eight maids a-milking.” The 8th day celebrates Mary, the mother of Jesus. Eight maids are the eight blessings given by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. The eighth day of Christmas is New Years Day as well as the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God and the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ.

The serving of certain foods that are seen as bringing good luck for the New Year is also another common tradition. Some of these foods include: Grapes representing sweetness and good fortune eaten in twelve or thirteen for each month of the year and one for good luck; greens representing paper money; black-eyed peas or legumes representing coins; cornbread representing gold; pork symbolizing prosperity and progress; fish symbolizing abundance; noodles symbolizing long life; and cakes or foods shaped in a circle symbolizing the year in its fullness.