The 12 days of Christmas are one of the most important parts of the Christmas festivities and also the most misunderstood belief among the Christians who are not the part of any church traditions who are of the view that the 12 days of Christmas are the days before Christmas. While the fact remains that these are the 12 days following the Christmas day. These twelve days are counted from 26th of December till January 6, which is regarded to
be the 12th day of Christmas. This means that 25th of December is not one of the 12 days of Christmas.
The origin of the 12 days of Christmas has always been covered with confusion, as there are many different perceptions related with these 12 days in calendars and church traditions. According to the western church Epiphany is considered to be the time when the three Wise Men or Magi came to gift the different presents to child Jesus. Cultures like Latin America observe January 6 to be the 'Three Kings Day'. People following this culture commemorate this day by giving out gifts to each other. Since a different kind of calendar if used by the Eastern orthodox tradition followers so they celebrate Christmas on January 7th and observe Epiphany on January 19th.
The twelfth night is considered to be the night for the last day of Christmas festival of the year, which is the day of huge feasts and removal of the Christmas decorations. There is a popular song by the name of "the Twelve Days of Christmas" which is considered to be a song containing the Christian instructions dating back to the 16th century religious wars having some hidden meaning with the references to the basic teachings of Faith. http://www.theydeserveit.com/christmas/12-day-of-christmas.html
