Twelve Days in Medieval Times by Laura Strickland

Most of us are familiar with the carol, "The Twelve Days ofChristmas." It’s one of those that tends to get stuck in a person’s head at thistime of year, and a favorite of mine. But from whence did such an idea come,that Christmas could go on for so many days and would involve the kinds ofgifts that are listed in those stanzas? It came from Medieval England.

Back in the Middle Ages, Christmas was much more of areligious holiday than it is today. On the whole, life in those days was based so...