The Eleventh Day of Christmas is marked by more than one feast day. The best known, for modern Catholics at least, is that of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American-born saint. On Sunday, we focused on St. Simeon Stylites the Elder, a more obscure, much more unusual, but in some senses more unifying saint of the Early Church.

St. Simeon is celebrated not only by Catholics, but also by the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and even some Protestant churches, being an early saint whose life predated the schisms that have since divided believers. Born to a humble shepherd’s family, Simeon was inspired by the sayings of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew, known as the Beatitudes, to pursue a life of faith, joining a monastery at just 15.

His zeal for spiritual discipline led him beyond the monastery’s regular practices, first to a solitary hut and then to the rugged slopes of a mountain in what is now Syria. Seeking solitude from the throngs of pilgrims who sought his counsel, he eventually took to living on top of a crumbling pillar, or ‘stylos,’ initiating a new form of asceticism.

However, his unique perch on a 10-foot pillar only drew more attention to him. Some of his contemporaries thought he adopted his strange form of monasticism for exactly that reason, and they called for him to come down. However, seeing him immediately move to end his lonely vigil without complaint, they realized the practice was not motivated by pride, and they bid him to stay where he was after all.

Later, he moved to a 50-foot pillar, where he spent over 40 years enduring the elements while surviving on meager sustenance. He preached, mentored, and even corresponded from this perch, with some of his writings surviving down to the present day.

Simeon passed away atop his pillar in 459 A.D., around the age of 70, while bent over in prayer. The remains of his pillar near Aleppo, though damaged by Syria’s incessant wars, remain as a physical testament to his holy life. Many other “pillar monks,” or stylites, were inspired by him, and many old pictures of ancient sites depict their strange structures clinging to the ruins.

What drew me attention was this strange protuberance on top. It looked really strange & didn’t fit with the rest of the building pic.twitter.com/QEgPM6zj2U

— Paul Cooper (@PaulMMCooper) November 23, 2017

THE TWELFTH DAY.

And so we come to Twelfth Night, the climax of the 12 Days of Christmas.

While some days during this period might have lacked distinct traditions, Twelfth Night makes up for it with its festive, sometimes raucous celebrations, historically so wild that they were occasionally prohibited.

For your Twelfth Night party, you might consider baking a Scotch bun or black bun, a heavy fruit cake wrapped in pastry, traditionally enjoyed not only by Scots but by their American kinsmen in Appalachia—perhaps less often now than in the past, sadly.

Baking a dried bean or pea into the cake is customary. The finder is crowned as the “king” or “queen” of the night. The finder often doubles as the Lord of Misrule or Master of Revels, orchestrating the evening’s fun and games.

A-WASSAILING.

If you’ve run out of St. John’s Love from earlier in our Twelve Days, no problem—it’s time to make a new batch of mulled wine, or wassail, for Twelfth Night. You could even participate in the old custom of “wassailing,” wandering from house to house, sharing your wassail, and singing carols.

More unusual is the tradition of singing to fruit trees to bless them for the upcoming harvest, although you may struggle to find any to serenade, depending on where you live.

HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS. 

Beyond the revelry, Twelfth Night prepares us for Epiphany, the true end of the Christmas season, which ushers in Epiphanytide.

Epiphany is known as Three Kings Day in many countries, or in some, such as Ireland, as Little Christmas. It commemorates the visit of the Three Kings, also known as the Wise Men or Magi, to Jesus in His manger. As the trio gifted the infant Christ with gold, frankincense, and myrrh, so did Christians traditionally exchange gifts at Epiphany—and holding one or two Christmas Day gifts back for this “Little Christmas” might be a great way to keep your children, if you have them, fill of anticipation and interest in Christmastide long after December 25th.

Twelfth Night and Epiphany also mark the end of the line for your Christmas decorations, sadly. However, it’s not a hard deadline; if you really want to keep the spirit of the season alive, you can leave them up—but remember your next opportunity to take them down is not, according to tradition, until Candlemas on February 2nd!