The Day After or is it the Next Day?

King Wenceslas

The Feast of Stephen, or St Stephen's Day.

Boxing Day.

Kwanzaa begins..

The Second Day of Christmas.

Today is a day with multiple identities.

I remember the carol of Good King Wenceslas giving alms to the poor on the Feast of Stephen. I am not sure that I fully understood the confluence of all of these celebrations where I was a kid. 


I was reminded while in church on Christmas Eve that the traditional religious view of Christmas conflicts with the secular view. According to classic Christianity, the christmas season begins on Christmas and runs for 12 days until January 6th, which is Three Kings Day, or the Epiphany. 

For the secular world the Christmas season officially begins on Black Friday and ends on Christmas Day and is devoted to an orgy of shopping and preparation. 

Actually, today is the second busiest shopping day of the year as shoppers rush back to the stores with their gifts to exchange them and get what they really wanted for Christmas. 

I hope today is whatever you want it to be. For me, I took a day of vacation to decompress from the hectic shopping and preparation season.

Merry Christmas!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD