Christmas on January Seventh is known in many countries, as Old Christmas Day. The date for Christmas changed in 1752, when England and Scotland switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendars, dropping 11days. However, those pesky rural folk did not accept the loss of those 11 days and preferred to celebrate Christmas the way they had for centuries.
There are some charming traditions associated with Old Christmas Day. White cloth is used on dinner tables to symbolize purity--and the swaddling clothes baby Jesus was wrapped in. Straw is mounded upon the table to symbolize the simplicity of the place where the Christ Child was born. Candles are lit to represent the light of the Savior and the festive Christmas meal represents the end of fasting.
