{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://morgangriffith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398658", "Congressman Griffith's Weekly E-Newsletter 12.26.16", "2016-12-26", "2016", "2016-12", "Republican", "House", "VA", "Morgan Griffith", "G000568", "morgangriffith.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Celebrating All Twelve Days of Christmas\r\n\u201cThe Twelve Days of Christmas\u201d is one of the most popular carols for this time of the year. Its alliteration like \u201cswans a swimming,\u201d outlandish gifts like \u201ctwelve lords a leaping,\u201d and repetition make it an enjoyable song to sing and hear. Artists from Perry Como to John Denver and the Muppets have recorded their own versions that are played during the Christmas season.\r\nThe exact origins of the lyrics have been lost to time. Some theories suggest the song originated in France, while others point to the north of England.\r\nBut we should not let the unusual nature of the song\u2019s gifts or uncertainty about the origins of the carol to take away from the point that there are twelve days of Christmas. When decorations appear in stores and promotions for holiday shopping start in October, it may seem that everything is building towards Christmas Day on December 25th\u00a0alone. But the days after Christmas have their own meanings, too.\r\nTake Boxing Day. On December 26th, Britain and many countries with strong cultural ties to it celebrate Boxing Day, although it is not a tradition that made it to the British colonies that became the United States.\r\nProfessor Mark Connelly of the University of Kent notes, \u201cWhile Christmas Day was about being at home with your family, Boxing Day was a time to get outside, to get away from the home.\u201d1\u00a0Fox hunting and horse racing are pastimes often associated with the day. It is also a popular day for soccer, just as many Americans look forward to watching football on our Thanksgiving.\r\nPerhaps the name of the holiday came from the boxed gifts given by aristocrats to their servants for the Christmas season. Or perhaps the name came from the church boxes which contained donations for the poor and were opened the day after Christmas. This suggestion seems appropriate, for December 26th\u00a0is also St. Stephen\u2019s Day. The day\u2019s link to charity is immortalized in the first lines of the traditional Christmas carol, \u201cGood King Wenceslas:\u201d\r\nGood King Wenceslas looked out  \r\nOn the Feast of Stephen  \r\nWhen the snow lay 'round about  \r\nDeep and crisp and even\r\nAs the song goes, when the king looked out on St. Stephen\u2019s Day, he saw a poor man gathering fuel. Wenceslas called for his page to gather food and drink to take to the poor man\u2019s house. As the pair went forth to their task on the freezing day, the page found warmth by following in the footsteps of the good king.\r\nAnother tradition involving good kings comes at the end of the Twelve Days, on January 6th, which is Epiphany. The kings celebrated on this day are known variously as the Three Kings, the Three Wise Men, or the Magi. We are familiar with them through the Book of Matthew and carols such as \u201cWe Three Kings.\u201d\r\nEpiphany celebrates the visit of the Three Kings to Jesus in Bethlehem bringing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. In Spain and Latin America, the day is also known as \u201cThree Kings\u2019 Day.\u201d Just as children here write letters to Santa, in cultures that celebrate this day, they write to the Three Kings asking for gifts.\r\nOn January 5th, the kings arrive in a parade atop live camels and accompanied by floats and pages tossing candy into the crowd. That night, children put out bread and water for the camels and awake the next morning to find their shoes filled with presents from the kings.2\r\nLike the lyrics of \u201cThe Twelve Days of Christmas,\u201d many of these holiday celebrations originated in past ages, when the world looked much different, and for reasons we might not even know with certainty. I believe it is a testament to the magic of the Christmas season that these celebrations remain vital and beloved in many places around the modern world.\r\nWhether they are spent outdoors, as Boxing Day is often done, or performing acts of charity, as the carol of \u201cGood King Wenceslas\u201d celebrates, I hope you can treasure all the days of Christmas.\r\nBy the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas, we will have begun the 115th\u00a0Congress and will hopefully do great things for America during this session. On the eighteenth day of this Congress, Donald Trump will be inaugurated, and then we will have real change and hope.\r\nIf you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office. \u00a0You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671.\u00a0To reach my office via email, please visit my website at\u00a0www.morgangriffith.house.gov. Also on my website is the latest material from my office, including information on votes recently taken on the floor of the House of Representatives.\r\n1http://www.historyextra.com/feature/brief-history-boxing-day\u00a02http://www.spain.info/en_US/reportajes/la_magica_espera_de_los_reyes_magos.html\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://morgangriffith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398658"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 3.481899155303836, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}