What is this strange sounding and looking word? Twixmas is the time between Christmas and the New Year, also known as the Festive gap.
New year celebrations are not new; there has been some kind of new year celebration for around 4000 years. These celebrations were related to astronomical events. The Romans introduced and established the 1st of January as the new year date when they developed the Julian calendar. This was widely accepted until 1582 when Pope Gregory introduced the Gregorian calendar. It still had 1st January as the new year start date and was mainly used by the Catholic church. In 1752 Protestant nations adopted the Gregorian calendar and from this point there was widespread celebrations of 1st January, New Years Day.
However, 1st January is not a universal New Years Day, many cultures and nations celebrate New Year on a different day and date. This is due to the use of different calendar systems and cultural celebrations. Arguably the most well-known is the Chinese New Year which occurs between the end of January and into February. Other examples include the Lunar New Year in East Asia, Islamic New Year, Ethiopian New Year and the Jewish New Year.
The time between Christmas and New Year, Twixmas/Festive gap, is always a very strange and somewhat subdued time. It’s as though no-one really knows how to fill in the days. It’s a short time between the two celebrations so not really worth starting any new or big projects (that’s always my excuse!). A lot of workplaces shut down, not feeling that it’s worth opening for a few days, equally as it could be more expensive to open the office or factory for such a short time.
Having overeaten and drunk for the days of Christmas, people use this calm in order to give their body time to recover before they attack it again with more food and drink. Some will go away for the New Year celebrations, so their Festive gap is in preparation for a trip.
It can feel a sad time. The excitement, expectations and enjoyment of Christmas all finished. Even the lights that shone brightly before, seem to shine a little dimmer. That’s if they’re still switched on, many not seeing the point anymore. Music on TV and radio is also different, Christmas songs wrapped up and put away along with the Christmas TV specials.
It is almost as if the houses, streets, villages, towns and cities are saying this is enough, we need to rest before the next round of celebrating.
So, whatever you do, however you spend the time in recovery, enjoy your Twixmas or Festive Gap, and look forward to New Year celebrations, whatever they may look like.
Happy New Year.
Man on a bike. 