1
January. 1662 Book of Common Prayer. The Circumcision of Christ.
The Circumcision of
Christ. The date of this Festival is, of course,
determined by Christmas. But it is not till some time after the establishment
of the Christmas Festival that the day has any designation except as the octave
of Christmas. Possibly anti-Judaic feeling might shrink from dwelling on Our
Lord's Circumcision; and the day seems for some time to have been observed as a
fast, in protest against the riotous heathen celebration of the 1st of January;
of which protest there is perhaps still an echo in the Collect. The earliest
notices of it as "the Circumcision" appear to be Gallican. With us
now it blends with the idea of New Year's Day, tending to solemnize the opening
of the year by the thought of responsibility and struggle against sin. -- January
1st.
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