In medieval times, Christmas was not a single day but a twelve-day festival incorporating saints’ days and feast days, beginning on December 25th and ending on January 5th. It was a structured time of celebration, with twelve days of symbolic indulgence and reflection navigating people through to the year’s rebirth. Stories for the 12 Days of Christmas seeks to revive this ritual period through a carefully curated selection of stories, which map these ancient celebrations onto their twentieth-century equivalents.

Courtly masques become pantomimes, feasts in the Great Hall become festive dinner parties, winter hunts become countryside dog walks and lordly acts of charity become the spontaneous whims of socialites. Alongside these modern equivalencies, the collection also touches on the historic commonalities of the season: love, family, finding connection and embracing new beginnings.