January 6th - Ephiphany or Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night signifies the end of Christmas and the beginning of Epiphany.  This was the Twelfth Day or last day of Christmas holiday and was marked by a feast.  It was a time for peasants to pay their annual rent to the lord and the lord might in turn pay a part of his obligation to them.  A recognition of the magi bringing gifts to Christ.

One English lord provided his tenants with

his laborer's-feast at Christmas, along with two men, namely two white loaves,

January 1st - Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord

Medieval people navigated through time by a complex system of signposts based on natural cycles, religious rituals and cultural traditions.  The seven-day week was a part of ordinary life, since Sundays, and in many cases Saturday afternoons were occasions of leisure.  The week also determined the schedule of local markets and fasting days (Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, on which the church forbade people to eat meet).  The twelve-month Roman calendar that we use today was less important to medieval people.  Laypeople tended to organize their year around the cycle of religious holy days - days that served as occasions for secular merrymaking as well as religious observations.

The repertoire and sometimes the actual dates of holy days varied from place to place.  Major feasts were observed as holidays and required fasting on the previous day.  [Singman, Jeffrey. The Middle Ages, pp. 262-263]

Circumcision of Jesus - Fra Angelico, ca. 1450

The Circumcision of Christ was a major feast which fell on January 1st, 8 days after the birth of Christ according to Jewish law.