WHY, O WHY . . .

. . . can't the BBC (well, broadcasters in general, actually) persuade commentators to avoid making pronouncements on subjects on which they are not experts ?

This evening, in the midst of 'In Tune' (Radio 3), the presenter (Sean Rafferty, whom I normally enjoy greatly) announced that 'last night was Twelfth Night, the end of the Christian season of Christmas'.

Now, with every respect to Sean, whilst Twelfth Night is undoubtedly the end of the song (so to speak), it is not, and has never been, the end of the Christmas Season.

I accept that it depends how you define it; if you go by the presence of the Crib, then (at least according to St Peter's) Candlemas (aka the Purification) must be the end of the Season; alternatively, if you prefer to 'go by the book', then I note that in my Liturgia Horarum the rubric at the end of this coming Sunday - the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord - reads Post festum Baptismatis Domini incipit tempus per annum - so it ends with Vespers of the Feast.

Either way, though, the 'end of the Christmas season' isn't the Epiphany; still less the eve of the Epiphany !