Twelfth Day is the twelfth and last day of the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas

Twelve Days of Christmas

The Twelve Days of Christmas are the festive days beginning Christmas Day . This period is also known as Christmastide and Twelvetide. The Twelfth Night of Christmas is always on the evening of 5 January, but the Twelfth Day can either precede or follow the Twelfth Night according to which...

 which follow Christmas Day. In western Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

 it falls on 6 January, which is also the feast of the Epiphany

Epiphany (Christian)

Epiphany, or Theophany, meaning "vision of God",...

.

Twelfth Day is preceded by Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night (holiday)

Twelfth Night is a festival in some branches of Christianity marking the coming of the Epiphany and concluding the Twelve Days of Christmas.It is defined by the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary as "the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the...

, the evening of 5 January.

In some countries, Twelfth Day is denoted as a public holiday

Public holiday

A public holiday, national holiday or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year....

. It has a particular prominence in Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, where it is known as Little Christmas

Little Christmas

Little Christmas is one of the traditional names in Ireland for January 6, more commonly known in the rest of the world as the Celebration of the Epiphany. It is so called because it was the day on which Christmas Day was celebrated under the Julian calendar, before the adoption of the Gregorian...

(Nollaig Bheag).