the.com/midnight mass
Church's one all-nighter a year, because Jesus deserves better than a 9am slot.
means A Christmas Eve church service held late at night, ending right around midnight, that marks the start of Christmas Day.
from The 'midnight' part is literal and ancient — early Christians believed Christ's birth occurred at midnight, drawing on a line from the Book of Wisdom about the Word leaping down from heaven 'while all things were in quiet, and night was in the midst of her course.' 'Mass' itself traces back to the Latin missa, from the dismissal phrase at the end of the Roman rite, 'Ite, missa est' ('Go, it is sent/dismissed') — so the service is literally named for its own closing words. Celebrating a special nighttime liturgy for Christmas dates back many centuries in the Church, long before anyone needed to justify it as Jesus's one exception to banker's hours.
- origin
- predates Christmas Day itself by centuries
- timing
- often starts well before actual midnight now
- attendance
- the annual churchgoers' one appearance
- vibe
- candles, carols, incense, mild sleep deprivation