12 Days of Defiance – (Jan 7 – 18) Celebration of various forms of moral defiance, time for the colors blue and green.
1st Day / Feast of Lucian – (Jan 7) Celebration of St. Lucian, teacher of Arius.
6th Day / John Hancock Day – (Jan 12) Celebration of John Hancock, Unitarian signer of the American Declaration of Independence.
Defiance Thursday – (Ultimate Thursday in the Dozen)
7th – 12th Day / Nika Week – (Jan 13-18) Commemoration of the joining of the Blues and Greens to defy Emperor Justinian, and the slaughter of Blues and Greens that followed.
12 Days of Action – (Jan 19-30) Celebration of various forms of defiant action, time for the colors of red and white.
1st Day / Feast of the International Family – (Jan 19) Commemoration of the family of Saints Maris and Martha, aristocratic Persians who emigrated to Rome to assist Christians being persecuted there. These two and their sons were tortured and executed for their good deeds.
6th Day / Sleds and Cannons – (Jan 24) Commemoration of the remarkably speedy arrival in Cambridge, Mass., of Henry Knox and the cannons of Fort Ticonderoga in just 56 days. After a heavy snowfall threatened to slow the transport, Knox’s patriots resorted to sleds, transforming a seeming setback into a boon by accomodating providence rather than resisting it.
7th Day / Spear King Day – (Jan 25) Commemoration of the death of Arian king Geiseric who, despite persecution of Unitarian Arians, gave Catholics freedom of religion under his reign and established a progressive tax system, providing relief to the common people.
Action Thursday – (Ultimate Thursday in the Dozen)
12th Day / Day of the Spark – (Jan 30) Commemoration of the delivery of the Discourse on Submission by proto-Unitarian minister Jonathan Mayhew on the 100th anniversary of the execution of King Charles I in 1649. This sermon, called the spark that ignited the American Revolution by John Adams, unravelled the scriptural underpinning of the divine right of kings.
CANDLEMAS – (First Thursday in February) Celebration of the childhood of Jesus, including his presentation at the Temple and later Disputation with the Elders of the Temple.