Seasons · 9 min · 14 October 2026
The Twelve Nights Explained, with Journal Prompts
The quiet days between the years: where the custom comes from, when they begin, the thirteen-wishes ritual and twelve prompts.
Title image created with AI
Between Christmas and Epiphany there is a stretch of days that feels outside of time. Work is quiet, the evenings are long, the old year is almost over and the new one has not quite begun. In German-speaking countries these nights have a name: the Rauhnächte, the twelve rough nights. This guide explains where the custom comes from, when the nights begin, how the popular thirteen-wishes ritual works, and gives you twelve journal prompts, one for each night.
Where the Twelve Nights come from
The custom is old and its roots are tangled. One explanation points to the calendar: a year of twelve lunar months has about 354 days, a solar year about 365. The days left over were felt to belong to neither year: a time "between the years", outside the ordinary count, when the boundary between worlds was said to be thin.
In Alpine folk belief, the Wild Hunt rode through the sky on these nights, and families carried smoke through the house and the stable to mark the turn of the year.
The name has two traditional readings. Rauh may come from Rauch, smoke, because houses and stables were smoked with incense and herbs during these nights. Or it may mean rough, wild, hairy, after the figures of folk tales who were said to roam the winter nights. Nobody knows for certain, and both stories are part of the tradition.
Many customs are attached to these nights. People avoided hanging out washing, tidied the house before the new year, carried the smoke of resin and herbs through the rooms, and watched their dreams. A common belief held that each night stands for one month of the coming year, the first night for January and the twelfth for December. We tell these customs as what they are: folklore, not forecasts. The ritual of the thirteen wishes is newer. It is a modern custom that has grown around the old nights.
Is it a pagan or a Christian custom? Both. The nights are older than the church calendar, and the church gave them Christmas and Epiphany.
When do the Twelve Nights begin?
There are two common counts:
- From 24/25 December to 6 January. This is the most widespread reading in Germany and Austria: the night of Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to the night before Epiphany.
- From the winter solstice, 21 December, to 1 or 6 January. Some count from the longest night of the year. In 2026 the solstice falls on 21 December at 21:50 (German time).
Choose the one that feels right. What matters is that you give the nights your attention. In 2026 a full moon falls right in the middle: on 24 December at 02:28. You can also start late: begin on the night you can. The custom is a frame, not a rule.
What you need
- A candle for every evening. One candle you light each night works beautifully: you watch it burn down over twelve evenings.
- A notebook. One page for each night.
- A fireproof bowl or cauldron for the paper, and a heat-proof dish for smoke.
- Something for smoke, if you like the old custom: frankincense resin cups, juniper, sage or palo santo.
- Thirteen small slips of paper and a pen for the wishes ritual.
Choose a quiet corner and set out the bowl, the candle and your notebook. Many people tidy the house before the first night, so the old year does not follow them in.
The thirteen-wishes ritual
This is a modern ritual that has become very popular, and it is beautifully simple.
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5- Before the first night, write thirteen wishes for the new year on thirteen slips of paper. One wish per slip, in your own words. Fold them so you cannot read them, and mix them in a bowl or a small box.
- Each of the twelve nights, light your candle, take one slip at random without reading it and burn it safely in a fireproof bowl or cauldron, by an open window. The custom says you hand that wish over, into other hands.
- On the last night, one slip remains. Open it. This is the wish you take care of yourself in the coming year.
Burn paper only in a fireproof vessel, by an open window or outside, with water within reach. Use thin, small slips.
Twelve journal prompts, one for each night
Light the candle, open the book, write for ten minutes. Do not read back until the last night.
- What did this year give me that I did not expect?
- What am I ready to leave in the old year?
- Which moment of this year do I want to remember in ten years?
- Who helped me this year, and have I told them?
- What did I learn about myself in a difficult moment?
- What do I want my mornings to feel like next year?
- Which small habit do I want to keep, and which do I want to end?
- Where do I want to spend more time: with whom, doing what?
- What would I try if I was not afraid of being bad at it?
- What do I want to say no to more often?
- What does a good ordinary day look like for me?
- What is the first thing I will do in the new year, on the very first morning?
On the last night, read all twelve pages. Underline the one sentence that surprised you.
Smoke through the house, the old way
The oldest Rauhnacht custom is smoke. Frankincense is the scent of the season: the resin of the incense road, burned in churches across Europe. In the Scottish Highlands, juniper smoke filled the house on New Year's morning. If you want to try it, open the windows, light a resin cup on a heat-proof dish or a juniper brick from your candle, let it flame for a moment and blow it out. Walk slowly through the rooms, perhaps in silence, perhaps saying what you want to leave behind. Rest the smouldering resin or bundle in a heat-proof bowl and let it go out. The custom is about marking the turn of the year, not about what smoke does. In the Rauhnächte people traditionally burned frankincense, juniper and herbs from the garden.
Safety
- Burn paper only in a fireproof bowl, by an open window or outside, with water nearby.
- Never leave a candle or glowing resin alone.
- Keep smoke away from sleeping people, babies and pets, and air the room afterwards.
- Let the bowl cool before you empty it. Keep matches and lighters away from children.
Care
Keep your notebook with the candle, so the next evening begins where the last one ended.
A box for the days between the years
If you would like everything together, or are looking for a Christmas gift that lasts into the new year, the Twelve Nights ritual box is our answer: the Greenman leather book with brass clasp, the woodwick candle "Ash & Woodsmoke", black sage and palo santo, plus twelve printable prompts. It is opened on 24 December and used for twelve evenings. Add a personal message and choose the delivery date.
Frequently asked questions
When do the Rauhnächte start in 2026?
Most commonly in the night from 24 to 25 December, running to 6 January 2027. Some begin with the winter solstice on 21 December.
What are the 13 wishes in the Rauhnächte?
A modern ritual: you write 13 wishes, burn one unread each of the twelve nights and take care of the last one yourself.
Do I need to burn incense during the Twelve Nights?
No. Smoke is a traditional part of the custom, but a candle and a notebook are enough.
What do you burn in the Rauhnächte?
Traditionally frankincense, juniper and herbs from the garden.
Can I start late?
Yes. Start on the night you can. The custom is a frame, not a rule.
Is it true that each night stands for a month?
It is an old folk belief. We share it as tradition, not as a prediction.
Everything you need
All of it, in one ritual
A letter every Sunday
A ritual for the week, the story behind a custom and the moon ahead. Every other week, word of new rituals and boxes.
