The BBC discusses the proper date for removal of Christmas decorations? Outdoor lights?
Misfortune apparently befalls anyone who keeps Christmas decorations up a minute after Twelfth Night – but it can fall on 5 January or 6 January, according to different traditions. So what are the rules for taking down the tree and tinsel?…
The hashtag #Epiphany is trending on Twitter as those taking their decorations down for another year share post-holiday blues.
But others believe Twelfth Night marks the end of Christmas, which logically falls on 5 January if the 12 nights are counted from Christmas Day night itself. To add to the confusion, while Anglicans mark Twelfth Night on 5 January, other churches wait until the following day.
What is your tradition? Is it all gone the day after Christmas? Do you wait for Candlemas? When did you do your decorating? Right after Thanksgiving? Christmas Eve. Let us know on Facebook or here.
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I think I got it when we were first married – in the 60s. All the standard figures are stuck to the floor so they fold up into the scene. The grandkids have added others over the years.
Mine – which is exactly like the one in the photo — is still up. It seems a shame to have the Three Kings, newly arrived at the scene, to then be whisked off to storage. Whose crèche is it? does anyone know? — Mine was purchased at W.T. Grant over several years in the late 40’s and early 50’s and pieces still have prices marked on the bottom of each figure — ranging from 10 cents to one dollar for the crèche itself.
We take our tree down at Epiphany…but between Christmas and Epiphany the wise men make a treacherous journey. One year they had to use ropes to climb up the side of the house and work their way in through the window. I, too, appreciate the dinosaur, the enormous pig, and the frog in the creche in the photo…and also the evil creator of the daleks, from Dr. Who, on the right, masquerading as a robed king.
Calculations about 12th night aside, in the photo, i like dino in the upper right behind the creche. I think Mr. Bean may approve ( :
Surveying our tree as the snow falls outside, expecting about 40 cm overnight. Cold day for an outdoor baptism tomorrow I dare say.
I’m guessing that if there can be a dino, then the pig is OK as well!
For many years, my plastique tree rested in the basement, fully decorated and covered by a dust cover. My modest condominium has no basement, so the tree must be undecorated and disassembled yearly – on Twelfth Night. However, the creche has not only an Infant, but also an Epiphany Child. The wise men arrive and the Child is displayed on the morning of the Twelfth Day of Christmas. And then everything gets packed away.