You may already know that traditionalists usually take their Christmas trees down on 6 January.
But if you’re staring at your festive handiwork and wondering why you have to tear it down so soon ― or if you’ve got a bit organising-happy and banished your bunting already ― you might wonder why that date is chosen to begin with.
According to English Heritage, it’s got to do with the 12 days of Christmas (which start on Christmas day and aren’t to be confused with Advent, which begins weeks before the event).
Some consider leaving lights up later than that “bad luck,” they add.
6 January is the end of the 12 days of Christmas, or the Epiphany.
This is when Christ is believed to have met the Magi in Christian theology. Therefore people who celebrate Christmas might consider the 6 January the “last day” of the period.
This is also when other celebrations, like Ireland’s Nollaig na mBan (women’s Christmas) take place.
It’s believed that people might have started to think leaving your tree up past this date is unlucky because it oversteps the bounds of the season, while taking them down early was seen as prematurely cutting off the joy of the festivities.
But it wasn’t always this way.
English Heritage says, “The theory that it’s bad luck to leave decorations up beyond Twelfth Night (around 6 January) is a modern take on the tradition, but doing so used to be normal practice in the medieval period.”
The decorations, which were traditionally put up on Christmas Eve, used to stay out until February 2 (the end of Candlemas).
This used to be the official end of Christmas in Medieval England.
Dr Michael Carter, English Heritage’s senior properties historian, said: “The tradition that it is bad luck to keep decorations up after Twelfth Night and the Epiphany is a modern invention, although it may derive from the medieval notion that decorations left up after Candlemas eve would become possessed by goblins!”
For what it’s worth, the BBC says: “Any Christmas decorations not taken down by Twelfth Night (January 5th) should be left up until Candlemas Day and then taken down.”
*Fake agonised voice* oh noooo..
