According To Tradition - Christmas Decorations

We are away from home so I’ll do it when we get back mid January. Usually I do it on the 12 th night.

6th for me. My theory is that, as Twelfth Night was historically the big party night, the decorations should be up for that night and taken down the next day. I count Christmas Day as 'first night' therefore 5th Jan is Twelfth Night so they come down on 6th. It really doesn't matter what people do, my sister took hers down on 27th, we all have our own traditions.

JackyB

In Germany we have a tradition of "Sternsinger" which is when the local altar boys dress up as the three Wise Men and come around the houses in groups of four or five, singing songs, saying a little poem and blessing the house. This is why you see * C M B * and the year written on many doors. They come around on the Saturday nearest 6 January.

So, until they had been, we would keep our decorations up, light the fire and make the house festive and cosy and invite them in when they came as they would be traipsing around in the cold all morning.

Since COVID, they stay outside the house and sing their songs there. But I still wouldn't dream of taking the decorations down before 6 Jan. They only go up a couple of days before Christmas although Advent decorations have been up since the first of Advent, so we like to get a couple of weeks' joy out of them.

My sister's birthday is on 6 Jan, and when we were little our mother always kept the decorations up for her birthday, especially if she was having a party.

Can anyone remember the gaudy garlands and paper chains we used to hang on the ceiling - fashions have changed so much in Christmas decorations over the decades.

Yes JackyB ... I remember the concertina like paper trimmings, hanging from the ceiling by lots of drawing pins. In later years they became foil not paper.

I wonder if anyone still does.

Round here people cannot get trees up early enough. Go to our local Christmas tree farm after the first weekend in December and they are almost cleaned out. The trees are then up until about now - nearly a month.

I am de-Christmassing the house day by day and room by room.

I'm another 6th January person.
It was always 6th in our family - parents and grandparents too.

But ours only go up a few days before Christmas (and often on Christmas eve) so they aren't up for weeks on end.
I do love them inspite of all the effort involved.

I can’t help wonder why some people bother, especially after seeing your photo, mokryna.
What’s the point of putting them up Xmas Eve (or a few days before) and taking them down around the 27th? They take a lot of time to put up, so if they are a trouble, why put them up in the first place? Why boast that you’ve put them up Xmas Eve and taken them down again by the 27th? Better not to bother at all, surely? Is it some kind of race to be last to put up and first to take down, I wonder? Seems a bit stupid to me, if that’s the case.

I took this sad photo last Sunday, before the New Year festivities.

Mine get put up on the first Sunday in Advent (or as closely after as I can manage. I have poor organisation skills ) and they come down on January 6th. My family’s tradition is to put them up on Christmas Eve and take them down on the 6th but I like to get some more enjoyment out of mine!

when i did put decorations and tree up, i took mine down on the 2nd as i felt it was over so they could be put away, i have not bothered with any decorations over the last 5 years, i am on my own now and have never been much of a christmas person, i did it over the years for others rather than myself, and no i am not a grinch, i do all the usual things buying cards and presents, my son works over christmas and my dil and kids go to her sisters, so decoration would just be for me.

I have always taken mine down on Jan. 5th, but a crib may remain up until Candlemas on 4th February, as centuries ago churchmen trying to get over the differences in the Gospels' account, decided that it was not until about then that the Flight to Egypt took place.

To be honest, I don't think it matters a jot whether you leave them up to the 5th or 6th of January, or take them down before the New Year, which a lot of people do. In other words put them up and take them down when it suits you.

its easy. You put them up when you want to and take them down when you want to.

Mine came down on New Year’s Eve. They looked very nice this year, but glad to see the back of them after the event.

As for the late Queen leaving hers up until a certain time. I would lay odds on that she was not taking them down herself, even in her younger days.

Like many of us, I expect she enjoyed decorating the tree, but the taking down was probably left to Backstairs Billy, or his equivalent.

👑

In Germany we have a tradition of "Sternsinger" which is when the local altar boys dress up as the three Wise Men and come around the houses in groups of four or five, singing songs, saying a little poem and blessing the house. This is why you see * C M B * and the year written on many doors. They come around on the Saturday nearest 6 January.

So, until they had been, we would keep our decorations up, light the fire and make the house festive and cosy and invite them in when they came as they would be traipsing around in the cold all morning.

Since COVID, they stay outside the house and sing their songs there. But I still wouldn't dream of taking the decorations down before 6 Jan. They only go up a couple of days before Christmas although Advent decorations have been up since the first of Advent, so we like to get a couple of weeks' joy out of them.

My sister's birthday is on 6 Jan, and when we were little our mother always kept the decorations up for her birthday, especially if she was having a party.

Can anyone remember the gaudy garlands and paper chains we used to hang on the ceiling - fashions have changed so much in Christmas decorations over the decades.

Reluctantly started taking decorations down yesterday so by Saturday they will be put away.

I took my cards down on 2 January. I am going to enjoy my tree for one more night tonight and take it down tomorrow, 5th. But I don’t like the bare look, and the dark streets outside after the Christmas lights have gone.

Almost always the 6th here, and I always hate getting rid of the tree, which still looks lovely.

We did do it a couple of days later a few years ago, since Gdc3 chose to be born on the 6th, so we had to zoom off to DD’s at very short notice in the early morning in order to look after the two elder, still only 3 and 4.

I'm thinking of taking mine down tomorrow and having a good tidy up. If If I have the energy...

Welshy

Cold

I have until January 13th as here in Sweden it is the 20th day/Tjugondedagens Knut where you traditionally "dance out" Christmas and plunder the Christmas tree of anything edible - before taking down the decorations.

That's interesting to know Cold.

Do they put their decorations up early in Sweden too?

As some people in the UK put theirs up in November.

In the rural area where I live it varies - either the first Sunday in Advent whenever that falls (December 3rd in 2023) or one calendar month before Christmas Eve, so November 24th.

HettyBetty

New Years Day here. I am not remotely religious and the solstice is more relevant to me. So I consider our decorations to be midwinter ones rather than Christmas. Some of the fairy lights will stay up for a few more weeks, until the darkness has passed.

Our fairy lights in the conservatory will stay there for a few more weeks because we like them.

keepcalmandcavachon

I believe our late Queen kept her decorations up until Candlemass.
I find it takes me a day or two to adjust to the bareness post decor.

I love it, everywhere looks more minimal and tidy 🙂

Tradition in our family was up on Christmas Eve after cleaning the whole house and then take them down on Twelfth Night. I break with this, putting mine up the weekend before Christmas. I like them to be special for the 25th and if I put them up any earlier I would be tired of them. We all do what suits us but do not others find the over hype for so many weeks before takes away the magic of Christmas?

6th January The Epiphany

My mother and other family members always took the trimmings down on 6th Jan and I was brought up to believe this is twelfth night. My family are Catholic and speaking to other Catholics they all adhere to 6th Jan. I have over the course of my life discovered that non Catholics believe 5th Jan to be twelfth night and that is when their trimmings come down.

Cold

I have until January 13th as here in Sweden it is the 20th day/Tjugondedagens Knut where you traditionally "dance out" Christmas and plunder the Christmas tree of anything edible - before taking down the decorations.

That's interesting to know Cold.

Do they put their decorations up early in Sweden too?

As some people in the UK put theirs up in November.

Up on Christmas Eve here and down on 5th January usually. though they're coming down tomorrow this year as we're busy on Friday.
I was very pleased to find a bunch of British daffs in the shop - ready to brighten up the mantlepiece.