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SeanF1989
Guest
It used to be traditional to leave Christmas decorations up until Candlemass (2nd February) but when did this tradition decline?
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GEddie
Guest
Probably around the same time that celebrating Christmas during Advent became the norm. And **that **probably began with the development of the modern shopping season.
ICXC NIKA
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Tarpeian_Rock
Guest
I thought that even liturgically, the Church’s Christmas season ended before the feast of the Baptism of The Lord, which is in January. Never heard of decorations as late as February - to say nothing of the safety issues with a tree up that long(in an era before artificial trees).
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OraLabora
Guest
I was thinking the same thing about the tree. We still use a natural tree and we usually take it down the most convenient time the first week of January.
When I was a kid (I’m 59 now), the practice was to take down the decorations on or around Jan. 6th, Epiphany.
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Irishmom2
Guest
59 is still a kid, by the way…
and we also take ours down January 6, “Little Christmas.”
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Purgatory_Pete
Guest
Jan. 6th, Epiphany, was the date to take down a real tree.
Christmas down here is in Summer,
so a real tree was beyond its used by date.:coolinoff:
We still leave the Nativity set up until Candlemas.
We always have.
(this now includes the artificial Tree.)
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Christmas down here is in Summer,
so a real tree was beyond its used by date.:coolinoff:
We still leave the Nativity set up until Candlemas.
We always have.
(this now includes the artificial Tree.)
*
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liturgyluver
Guest
The Epiphany is a more important feast in central and southern Europe - for example in Italy it is on this day that gifts are exchanged - and in many countries it is still a public holiday. Given its centrality, the Christmas season is seen as extending up to the feast which has the last connection with the nativity. To this day, the Vatican, Catholic Cathedrals in Europe, and many Anglo-Catholic churches retain their cribs and evergreens until February 2nd. The custom of doing this at homes probably ended as Christmas trees rather than evergreen became more popular in Victorian times.
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Phemie
Guest
Or what those in Labrador, Canada, call “Old Christmas.”59 is still a kid, by the way…
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Don_Ruggero
Guest
I have had a few years across the decades where the Christmas flowers made it to February 2nd with a lot of nursing along the way. In part it depends upon their health when they arrived and also the temperature. When they begin to wilt, basically, determined when they were removed.
The flower budget appreciated the years when they lived longer.
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jas84173
Guest
I believe, and I could be wrong but the Christmas season pre Vatican ll was from the Nativity (Christmas)December 25, through the presentation (Candlemas) February 2. I believe Vatican ll or if I’m wrong some earlier decree changed the Christmas season to be from Christmas through the Epiphany, January 6. I am not sure for the reasoning, possibly it has something to do with having Christmas season literally end right before some years Lent begins gave no Ordinary Time readings to reflect on the coming of Lent or something of that nature. Candlemas is an interesting feast however and like most feasts and St days had much more tradition involved. In fact the whole Groundhog Day derives from customs on Candlemas.
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OraLabora
Guest
Not from my 1934 Monastic Antiphonary. Epiphany had an Octave. The feast of the Baptism of the Lord did not exist as a separate feast until 1955. After the Octave of Epiphany started “time after Epiphany” up until Septuagesima. Remember what is “Ordinary Time” now, was divided into Time after Epiphany and Time after Pentecost in the pre-Conciliar era. The feast (then known as “In Purificatione Beata Maria Virgine”, was on February 2.
And which happens to be our youngest son’s birthday as well. He’ll be 22 this coming Jan. 6th.
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Phemie
Guest
Is Epiphany celebrated today in Quebec as it was when I was a kid? We’d hear about the special cake and the bean to designate who would be king – IIRC, most of our info came from children’s TV programming like Bobino and La Boîte à Surprises.
Never much celebrated outside of church in my part of N.B.
Never much celebrated outside of church in my part of N.B.
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OraLabora
Guest
Today? Not really. Most folks return to work just after New Year’s day. Epiphany now seems like any other Sunday, different readings. In Canada, Epiphany is moved to the following Sunday, and the Baptism of the Lord to the Monday.
At our abbey though they still celebrate Epiphany on January 6th and the Baptism of the Lord on the following Sunday. I plan to attend Mass at the abbey if the weather cooperates. Won’t be celebrating my son’s birthday on that day as he’ll be back in university.
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twf
Guest
I seem to recall the Baptism of the Lord being celebrated on the Sunday following Epiphany at some point.
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Medawlinno
Guest
Epiphany, as many may know, is when Christmas occurs in many Eastern churches - for Armenian Christians, Coptic Christians, Ukraine Catholic, and a few others, Christmas falls on January 6th, not December 25.
As others have said, in most traditions I know of, decorations come down around that time (Jan 6th).
As others have said, in most traditions I know of, decorations come down around that time (Jan 6th).
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OraLabora
Guest
Yes that occurs when Epiphany is celebrated on Jan. 6th and not moved to the Sunday. Since cloistered Benedictines are not subjected to worldly constraints regarding days off, etc., they still celebrate on the 6th with the Baptism of the Lord on the Sunday. Presumably some abbeys with external apostolates may move it as well, but ours being strictly cloistered have no need to.
I’m not sure when, in Canada, the move to the Sunday occurred.
In fact for the abbey, none of the feasts are moved, they are always celebrated on the proper day. It usually results in the monk prefacing his homily with something like “in parishes today they are celebrating that we celebrated , so todays readings were different from those heard in your parishes; in today’s Gospel Jesus said…”.
I used to use a missal but in French Canada the lectionary was changed in 2016 and the translation is somewhat different from those in the missal, so I subscribed to Prions en Eglise (French equivalent of “Living with Christ”), as it has the new translations. That messes me up though on the transferred feasts so I still have to use my old missal for those Sundays.
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twf
Guest
Perhaps I’m remembering those rare years where January 6 is a Sunday? Then I suppose the Baptism of the Lord would be on the following Sunday. Interestingly, in such a case, you could say it becomes a quasi-Octave of the Epiphany
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OraLabora
Guest
Not quite as the readings and Offices will be of ordinary feria during the week, and memorials will start popping up, in particular for we Canadians St. André Bessette on January 7th, which is a mandatory memorial. This year, it’s Saturday of next week. For the rest of the week it will be ferias of Christmas season after Epiphany. However the hymns of Epiphany will continue through the week.Perhaps I’m remembering those rare years where January 6 is a Sunday? Then I suppose the Baptism of the Lord would be on the following Sunday. Interestingly, in such a case, you could say it becomes a quasi-Octave of the Epiphany
For Octaves, we repeat the festive psalms all week. I have to admit… after 6 days of the same psalms all week at Lauds and almost all week at Vespers (today is the feast of the Holy Family), it’s starting to wear a bit thin. At least on the 26th, 27th and 28th at Lauds and today the antiphons changed. The Easter Octave is worse, same antiphons and psalms every single day.
I believe Trinity Sunday is the vestige of the Octave of Pentecost. It would be hard to say that for the feast of the Baptism of the Lord since it’s such a modern feast and it was instituted in the same liturgical reforms in which the Octave of Epiphany was eliminated by Pius XII in 1955.
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twf
Guest
You could argue it has the “spirit” of an Octave day of Epiphany considering the historical liturgical connection between Epiphany and the Lord’s baptism. Likewise, I always feel the Queenship of Mary is a pseudo-Octave of sorts for the Assumption as it falls a week later and is obviously intimately connected to that feast.
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Chatter163
Guest
The answer is not precise, nor is it bound up in specific kalendar reforms or other decrees. The short version is that Christmas season ended at the Epiphany, but the Christmas cycle continued through 2 February. As a result, many churches kept some of the decorations, especially the crèche, up through Candlemas. My childhood church followed the same practice that my FSSP parish follows today: the poinsettias, holly and trees come down after the Sunday after Epiphany, but the crèche remains up through Candlemas.
As has been pointed out, pre-1955 there was no specific feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. That event was liturgically understood to be part of the feast of the Epiphany (and still is, in Eastern churches). Epiphany, as did a number of other feasts, had an octave, and the Sunday within the Epiphany octave was the feast of the Holy Family. After the Epiphany octave ended on 13 January, the vestments went to green and the Sundays after Epiphany started. There was no ordinary time until 1970. What we did have (and churches using the EF still have) was Septuagesima, the pre-Lenten season of two and a half weeks’ duration, where the vestments were violet, the Alleluia was surpressed, and the Church gradually eased away from Epiphany joys to Lenten self-denial. This was an ancient season, and its start date was three Sundays before Ash Wednesday. Therefore, the earlier that Easter came, the earlier that Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima Sundays fell, as well as Ash Wednesday, of course. This meant that when Easter fell in March, there were only two green Sundays after Epiphany, followed by three violet Sundays of pre-Lent. Candlemas came after the start of Septuagesima, and so the crèche remained, amid the violet vestments. The second of February was observed as the feast of the Purification of Our Lady, aka Candlemas, much as St. Joseph and Lady Day are observed during Lent in most years. The seasonal antiphons of Our Lady changed at Candlemas, when the Alma Redemptoris Mater gave way to the Ave Regina Caelorum. That is still the case today.
The separate feast of the Baptism of Our Lord was inserted into the kalendar in 1955, and placed on 13 January, the octave day of the Epiphany. This meant that it usually fell on a weekday. In 1960, the kalendar was again reformed and the remaining octaves of all feasts except Christmas, Easter and Pentecost were suppressed. The feast of Our Lord’s Baptism remained on the 13th, though there was no longer an Epiphany octave. Septuagesima remained, as did the green Epiphany season. So one sees how the Christmas season continued until Epiphany, but in another sense, the Christmas cycle ended at Epiphany, but in another sense the cycle continued through Candlemas.
The missal and kalendar reforms announced in 1969 and taking effect the following year moved the feast of the Holy Family to the Sunday within the Christmas octave. If, as is the case this year, there is no such Sunday, that feast is observed on 30 December. The Sunday after Epiphany became the feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. The season of Septuagesima was completely surpressed (unfortunately, IMHO), and the green Sundays after Our Lord’s Baptism and before Ash Wednesday became the first part of ordinary time. The numbering of the weeks of ordinary time resumed after Pentecost, whose octave was suppressed at the same time. The feast of the Purification of Our Lady was renamed the Presentation of Our Lord, which had always been part of the theme of the feast. Like the Annunciation, it had always been understood as a feast of both Our Lord and Our Lady.
So that is the lesson of the Christmas season and Candlemas. In my house, we take down the tree and decorations (which go up just a couple of days before Christmas) sometime after Epiphany. We leave the crèche up through Candlemas. As secularism has encroached upon the everyday lives of Catholics, many have lost the concept of various liturgical and devotional connections that had once been a part of the life of Catholic life. Some of the recent reforms, however well-intentioned, sadly, seem to have helped this take place. We ought always to be on guard against things that sever these connections in our everyday lives.
As has been pointed out, pre-1955 there was no specific feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. That event was liturgically understood to be part of the feast of the Epiphany (and still is, in Eastern churches). Epiphany, as did a number of other feasts, had an octave, and the Sunday within the Epiphany octave was the feast of the Holy Family. After the Epiphany octave ended on 13 January, the vestments went to green and the Sundays after Epiphany started. There was no ordinary time until 1970. What we did have (and churches using the EF still have) was Septuagesima, the pre-Lenten season of two and a half weeks’ duration, where the vestments were violet, the Alleluia was surpressed, and the Church gradually eased away from Epiphany joys to Lenten self-denial. This was an ancient season, and its start date was three Sundays before Ash Wednesday. Therefore, the earlier that Easter came, the earlier that Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima Sundays fell, as well as Ash Wednesday, of course. This meant that when Easter fell in March, there were only two green Sundays after Epiphany, followed by three violet Sundays of pre-Lent. Candlemas came after the start of Septuagesima, and so the crèche remained, amid the violet vestments. The second of February was observed as the feast of the Purification of Our Lady, aka Candlemas, much as St. Joseph and Lady Day are observed during Lent in most years. The seasonal antiphons of Our Lady changed at Candlemas, when the Alma Redemptoris Mater gave way to the Ave Regina Caelorum. That is still the case today.
The separate feast of the Baptism of Our Lord was inserted into the kalendar in 1955, and placed on 13 January, the octave day of the Epiphany. This meant that it usually fell on a weekday. In 1960, the kalendar was again reformed and the remaining octaves of all feasts except Christmas, Easter and Pentecost were suppressed. The feast of Our Lord’s Baptism remained on the 13th, though there was no longer an Epiphany octave. Septuagesima remained, as did the green Epiphany season. So one sees how the Christmas season continued until Epiphany, but in another sense, the Christmas cycle ended at Epiphany, but in another sense the cycle continued through Candlemas.
The missal and kalendar reforms announced in 1969 and taking effect the following year moved the feast of the Holy Family to the Sunday within the Christmas octave. If, as is the case this year, there is no such Sunday, that feast is observed on 30 December. The Sunday after Epiphany became the feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. The season of Septuagesima was completely surpressed (unfortunately, IMHO), and the green Sundays after Our Lord’s Baptism and before Ash Wednesday became the first part of ordinary time. The numbering of the weeks of ordinary time resumed after Pentecost, whose octave was suppressed at the same time. The feast of the Purification of Our Lady was renamed the Presentation of Our Lord, which had always been part of the theme of the feast. Like the Annunciation, it had always been understood as a feast of both Our Lord and Our Lady.
So that is the lesson of the Christmas season and Candlemas. In my house, we take down the tree and decorations (which go up just a couple of days before Christmas) sometime after Epiphany. We leave the crèche up through Candlemas. As secularism has encroached upon the everyday lives of Catholics, many have lost the concept of various liturgical and devotional connections that had once been a part of the life of Catholic life. Some of the recent reforms, however well-intentioned, sadly, seem to have helped this take place. We ought always to be on guard against things that sever these connections in our everyday lives.
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