When to take down your christmas tree

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christourlord

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I just saw a Mother Angelica christmas video, and she said the liturgical thing to do is put up your tree Christmas eve and leave it up until January 13th. I’m familiar with the tradition of taking it down on the 12th night, after ephiphany. But why January 13th? Is this another feast day? The only info I can find is St. Nut’s Day, which marks the end of the christmas season in Sweden and Finland only.
 
I don’t know. It all depends on local custom. Where I live, it’s considered bad luck to leave it up after the 12th night, however that’s superstition, but I take it down the 12th night anyway, because that’s when I like to take it down. However the nativity set and other things stay up until the beginning of February.
 
I just have to say this.

If it is still up now there is something very wrong going on.
 
christourlord said:
I just saw a Mother Angelica christmas video, and she said the liturgical thing to do is put up your tree Christmas eve and leave it up until January 13th. I’m familiar with the tradition of taking it down on the 12th night, after ephiphany. But why January 13th? Is this another feast day? The only info I can find is St. Nut’s Day, which marks the end of the christmas season in Sweden and Finland only.
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I’m by no means putting Mother Angelica down, I love her to bits! BUT do you think it may be possible she really meant after the 12th night and just messed up and added “January” in there in error? Instead of saying the 13th day, just slip up and say Jan 13th
It is very easy to confuse that. I know I have done it before.
… just a possibility to consider.
 
After the Twelfth night makes the most sense to me (after the date of Epiphany, Jan 6).

But there’s no rule.

Feb 2nd makes sense too, the Presentation, which is the traditional ending of Christmas. The Alma Redemptoris Mater (the Marian hymn for Advent and Christmas) is sung until the Presentation :-).
 
newyorkcatholic said:
After the Twelfth night makes the most sense to me (after the date of Epiphany, Jan 6).

But there’s no rule.

Feb 2nd makes sense too, the Presentation, which is the traditional ending of Christmas. The Alma Redemptoris Mater (the Marian hymn for Advent and Christmas) is sung until the Presentation :-).
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February 2nd only makes the most sense if you can get your tree to live that long! 😃
 
Lujack said:
February 2nd only makes the most sense if you can get your tree to live that long! 😃
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And you don’t mind your neighbors standing in front of your house and laughing when they still see your Christmas lights in the window by late January.
 
I think the traditional custom in this part of the world is to have it down by the Feast of the Presentation (Feb 2) or Ash Wednesday, whichever occurs first.
 
My wife was asking if it is time to take down our Christmas wreath on the front door yet. It’s still green but all the Christmas decorations are gone.

For a while it was decorated with leprichauns. Some time with Valentines, etc.

SO… when do you take down all the wreaths. She felt, since we paid for it (fund raiser at Church) we should use it till it start to die. Well, we have had a wet spring so it’s still doing fine. Still smells of Cedar 🙂
 
Ours comes down the weekend after Epiphany. My husband doesn’t have time during the week.
 
I take ours down when the needles start falling off or within two weeks of Christmas.

When we had an artificial tree, we took it down several weeks or even months after Christmas. It was a pain to put together and take apart. One year we still had it up around Easter.

I think we will go back to an artificial tree since real ones are so expensive. BUT we will get one that is a lot easier to set up. The one we have, you have to insert every individual branch into the trunk.
 
ByzCath said:
I just have to say this.

If it is still up now there is something very wrong going on.
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:rotfl: I take mine down the night of January 6th. However, sometimes even in April, I’ll notice other decorations that I’ve forgotten to remove.
 
grasscutter said:
:rotfl: I take mine down the night of January 6th. However, sometimes even in April, I’ll notice other decorations that I’ve forgotten to remove.
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I was going back to college after a weekend home last week and was walking out the door with my luggage (a door I’d been in and out of countless times that weekend) and finally realized something was off, so I yelled upstairs “Hey mom, we still have the wreath up!”
 
newyorkcatholic said:
After the Twelfth night makes the most sense to me (after the date of Epiphany, Jan 6).

But there’s no rule.

Feb 2nd makes sense too, the Presentation, which is the traditional ending of Christmas. The Alma Redemptoris Mater (the Marian hymn for Advent and Christmas) is sung until the Presentation :-).
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Feb. 2 (Candlemass) is the traditional end to the Christmas season. Even at the Vatican, they leave the tree and nativity up until Feb. 2.
 
Yet, I see people with Christmas decorations ghoing on all day long. I walk and see them, not lit… just there.

Is it lazy or just knowing that Christmas is coming around the corner, next year or months down the road… so why put the decorations down? Who cares?

All those decorations pagan anyway. It was the wisdom of the magestarium or whatever to make them christian.

Christmas decorations were a symbal of life to the pagans. A reminder that, even in the darkest recesses of winter when nothing grows…something grows… like pine trees and garlands. They didn’t want to give it up… and as the Catholic Church does, let’s incorporate it into somethinbg we can use. What a greaqt day to celebrate the birth of Christ by allowing pine trees to be lit and garland vines to be made into wreathes.

You didn’t know that, did you? The Catholic Church was “right on.” Let’s take something the pagans do and make it Christian! This is the Catholic Churche’s greatest asset. If you can’t stop them, change them. So Christmas trees that were born out of paganism and garlands were made Christian, and one of the best things they ever did.

How do you fight pagan gods with a whole loving Christian God, who is there for you, when all these people like pagan gods? Just take there holidays and through Christian holidays on top of them. A brilliant move. The december solstice becasme Christmas… Easter (named after a German God) became the celebration of our Lord conquering death for us all and giving us eternal life.

It was a brilliant move by our Pope so long ago. Let’s just incorporate it. So all the Catholic Holidays… most of them are set ontop of the pagan holidays of the time. And, those who could not give up the pagan holidays had there holidays as Christian holidays. So if you want to keep up your Christmas tree as long as you can… so be it!🙂
 
In my house, the tree goes up the day after Thanksgiving, and the tree and all decorations are put away before the sun sets on New Years Day. It’s my wife’s ritual. I don’t ask or question her motives. I just go with it…! 🙂
 
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