To take the Christmas tree down....or not!

I dunno but you may call it just plain ole' laziness; I actually had a reasoning behind keeping up the Christmas tree til Candlemas, which is February 2nd, aka Groundhog Day. Candlemas is when Jesus is presented at the temple 40 days after His birth. It's a Catholic feast day meaning blessed beeswax candles for use throughout the year, some of which were distributed to the congregation for use at home to light during storms to ward off further and/or future damage. Since the liturgical revisions of the Second Vatican Council, this feast has been referred to as the Feast of Presentation of the Lord, with references to candles and the purification of Mary de-emphasised in favor of the Prophecy of Simeon the Righteous. Pope John Paul II connected the feast day with the renewal of religious vows.

Now mind you everyone back in the day was either a Druid/Pagan of some sort or Jewish; therefore, Mary a nice Jewish girl and since she probably had her menses after giving birth to Jesus was therefore Niddah and had to do the ritual Mikveh bath to purify herself 40 days after giving birth, thus she was "purified" once again.

Such fear of women I delclair! See how much power we have, girls?

This feast never falls in Lent (the earliest Ash Wednesday can fall is 4 February, for the case of Easter on 22 March in a non-leap year) as it's the last "link" to the Christmas season. However, in the Tridentine rite (aka more traditional Roman Catholics, that is), it can fall in the pre-Lenten season if Easter is early enough, and "Alleluia" has to be omitted from this feast's liturgy when that happens.


The Church of England insists Twelfth Night is on January 5th – and refers to the night before Epiphany, the day when the nativity story tells us that the three wise men visited baby Jesus. But many believe it falls on Jan 6, at the end of the 12th day after Christmas; therefore they keep their decorations up in their homes for an extra day. The difference in opinion is said in centuries past Christmas was deemed to start at sunset on Dec 24; so the 12th night following was Jan 5. Nowadays, people count from Dec 25 and assume 12th Night falls on the 6th. Furthermore, it's supposed to be bad luck for the year if you take it down before 12th night and AFTER 12th night. So, you do it on the 12th day of Christmas with 12 drummers drumming, right? What a contradiction!

Now mind you this is also another winter light "holiday" as pagans back in the day used this day aka Imbolc which has been associated with the onset of lactation of ewes, soon to give birth to the spring lambs. This could vary by as much as two weeks before or after the start of February. The holiday was, and for many still is, a festival of the hearth and home, light and a celebration of the lengthening days and the early signs of spring. Celebrations often involved hearthfires, special food (butter & milk due to ewe lactation, and bannocks), divination or watching for omens, and candles or a bonfire if the weather permitted. Fire and purification were an important part of the festival as well. The lighting of candles and fires represented the return of warmth and the increasing power of the Sun over the coming months. It's also the feast day of St. Brigid, who began her life as a pagan goddess and ended up a Christian saint. She was also a fire and fertility goddess (there goes that fire again). In her temple at Kildare, vestal virgins tended an eternal fire. On her feast day, her statue was washed in the sea (purification) and then carried in a cart through the fields surrounded by candles (more light and fire).

And then you have people like your family members; your mother, or sister, gran or auntie or whomever in your life who deems you a lazy lout for not taking the time to put things away as you should since the holiday is over and clean up as it's all messy and cluttering and just plain old ridiculous for keeping your Christmas decor up for that long and using pseudo Christian/Pagan belief systems and spirituality as an excuse not to do so.

I do have friends who are not quite lazy but busy and leave the damn thing up til Mardi Gras or when their real tree has shed so many needles it looks like sticks poking out of a bowl; and not in a pretty decorative manner.

I also thought my tree looked really pretty this year and it made me happy to see it's beautiful lights brightening up our fronchroom; so lovely! So festive!

My reasoning though this year of removing the tree before Epiphany is due to my post toddler aged kiddie who insists on grabbing and pulling on the tree and misplacing ornaments, and breaking several I've had for over 25 years. I cried over the Father Christmas porcelain figurine ornament I had up high (well, I thought it was high enough from grabby little paws; I was wrong!).

I think and hope by next Christmas we can keep the tree up by Candlemas (but away by Groundhog Day; contradiction once more) away from curious hands and the baby will just "ooh" and "aah" from a distance in that "mature" manner a 5 year old should act.

God in heaven I hope!