Santa Claus has barely had time to catch his breath since Christmas Day, yet in some households, the decorations are already coming off the tree, the wreath is coming down from the front door, and the lights are being carefully disassembled.
So… is there a “right” day to take down Christmas decorations?
January 6 is said to be the traditional date. This date has religious origins related to the Epiphany, the Christian holiday noting the revelation of God in human form, when Jesus was baptised and visited by the Three Wise Men. This happened “on the 12th night” after Christmas Day.
Some people consider the 12th night after Christmas to be January 5 instead of January 6, so maybe the fifth at midnight is a good way to hedge your bets?
These same origins state that leaving decorations up later than January 6 brings bad luck.
Some people choose Boxing Day to take their decorations down. Yes, really. Perhaps it’s because they didn’t enjoy Christmas, or maybe they’re getting organised ahead of the New Year – the most popular day to take down decorations according to a survey.
It makes sense, considering most people return to work in early January and probably won’t have time to take them down if they don’t do it on a public holiday. And the last thing you want is to be one of those people who keep the tree up – bad luck aside.
Alternatively, we could just embrace Christmas decorations as a year-round thing, thus avoiding the effort of putting them back up. There’s a reason the Christmas-tree-in-cling-wrap-meme is shared every year!
Boxing Day maybe a little too soon and Valentine’s Day probably a touch too long. Whenever you decide to do it, it does seem that the year goes pretty fast and before you know it, those festive decorations are going back up again.