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When should you take your Christmas decorations down? Exact date revealed
26 December 2024, 09:00
Should you take your Christmas decorations down on the Twelfth Night? When is the Twelfth Night of Christmas? Where does the tradition come from? And why is it bad luck to do it before or after?
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When should you take your Christmas decorations down? A question which many families across the UK ask around this time of year as they prepare for the New Year.
Of course, the short answer is that it simply does not matter when you take your Christmas decorations down, and the decision depends on what you like! Some people are ready to say goodbye to the baubles by Boxing Day, while others like to see the New Year in surrounded by the fairy lights.
Having said that, there are beliefs in the Christian Church which say Christmas decorations should remain on display until the Twelfth Night of Christmas. There are also dated superstitions that claim not following certain rules will leave you with bad luck.
Here's everything you need to know about the Christmas decoration traditions, and when you should take them down.
When should you take your Christmas decorations down?
According to tradition, your Christmas decorations should be taken down on the Twelfth Night after Christmas, which - depending on how you look at it - could be either Sunday, January 5 or Monday, January 6, 2025.
The confusion around whether you should say goodbye to the tinsel, fairy lights and Christmas tree on the Sunday or Monday comes from different interpretations of when the Twelfth Night of Christmas lands. In other words, do you count Christmas Day as the first day of the 12 days?
Generally speaking, Christmas Day is counted as the first day of the 12 days of Christmas, meaning that the Twelfth Night falls on Sunday, November 5.
The reason some people are so keen to pop their decorations back in storage for the following year by the Twelfth Night comes from the belief that leaving them up after this date will bring you bad luck.
When is the Twelfth Night of Christmas? Tradition explained
The tradition of taking your Christmas decorations down on the Twelfth Night comes from Christianity, with the ritual dating back to the 4th Century.
The Twelfth Night marks the end of Christmas and the Eve of the Epiphany, also known as a Christian feast day.
While most of us brand anytime after Halloween as 'Christmas time', the Christmas period actually officially begins four weeks before Christmas Day, with the Anglican, Lutheran, Moravian, Presbyterian, and Methodist calendars all reflecting this. In 2024, Christmas Advent officially started on November 27.
Following Christmas Advent comes Christmas Day and the 12 days of Christmas, finishing on January 5, also known as the Eve of the Epiphany.
The following day is the Epiphany (the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi), and marks the Three Kings or Wise Men visiting baby Jesus in Bethlehem with their gifts; gold, frankincense and myrrh. The Epiphany is celebrated until February 2.
Why is it bad luck to take your Christmas decorations down early or late?
There are a lot of superstitions around when to take your Christmas decorations down, with some believing that taking them down too early, or too late, could bring you bad luck.
For example, there are some people that believe bad luck will come to those who take their Christmas decorations down before the Epiphany on January 6.
This fear dates back years and years and comes from the myth that there are tree spirits living in the decorations, and they need to be released back into the wild once the festive season comes to an end. It was believed that the bad luck would come in the form of loss of crops and greenery on their land.
Meanwhile, others think that taking Christmas decorations down before New Year's Eve means they will "bring the previous year's baggage" into the New Year.
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