When do decorations come down 2017

It's been a tradition since Victorian England to celebrate the end of Christmas on Twelfth Night, taking down the evergreens of Christmas season and lighting a bonfire. Another holiday even older on the Christian calendar, the Epiphany, is celebrated on Jan.

Epiphany marks the end of Christmastide, or the 12 days of the Christmas season. Before Christmas was set on Dec. Not many people still celebrate with 12 days of gift-giving from Dec. But many churches do observe the ancient feast of Epiphany on Jan. The modern version we sing includes the line, "On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: 12 drummers drumming.

The earliest Americans, the Puritans, didn't celebrate Christmas and considered it to be pagan in origin and also too associated with the Roman Catholic Church. At one time, Christmas was banned in New England.

But like today, Pepys held that 6 January marked the final day of celebrations. More than years later, many modern Britons would agree with him. Epiphany is also a moment of "sudden realisation", he adds. But while Britons rush to take the decorations down on Epiphany, in mainland Europe families are celebrating by taking the day off and exchanging presents.

The night before, children leave drinks for the Three Kings and the streets are packed with parades and fireworks displays. Swimming in icy water is a traditional way for the Russian observers to celebrate Epiphany, which in Eastern Churches falls on 19 January rather than 6 January, due to the older Julian calendar.

For others, the coming of Epiphany means the decorations should go down before the clock strikes midnight - on January 5. Twelfth Night has long marked the close of the Christmas season, to the extent that William Shakespeare intended his play of the same name to be performed on the day for this reason. That said, the first recorded performance of Twelfth Night was on 2 February, the end of the season of Epiphany, in Middle Temple Hall in London - by which time last year's tree should be long gone.

Taking the icy plunge in sub-zero weather. Send us your Christmas tree pics! ES Best. ES Mag. Follow us:. Password Please enter a valid password. Submit Submit. By Laura Hampson. C hristmas Day may have been less than a week ago, but the buzz and hype seems to have disappeared almost overnight. Why do Christmas trees stay up nearly a fortnight after Christmas?