When to take your Christmas tree down to avoid bad luck: Key dates including the Feast of Epiphany

Tradition dictates that you should take your Christmas Tree down very soon
It’s time to take your tree down... according to traditionIt’s time to take your tree down... according to tradition
It’s time to take your tree down... according to tradition

The festive period is over almost as quickly as it arrived, and the joy of having your Christmas Tree up is now a memory. Whether you put your tree up on December 1, earlier or if you decide it should be erected no sooner than Christmas Eve, thoughts will be turning to when it will be coming down and going back in its box.

The thoughts and opinions of when people take their trees down vary. With some people keen to get it down as early as Boxing Day and others leaving it a few more days but having it boxed up before seeing in the New Year.

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Many people will, however, want to wait until a later date in the New Year to bring their festive decorations down. The date on which you should take Christmas decorations down is not set in stone, but there are two dates in January on which the decorations tend to come down for many.

According to tradition, it is in fact bad luck to have your tree up later than today (January 5). This day is the 12th day after Christmas and is seen by many to be the date to bring decorations down.

The following day, January 6, is viewed as the last day of Christmas as it is the Feast of Epiphany. This is the night when the Three Wise Men were said to have visited the baby Jesus to give him gifts.

If you don’t take your tree down by either of these dates, you may be in for some bad luck - according to a centuries old tradition. Once upon a time, Christmas trees were believed to possess spirits. There was an idea that taking down the tree would release these spirits and that not doing so in the first week of January would lead to bad luck which would affect agriculture and farming for the coming year.

It’s time to take your tree down... according to traditionIt’s time to take your tree down... according to tradition
It’s time to take your tree down... according to tradition
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So, if you don’t want to keep a spirit trapped in your tree and make them eager to turn against you, you might want to take your tree down sooner rather than later, according to old traditions, anyway.

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