Today marks the Feast of the Epiphany, end of the twelve days of Christmas, and Día de los Reyes in Spanish-speaking countries.
This is the customary day for gift exchanges in many Christian cultures as it marks the visit of the three magi to Bethlehem with their totally inappropriate gifts.
If you are Orthodox, of course, tomorrow is Christmas on your calendar. Being Orthodox is a good excuse when someone asks why you haven’t taken down the Christmas decorations yet.
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8 comments
Ah… I’ve noticed some businesses still having lights up. I doubt that’s the reason, but you never know:)
Most people leave them up until New Years, Catholics wait until after Epiphany, but Florida’s Orthodox community [old Greek community associated with Gulf fishing] actually has a reason.
That reminds me…I can put the Magi figures into the crèche. And speaking of crèches, it’s a Mexican custom to leave them out until February 2 (Candlemas; formally, the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary). So technically, I could leave my decorations up until then–and put them away just in time for Lent ;-9
I’ll probably take the tree down after we have our belated family Christmas celebration on the 13th.
I had a neighbor who never actually took down the lights, he just separated them into strings of a single color, so only the red ones were on in February, the green in March.
The town has turned off the displays on the town hall, but needs the scissors lift to take down the decorations on the light poles.
put up white lights and leave them up. that way you can turn them on time you like.
I really hate all white light schemes, seriously.
i’ve never met a color scheme i didn’t like, just so long as the lights are on and not off, or worse yet, flashing.
The lights on my Mother’s house cycle through 16 patterns. She knows the main string is capable of doing this so I can’t disable the system. I like multi-colored lights and I’m really impressed with the new LED lights.