Twelfth Night: What’s the big deal behind this religious tradition and the link it has to Christmas decorations

If you’ve ever heard someone say “I don’t take my decorations down til Twelfth Night” and been met with utter confusion, then this post could be for you

January 5 may seem like any other ordinary usual day to a lot of people but to some it holds great significance as it known to others as ‘Twelfth Night’ - and no we are talking about a night where everyone celebrates one of William Shakespeare’s finest pieces of work before anyone asks!

But what is Twelfth Night and also what does it have to do with decorations  

Well, as history will tell us many Christians believe that the first day of Christmas begins on December 25 (Christmas Day) and runs for 12 days where celebrations would be had and feasts would be held ending on the final night which counting forward from this date is January 5 leaving space for the next January 6 , which would be called Epiphany Day or ‘Three Kings Day’ as it is otherwise known.

However, It is not known for certain which night is actually the Twelfth Night as some believers tend to count the first day as Boxing Day and count forward from there leaving the night of the Epiphany on January 6 as the Twelfth Night itself. Whereas for the Eastern Orthodox Christianity denomination, Epiphany appears on January 19 for them.

Furthermore, while celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas between December 25/26 to January 5/6, they believe each day of celebration is as important as the next or as important as the one before it and these traditions are a staple part of history as the first celebrations were recorded in 597AD.

It isn’t necessarily just a religious time that is marked by Twelfth Night. People who are non-religious or belong to a different denomination but still like to take part in the festive activities tend to mark the occasion by taking down their decorations for another year on this specific day as it was considered unlucky to keep them up longer than the specified date - however, the Tudors traditionally kept their decorations up until what was known as Candlemas on February 2 which was another feast day celebrating when Jesus was presented at the Temple of Jerusalem.