12th Night and Epiphany

As baby Jesus was born on the night of Christmas Eve (midnight in the German and Spanish traditions) Twelvth Night falls on the night of January 5th. This has become the traditional time to take down Christmas decorations and it is considered bad luck to leave them up after midnight. (Some traditions say the tree should come down even earlier, before midnight on December 31st).

If you really want to be pampered in the middle of winter, you could spin out the Christmas season through Twelvth Night to Epiphany. According to Christianity, Epiphany was the day the wise men arrived and presented their gifts to Jesus. If you follow the carol, a gift was received each of the 12 days leading up to Epiphany. I like this idea, but I don’t have room for French Hens or Leaping Lords in my condo. 

Tonight I will be turning a few things upside down though. In medievil times the end of the season was marked by a grand celebration where mysteriously everything was turned upside down¿ That’s a tradition I do have room for, as I presume that included plates, wine and beer glasses, preferably after the contents are polished off.

Whatever your tradition I hope your first weekend of the year is a jolly one.