The great debate: When is Twelfth night?

[LavenderAskew]

Tonight or tomorrow?

Also, very importantly, when do you think is the first day (so first night) of Christmas?

Then lastly, decorations down before or after Twelfth night?

(For full disclosure, I say tonight, Christmas day and before.)

Actually, my iPhone calendar says today is Twelfth Night too.

Ah, OK so Twelfth night is tonight and marks the beginning of the Twelfth day of Christmas.

Twelfth Night is on the 6th January as far as I'm concerned. Right from when I was a child we always took our decorations down on the 6th. Not sure when the idea of it being the 5th started but this is a recent concept.

This is mentioned on the brilliant You’re Dead to Me podcast with Greg Jenner on the latest episode if anyone likes a podcast!

It's like, say, Halloween then.

Do you take your decorations down on 31st October, or keep them up for the whole day and take them down the next, once the festival is over?

@RoseAndRose

It's like, say, Halloween then.

Do you take your decorations down on 31st October, or keep them up for the whole day and take them down the next, once the festival is over?

Halloween is Hallowed Evening so if you took them down on the 31st you wouldn’t have them up for actual Halloween. Unless you took them down at about 11pm or something.

C of E 5th, Catholic 6th, so I read!

Halloween is Hallowed Evening so if you took them down on the 31st you wouldn’t have them up for actual Halloween. Unless you took them down at about 11pm or something

That's my point.

Twelfth Night is the evening/night, so if you take the decorations down you don't have them up for the actual duration of Christmastide. Unless you took them down at 11pm or something

(assuming your aiming to end Christmastide when it ends, not Boxing Day or whenever)

@Belindabelle

12th night starts tonight at nightfall and lasts until it starts to get dark tomorrow. Something to do with nightfall marking the start of the new day in olden times before we had clocks.

All decorations down by the time it get darks tomorrow in this house. We then have a special dinner to mark Epiphany and the end of Christmas (as we see it).

I am not religious or particularly superstitious but I like the traditions and we have always done it this way.

I don’t think that can be right. Given Christmas Eve is 24th December.

Twelfth Night is today.

Posted too soon - so by your reckoning 13th night has just started.

But in olden times Christmas Day started at nightfall on the 24th December. It was only once we started using clocks that the date changed at midnight.

Oh no you are right that makes today 13 days!

Well just been reading and apparently taking decorations down by 12th Night was started by the Victorians. The Tudors kept celebrating until Candlemas which is 2 February.

Today! The first day of Xmas is Xmas Day. Just taken all ours down.

The first night must be Christmas Day night, then the first day of Christmas is the day after the first night (so St Stephen's day), then the second night is St Stephen's day night, then the second day of Christmas is the 27th and so on.

Each period starts with the night at nightfall, folliwed by the day and the day ends at nightfall, when the next period begins.

Today. Just finished taking all our decorations down and the tree to the recycling point.

I'm a little superstitious about this do would hate to be told it's actually tomorrow!

@RoseAndRose

Halloween is Hallowed Evening so if you took them down on the 31st you wouldn’t have them up for actual Halloween. Unless you took them down at about 11pm or something

That's my point.

Twelfth Night is the evening/night, so if you take the decorations down you don't have them up for the actual duration of Christmastide. Unless you took them down at 11pm or something

(assuming your aiming to end Christmastide when it ends, not Boxing Day or whenever)

It’s not really comparable though, because Halloween is only one night. My point is that your analogy doesn’t work.

Seriously???!!!!

How can you say my analogy doesn't work when your earlier post was agreeing with it??

Is 'Analogy' the study of arses?

It seems like it should be.

Tonight is Twelfth night with Christmas night being the first night.

It’s said to be bad luck to leave any greenery (including the tree) past midnight tonight. So would have to come down before that ready to celebrate Epiphany Tomorrow.

Christmas starts at midnight mass on Christmas eve.

*Epiphany Eve (also known as Twelfth Night) marks the end of the traditional Christmas celebrations and is the time when you were meant to take Christmas decorations down - although some people leave them up until Candlemas.^

Candlemas is the 2nd of Feb. Some christians will take most things down but leave the crib up until candlemas.

My Almanac says today, 5th for Twelth Night and that's when we always took our decorations down as a child. I've just taken mine down today.

@RoseAndRose

How can you say my analogy doesn't work when your earlier post was agreeing with it??

My earlier post wasn’t agreeing with you

It was explaining to you that Halloween only starts on the evening of 31st October as you don’t seem to realise that.

Halloween = one evening
Christmas = twelve nights

Hope that’s clearer now

We are leaving ours up until 23 February. Just to be sure.