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WATCH: When is the right time to take down your Christmas tree? People in Inverness share their views


By Annabelle Gauntlett

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Linsey Macrae's Christmas tree.
Linsey Macrae's Christmas tree.

According to Christian tradition, your Christmas tree should stay up until the 'Twelfth Night', which celebrates the arrival of the Three Wise Men, or Magi, who followed the star of Bethlehem to bring their gifts to baby Jesus.

Most people agreed with this, and said that their Christmas decorations will be packed away by the twelfth night, however when is the cut off date?

The answer isn't as straightforward as you might think.

While Christian tradition dictates Advent is the four weeks before Christmas Eve, starting on a Sunday, different beliefs make the post-Christmas period harder to define, especially the twelfth night.

When to take your Christmas tree down is all dependent on when you start counting the '12 days of Christmas', if you decide to go by tradition.

The Church of England counts from Christmas Day, so the twelfth night always falls on January 5.

On the other hand, other denominations, including the Catholic Church, start counting the 12 days of Christmas from Boxing Day, so January 6 is the twelfth night.

While some were keen to stick to tradition, others had already taken them down to mark the new year and a fresh start, as well as getting 'rid of the clutter'.

Others were too sad to say goodbye to their Christmas tree and intend on keeping it up until February as they claimed to 'love Christmas too much'.


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