Twelfth Night - pack away those decorations

Tonight is twelfth night. Although it might have been last night, there a little bit of confusion as to when the first day of Christmas is, so the twelfth is also confused. Shakespeare's play of the same name was probably written to be performed as a close to the Xmas celebration on this night in 1602 . Today, the 6th is Epiphany, traditionally the date the wise men/3 kings arrived in Bethlehem with the presents of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

In Spain this is when you get the presents which kind of make sense aligning with the arrival of the gift wielding 3 kings.

Twelfth night is also the date that Xmas decorations are supposed to stay up until (how else are the wise men supposed to find their way if you take the star off the top of the tree).

It's supposed to be unlucky to keep the decorations up later than this, but this may date to an older pre Christian European tradition where the tree spirits that lived in the holly and ivy that were brought into the house over the winter solstice had to be taken outside otherwise spring wouldn't come.

Either way, around here, Epiphany/Twelfth Night is a forgotten festival, nothing compared to what it must have been in Shakespeare's time. The shops had their decorations down days ago to make way for Valentine's Day/Easter and the next commercial opportunity.