Tonight is of course Twelfth Night, the beginning of the twelfth and final day of Christmas, and tomorrow the Christian church will be celebrating the great feast of the Epiphany. However, for the Transit household tomorrow is also a day of family celebration, as my next-to-youngest sister and Grandson #3 both have birthdays on this special day. Indeed I’ve recently learned that DD’s mother-in-law was also an Epiphany baby, so it’s a triple for us.
This is the reason why our family has always defied tradition and left the Christmas decorations up until after Epiphany. It just seems so mean to take them down the day before and leave the house drab and ordinary for their birthday. Well, that’s my excuse for enjoying a few more days of colourful Christmas cards, flying angels and our lovely little African crib set.
DH is now enquiring plaintively when supper will be, so I will leave you for now with what to me is one of the most beautiful of Epiphany carols.
Image via Wikipedia:
Sixth-century mosaic of the Magi in Persian costume
Sixth-century mosaic of the Magi in Persian costume
Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna , Italy
Yes it really is lovely isn't it.
ReplyDeleteLoved the soloist. Thanks Perpetua.
Many Happy Birthdays.
I've been having a discussion about whether or not the 12th Day of Christmas is today or tomorrow -- I figured it was today. But you are the 'professional' so to speak!! This guy says that there is Christmas Day and the 12 days follow. And he points out that Shakespeare's Twelfth Night takes place on January 6th --
ReplyDeletePerpetua, I just clicked on the link you provided and found the answer!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ray, glad you enjoyed it. I too thought the soloist sang beautifully what is actually a very difficult piece to sing really well. A lovely voice.
ReplyDeleteHi Broad, glad to be of service. :-) I did make a point of googling to check that what I had always understood to be the case actually is, and came across this excellent explanation on a primary school website of all places.
ReplyDeleteThe old monastic tradition of observing the liturgical day from sunset to sunset goes right back to the Jewish way of measuring time, so that Twelfth Night comes before the twelfth day.
My father's birthday too...I'll be thinking of him.
ReplyDeleteStrange how we get these birthday clusters, then nothing for ages, Fly. My parents' birthdays never pass unnoticed, even so many years after their deaths.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to think someone else will still have their decorations up tomorrow! I always thought it daft to tidy everything away when a big chunk of Christendom are celebrating Christmas... Mind you, a lot of the people who are briskest with the tidying away have had their Christmas trees and lights up since the very start of Advent. I dunno - but mine won't vanish till I think about going to bed tomorrow night, and then, crazily, I'll whip everything down and we'll take the tree out to the garden sometime around midnight. And it'll probably be raining and the neighbours will think we're crazy. What's new?
ReplyDeleteOur decorations came down last night - how drab the house seems!
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday to all for today.
We always take down our decorations on the 6th.
ReplyDeleteLovely, lovely photo from Ravenna-- thanks :-)!
Glad to know I have company in this, Christine. Today is such a big feast and according to the link I found it is the twelfth day of Christmas in any case, so why hasten the drabness?
ReplyDeleteYou're right that many people put their decoration up so early that they are tired of them as soon as Christmas Day itself is over. We've always stuck to "decorate on Christmas Eve and leave them up til Epiphany" and are always reluctant to take them down. I'll think of you sneaking out with your tree late tonight.....:-)
Thanks, Harriet. Our house is old and rather dark and always seems so bleak when the colour and glitter disappear. Sigh....
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the Epiphany club, Niall and Antoinette. :-)
ReplyDeleteIsn't the mosaic truly gorgeous? I was open-mouthed with awe when I saw the Ravenna mosaics in the flesh years ago now. As fresh and beautiful as when they were made 1500 years ago!
As the said next-to-youngest sister I say thank you for your birthday greetings. We too keep the Christmas tree and decorations up at least until this evening despite DD1’s prediction of bad luck to come.
ReplyDeleteJust had a friend pop in to share my birthday breakfast and now about to put on better bib & tucker to meet another friend for a birthday lunch. Thank heaven for women friends!
Happy birthday, PolkaDot. I hope you have a really lovely day. It sounds like it started well with a shared birthday breakfast and I'm sure you will enjoy your birthday lunch. Keep those decorations there until you've finished celebrating. :-)
ReplyDeleteWe have a Christmas cluster. My mother is 23rd December, my granmother was 25th (and she died on 25th too so in and out on the same day - very clever) and I'm on 29th. I was due on Christmas Day but my mother sat down on 15th December and refused to move until it was all over. I've been running late ever since!
ReplyDeleteHi Perpetua,
ReplyDeleteMy complaint when living in the UK was that people & especially the shops, started Christmas too soon & finished it too early. The local Tesco would have the Christmas decorations down by New Year's Day & already have Easter eggs on the shelves -((.
I have no problem with keeping the decorations up for a few more days into the Epiphany season. As you know, we are in the hands of our host congregation as we don't own our own Church building. But I was in there briefly this morning & the Advent Ring & the Christmas tree were still up. I hope they are still there on Sunday as we celebrating the Epiphany two days late as the liturgical calendar allows us to.
Belated birthday wishes, Wylye Girl. Yes, it's odd how we get these family clusters, while vast swathes of the year go by without any special celebrations. April brings another big cluster for us, with my grandfather, my mother (his daughter) me, then Grandson #2 on our wedding anniversary.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, Ricky. DD and I really feel we're swimming against the tide by refusing to decorate until just before Christmas. At the other end of the spectrum my MiL came home from shopping just before New Year with a pack of hot-cross buns!
ReplyDeleteGlad to know you're another who likes to mark Epiphany by keeping the decorations. In my parish in Wales our beautiful hand-made crib below the altar wouldn't see the kings until Epiphany itself and we would keep it there (though not the tree and other decorations) until Candlemas.
Thank you for the gift of the Epiphany carol, Perpetua. It is so beautiful to me to hear on this day, Friday, Epiphany.
ReplyDeleteWe, too, leave our decorations up until Epiphany. Our girls would always ask when the three "wise guys" were coming, knowing that Christmas would be put away after that. We would read a book or passage about the wise men, and I would tell them of my childhood and my Greek traditions where we could attend church and communion and then the feasting.
We always put up our tree later than anyone else, but, I love that you wait until Christmas Eve. The rule when our kids were little was that we didn't even begin to think about Christmas until after my birthday, the 5th, which gave them a marker. Then, I would take decorations out slowly until we got the tree; a wreath one day, a figurine the next.
Our tree and decoration are one of the very few in our neighborhood. Most with real trees took them down the 26th. I know because they were all on the curbs. I feel so sad when I see them as I love the 12 days of Christmas and the serene feeling I get as the days wear on.
What a lovely post - and I'm glad to know there are so many who observe Epiphany.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Penny. It's very much one of my favourites and so beautifully sung here.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't realised that you are of Greek descent. You must have such fascinating stories to tell of your family's traditions. I'm glad it makes you another who values the time after Christmas Day as part of Christmas itself, rather than treating Advent as Christmas. To get rid of the tree on the 26th (a public holiday here in the UK) seems positively brutal!
I am also an epiphany baby and I ALWAYS leave my tree and decorations up until after my birthday!!! I'm glad to know I'm not the only one!!! Happy birthdays!!
ReplyDeleteHi Teenuh and welcome. Happy birthday for today. I don't blame you for keeping the decorations up until your birthday is over. It would feel so miserable taking them down before your special day. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteDear Perpetua,
ReplyDeleteThe Epiphany is such a lovely feast and having a birthday party on January 6 must be a real rejoicing in your family. My Christmas tree is still up also. I hope to take it down this weekend. But oh the beauty that will be gone until another December.
The video was visually stunning as well as pleasing to the ears. Thank you.
So sorry to have been gone from your blog for such a long time. I've been under the weather but slowly I'm rebounding. If there are any of your postings that you'd especially like me to read, please let me know.
I'm trying to visit today all the blogs I've missed for three weeks.
Peace.
I was all for taking our tree and trimmings down today, having just arrived home from England, but my dh wouldn't let me. Today in Spain is the day the Kings arrive - los Reyes Magos - the Magician Kings, bringing with them gifts for children. At least until recently when Santa is proving to be more popular as he gets in first! Anyway, we'll keep the tree until tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthdays all - celebrate, celebrate - there's always an occasion if you look carefully. :-)
Axxx
Just checked the date of your post - I'm pinching another day on top! Tomorrow is the 7th! I've always been a 6th day dismantler up til now but was quite easily dissuaded. Ax
ReplyDeleteThat's so lovely, Perpetua! Thanks for the last bit of holiday music. I'm with you on keeping the tree and decorations up until after the Epiphany. I think that brands us as eccentrics in this neighborhood where all the decorations came down the day after Christmas (or never went up in the first place.) It's hard to let go of our holiday cheer!
ReplyDeleteWelcome back, Dee. I'm so glad you're feeling well enough to read and comment again. You have been missed. :-)
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the post and the music. Yes, it's lovely to have more than one reason to celebrate today. Grandson #3 certainly sounded as though he was enjoying his birthday when I rang him and my sister has been making the most of her day too. Even I have been out at a friend's Twelfth Night party this evening, hence the delay in replying.
Welcome home, Annie and hope you had a good trip. I hadn't heard before about the Spanish custom of the Magician Kings bringing gifts for the children. That seems a very good reason to leave the decorations up for another day or two. Do they still bring any gifts now that Santa is muscling in on their act?
ReplyDeleteThank you for the good wishes. We're pretty good as a family at finding things to celebrate one way or another. :-)
So glad you enjoyed it, Kathy. It's good to have another member of our Epiphany club. Let's all be eccentrics together, celebrating the whole of Christmas at the right time, rather than anticipating and then curtailing the celebrations. We'll have to let go of the beauty and light soon, but not too soon.
ReplyDeleteMerci Perpetua, I enjoyed that.
ReplyDeleteSP
You're very welcome, SP A good time was had by all yesterday. :-)
ReplyDeleteEpiphany celebrations on the 8th for us. The decorations went straight after new year - we needed the space..
ReplyDeleteHi Jon and welcome. With all those animals around being assessed, I bet you do need the space. :-) We'll be celebrating Epiphany at church on the 8th too. Nothing like two celebrations of the same feast!
ReplyDeleteIt's the perfect way to end the holidays. Brings the whole reason for them back to mind after the orgy of shopping and eating some people have indulged in.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthdays to all.
Absolutely, Friko. We couldn't have planned it that way, but it works beautifully to round off Christmas for us. Thank you for the good wishes which I will pass on.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm a bit confused. Here in NYC, my Spanish friend celebrate the Three Kings Day. Is it the same? Just wondering.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the music.:)
Thank you for your prayerful support of the Old Biddie's family.
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome, Nerima. Yes, the three Kings Day is Epiphany, which is just the official church name for the celebration. Annie, who lives in Spain, commented earlier in this thread that Epiphany is when los Reyes Magos - the Magician Kings - arrive with gifts for the children.
ReplyDeleteAnd our Eastern Orthodox friends are just celebrating their Christmas now because they still follow the old calendar. These different customs are so interesting.
Fly, it comes instinctively to offer it in such difficult situations.
ReplyDeleteThank you SO much for bringing us this beautiful mosaic (how I'd love to see the Ravenna mosaics one day) and this exquisite carol, one of my absolute favourites and wonderful to hear from King's. In the Catholic tradition the feast of the Epiphany is celebrated on the Sunday following the 6th, so we were delighted to go to church this morning and find the crib still there, and to sing carols. Christmas day, after all, is the beginning, not the end of the 'good news', so it makes perfect sense to be singing the joyous and poignant carols of Christmas at Epiphany. As for decorations, we take them down at Twelfth Night (with the annual discussion over whether it's the 5th or the 6th) but - after a little mope - I quite welcome the clean-swept simplicity of January.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthdays to your family!
Very glad you enjoyed them both so much, DB. The carol is one of my favourites too and I cannot urge you strongly enough to visit Ravenna and see the mosaics for yourself if you get the chance. Absolutely unforgettable.
ReplyDeleteThroughout my active ministry we were given the option to transfer the main liturgical celebration of Epiphany to the Sunday before or after the 6th, though this wasn't set in stone in the lectionary. I always chose to do so, since otherwise this beautiful feast would slip by almost unnoticed, except by the faithful few who can be relied upon to come to a mid-week service.
Thank you for the lovely carol. We don't put up as many decorations these days as we zip off to France as soon as the washing up is done on Christmas Day (well, almost). But I still hate taking them down....it adds to the gloom of January which I always dread.
ReplyDeleteStill, only 8 weeks now until March and spring will then be on its way......
Glad you enjoyed it, Jean. Like you I don't put up many decorations nowadays, as we always visit our two and their families for Christmas and New Year. But I have to have my crib and the flying angels and put the cards up, and again like you, I hate taking them down.
ReplyDeleteNot sure we're going to have to wait until March for spring this year, judging by what's already making an appearance in the garden here! Winter, what winter?
Hi Perpetua (I'm going to have trouble calling you that!!) Gorgeous mosaic - you're definitely going to have to teach me how to get photos into a blog We were away for the whole of the Christmas/New Year, so no decorations up this year, and it did feel bleak when we got home - hardly any cards up, even!! Didn't even make it to church on Sunday, as we've not been well. The music I've loved ever since I learned it at school many aeons ago - it's always been one of my favourites, and I've sung it many times (once as soloist - odd for a sop! Loved the Hallelujah Chorus clip, too - where did you find it? See you soon.
ReplyDeleteHi J, you made it! Welcome to the comments. Yes, the mosaic is glorious. Just remind me to show you how to do the photos and where to find the music clips. Like you, I've always loved the Three Kings, though I've never been asked to sing it as a solo. :-)
ReplyDeleteLovely, lovely lovely.... hope you all enjoyed the birthdays and the extra day of decorations. I too, left the santons displayed for an extra couple of days.... its too hard wrapping them up in tissue and putting them away for another year. Happy new year.
ReplyDeletebest wishes, Janice.
Hi Janice and thanks. You obviously enjoyed the mosaic and music. :-) Yes, it was nice to have the decorations for a little longer and I gather the birthday people all had a great time. I had to google 'santons' to be sure what they are and they look wonderful. Lucky you!
ReplyDeleteThe mosaic and music are beautiful. My father was an Armenian Orthodox so we always left the Christmas decorations till the middle of January, so I feel it is alright to leave them to then. Thanks for coming to my blog and commenting.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Vagabonde and welcome. I'm glad you liked them. Thank you too for reminding us that different cultures have a different timetable and customs for celebrating Christmas. I like to think of you with your decorations still up until the middle of January.
ReplyDeleteErm - correction, but my mother-in-law's birthday is the 7th, not the 6th. However, it's close enough :-)
ReplyDeleteOops, sorry, DD, I could have sworn you said the 6th. My hearing is definitely getting worse.... The intention was good. :-)
ReplyDelete