Ship of Fools: Nativity sets - when should you take them down?

Thread: Nativity sets - when should you take them down? Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by St. Gwladys (# 14504) on :

It's 12th night, Epiphany, and the Christmas tree has come down, as have the cards. I've been following Birdie's posts on Facebook showing her Wise Men's progress round her house to arrive at the stable. So does a Nativity set count as a Christmas decoration? If so, then the Wise Men would have a very quick visit to the stable - no sooner do they arrive and they're packlede away again!

Posted by marzipan (# 9442) on :

I suppose you could leave them up till Candlemas (2nd feb)?
By that time hadn't everyone gone off to Jerusalem to the temple

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :

My stable, Holy Family, shepherds, angels, and animals are on an end table at one end of my couch; the Wise Men and camels are at the opposite end. They stay in place, as I have no space to have them move towards the stable. When everything else comes down tomorrow the Nativity set will stay up for a few more days, probably until the weekend.

A church I attended many years ago had windows with wide sills up one side. On the First Sunday of Advent an empty stable was set up in front by the Altar. Mary and Joseph were on the back window sill. Over the next three Sundays various animals gradually appeared in the stable, and Mary and Joseph worked their way up the window sills towards the front. On Christmas they had all arrived at the stable -- and the Wise Men appeared on the back window sill to begin their journey.

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :

Leave them up for the full two years it probably took them to get to Bethlehem to see Jesus. (since this resets every Christmas, you'll never take them down.)

Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :

[Big Grin]

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :

quote:
Originally posted by marzipan:
I suppose you could leave them up till Candlemas (2nd feb)?
By that time hadn't everyone gone off to Jerusalem to the temple

According to QI (so it must be right [Razz]

) not just the Nativity set, but decorations in general should stay up until Candlemas Eve, 1st February.

Posted by Enoch (# 14322) on :

I've been told from a child that the whole lot must be down by midnight tonight.

Posted by Robert Armin (# 182) on :

As a child I was taught that decorations should come down on 12th Night; tomorrow the Feast of the Nativity. However, since the Magi will only just have got to the crib, that will stay in place until Candlemas, just like the bigger version in Church.

Posted by Try (# 4951) on :

Everything comes down on January 6 exactly! That's the only really proper way to do it, but of course its often easier said than done.

Posted by la vie en rouge (# 10688) on :

Rather satisfyingly, our living room faces east-west. The magi began their trek a while back in the east across the top of the piano towards Bethlehem on the bookshelf. In between the piano and the bookshelf there is a gap and a bridge had to be cunningly constructed out of cardboard and spangly paper [Big Grin]

They are going to arrive today and it does seem a bit of a shame to take them down so soon…

Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :

When I was a child the Magi used to make their way to the crib along the picture rails: the first (plus his camel) arrived on 6th January and the other two, plus their animals, arrived at 7 day intervals; last to arrive was a figure of either a page or a figure included in the crib set by mistake!

Crib then stayed until the eve of Candlemass.

Posted by Adam. (# 4991) on :

Our Christmas season lasts through the Feast of the Baptism this coming Sunday. After all that journey, the Magi need a chance to hang out for bit before being returned to their basement dungeon. Plus, that camel's heavy: no way I'm pulling it up the stairs just for twelve measly days!

Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :

My intention is to take the tree and sundry light/greenery decorations down this evening; the candle-bridges in the window will stay up until Candlemas.

We only acquired our Nativity set last Christmas (2013); I think it'll stay up until Candlemas as well.

Posted by Siegfried (# 29) on :

Every evergreen needle left after midnight tonight will be a bad thing happening in the coming year! That, and if you leave your greens up after tonight, the fairies will trash it.

Moving on--tree and greens out today, as well as other Christmas decorations. Candles and runners and such stay up until Candlemas.

Posted by QLib (# 43) on :

Well I was told they hd to be down before twelfth Night, which never made sense to me. And i like the candlemas idea.

Posted by JoannaP (# 4493) on :

What was I was brought up with is that Christmas decorations should be taken down by the end of the day of Epiphany. If that does not happen, they must then stay up until Candlemas.

Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :

Epiphany would be good, along with the tree. We didn't bother to put a scene up this year because we were not home....

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :

Ours is staying up until Candlemas, but all the other decorations come down at Epiphany. (They then lie around in piles all over the house until I get round to putting them up the loft, some time between Epiphany and Candlemas.)

I always think the wise men get a raw deal if the nativity set gets taken down before they've hardly had a chance to arrive.

Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :

I sorted mine last night, and we moved the Nativity scene characters (they're just individual characters - no stable as such) on to the window-sill beside the candle-bridges.

Wise men on one side with Mary, Joseph and the baby, and the animals and the shepherd (who is playing bagpipes [Eek!]

) on the other side of the middle divider of the window-frame*.

Presumably by the time the Wise Men arrived, the shepherds had buggered off ... [Big Grin]

* I put him there because bagpipes make the Baby Jesus cry.

Posted by Hilda of Whitby (# 7341) on :

I packed away our nativity set this morning.

Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :

quote:
Originally posted by L'organist:
When I was a child the Magi used to make their way to the crib along the picture rails: the first (plus his camel) arrived on 6th January and the other two, plus their animals, arrived at 7 day intervals; last to arrive was a figure of either a page or a figure included in the crib set by mistake!

What was it? I'm trying to think what would be most inappropriate. Boba Fett from Star Wars?

Posted by bib (# 13074) on :

My tree and decorations and the nativity scene were packed away on Twelfth Night. However, the Christmas cards are still on the shelves as I am still receiving cards in the post and I also haven't finished reading all the lovely long letters enclosed.

Posted by Pearl B4 Swine (# 11451) on :

My Nativity scene will be out on the buffet for some time. I hate to pack it up. Mine is a combo of two sets, so I have "a cast of thousands"; I made one Mary into a shepherdess-on-the-green, and one Joseph into a wise man. One baby Jesus I had to hide away. I couldn't justify Mary having twins.

So I have plenty of everything else. And a nice china pig, and a plastic horse from my childhood. Baby Jesus thinks the piggy is strange, but cute. He's quite liberal you know. And he needn't beg for a pony every Christmas [Biased]

Posted by Siegfried (# 29) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Pearl B4 Swine:
I couldn't justify Mary having twins.

You obviously missed the SoF Nativity Play!

Posted by Pearl B4 Swine (# 11451) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Siegfried:

quote:
Originally posted by Pearl B4 Swine:
I couldn't justify Mary having twins.
You obviously missed the SoF Nativity Play!

Dang! I wish I had been around then.
Ali's Used Camels [Killing me]

bee_not_afraid [Killing me]

Jesus' Evil Twin [Killing me]

My kind o' fun.

Posted by leo (# 1458) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Siegfried:
Every evergreen needle left after midnight tonight will be a bad thing happening in the coming year! That, and if you leave your greens up after tonight, the fairies will trash it.

I find it very odd that notions of 'bad luck' are attached to the timing of removing decorations.

12th Night - Epiphany is about the surrender of superstition.

Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Pearl B4 Swine:
... Baby Jesus thinks the piggy is strange, but cute ...

All piggies are cute. [Biased]

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

On the way home today I passed by several houses that still had decorations up, Christmas lights cheerily blazing away, and the Christmas tree sitting there as bold as you like.

Posted by Rev per Minute (# 69) on :

On my one and only trip to Rome, late one January, I was surprised to see Nativity scenes still up in the churches - crowned, as it were, by the twice life size Nativity on display in St Peter's Square. From that I guess the Catholic*, or at least the Italian, tradition is to leave them up until Candlemas.

*It wasn't the tradition in my UK RC family, but who knows who decides these things...

Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
... Christmas lights cheerily blazing away, and the Christmas tree sitting there as bold as you like.

I suspect that quite a few people will have left theirs up until the weekend; I noticed a marked decrease from Friday to Saturday.

Posted by Pearl B4 Swine (# 11451) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:

quote:
Originally posted by Pearl B4 Swine:
... Baby Jesus thinks the piggy is strange, but cute ...
All piggies are cute.

Yes! Even Jewish piggies [Smile]

Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :

Especially jewish piggies.

One of the best bacon sandwiches I ever ate was in a cafe near the docks in Haifa...

Posted by Jante (# 9163) on :

All our churches leave there's up until Candlemas. And mine at home is still up and will remain so until Candlemas. In the past I did pack my nativity set away with the rest of the decorations, but having treated myself to a beautiful Olive wood one from Bethlehem last year I'm glad to make the most of it and keep looking at it until 2nd Feb. [Yipee]

Posted by Jengie jon (# 273) on :

quote:
Originally posted by L'organist:
Especially jewish piggies.

One of the best bacon sandwiches I ever ate was in a cafe near the docks in Haifa...

Probably run by Christian Palestinians as the only people who produce bacon in Israel. Oh did you know that pigs in Israel are bred in sheds that are on legs.

Jengie

Posted by Thurible (# 3206) on :

Our tree goes up on Christmas Eve, as do the decorations. (The Holy Nativity Set - as opposed to the fun, knitted nativity set and the ugly one that was given to us - goes up on O Sapientia, but without the Christ-child - Fr Christmas puts him in place... )

The tree and decorations come down on the Baptism of the Lord; the nativities stay up til Candlemas.

Thurible

Posted by sharkshooter (# 1589) on :

Not being a big one for the church calendar, all indoor Christmas decorations, including trees, go up the last weekend of November or the first weekend of December (depending on other commitments). They come down on New Year's Day.

The outside lights go up usually on Thanksgiving weekend (in October) and down on Easter weekend (although they are plugged in and unplugged the same time as the inside decorations), thus avoiding freezing my fingers off and breaking all the plastic clips used for fastening the lights to the eaves.

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