From the bulletin for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Jan 19, 2025)
Ask the Pastor: An Ongoing Series, Beginning for the First Time
Q: Hey Father, how long can Christmas decorations be left up?
A: Living liturgically is a great way to integrate the mysteries of our faith into daily life. Those who pick their Sunday sweater based on the color of the priest’s chasuble, for example, get Pastor’s Points. However, liturgy can get complicated.
For example, we all know and rejoice that when March 19 and 25 roll round, St. Joseph and Our Lady provide us with two island oases in the middle of the Lenten sea. On those days, we chant the glory with no scruples and feast on fleshmeats with thanksgiving. But what follows when the feast of the Transfiguration falls on a Friday of Ordinary Time? Does feast trump fast? Split the difference? Both/and?
Regarding the Christmas season, liturgical law is clear. The General Instruction to the Roman Missal states: “Christmas Time runs from First Vespers of the Nativity of the Lord up to and including the Sunday after Epiphany or after January 6.” That Sunday typically coincides with the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord. Thus, after the Baptism, white is changed for green, and the readings at Mass turn our attention to the Lord’s active ministry. (By the way, the tradition of the “twelve” days of Christmas is based on a shorter Christmas season in the old liturgical calendar, running from Christmas day to January 6, the traditional fixed date of the Epiphany).
However, as you know, many of the feasts of the liturgical year share a chronological relationship. Nine months after the Solemnity of the Annunciation we have that of the Nativity of the Lord. And eight days after Christmas comes the solemnity on which we liturgically commemorate the Lord’s circumcision (among other important things), on what is now known as the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God.
According to Luke’s Gospel, “When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord” (Lk 2:22). Following Leviticus 12 (the passage of the law of Moses that Luke refers to), we know this purification/presentation occurred forty days after a male child’s birth. And so it is liturgically: forty days after December 25, on February 2, we have the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, on which Jesus is once again beheld as a tender babe in the arms of His mother… as well as those of Simeon. Hence the tradition, dating back to medieval times, of leaving up Christmas decorations, such as the Nativity scene, tree, and greenery, until February 2, given the historical connection between these holy days.
Arguably, in the old calendar there was more of a basis for this custom. Though the color of the Sundays after Epiphany was green, there was no “Ordinary Time” (a creation of the Second Vatican Council). The stretch was simply called “After Epiphany” and went up to Septuagesima Sunday, seventy days before Easter. The very name lends itself to basking a little longer in the light of Christmas.
Is there any “official” basis for prolonging the magic now? According to the Vatican News (quoting a document I cannot find), a Christmas ‘window’ is indeed left open until 2 February, Feast of the Presentation. And apparently in St. Peter’s Square the Pope’s Nativity scene is usually left up until that day, preserving the ancient tradition. So, yes.
Now, I encountered that tradition for the first time while staying at a convent in Mexico City in 2019 with my seminary class. My first reaction was that either the sisters either must not visit their chapel where the Nativity was still standing (complete with blinking lights and endlessly cycling chiptune Christmas music) very often, or had grown rather lazy. I was mistaken in my ignorance. But such can be the impression (or even the reality).
So whether you opt to observe that tradition or fastidiously transition to Ordinary TIme in your homes is entirely up to you. Liturgical law does not touch your living room decorations. Here at St. Mark’s, the local custom is to take things down after the Baptism. As I write, the trees and a few poinsettias still adorn the altar; we will have to see what kind of a “window” we keep open here until Candlemas!
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