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meIn other years, the threat of bad luck if you don’t remove the Christmas decorations before Twelfth Night might have meant something. In 2021, the idea that things could get worse seems darkly comical.
And so for some people, the decorations, the lights and the trees remain in place this year.
In cities, towns, and villages across the country, some stubborn and joyous celebrators of the season have decided to dispense with the practice of the past two centuries and embrace an older medieval tradition, which dictates that, rather than ending early January, the Christmas celebrations should last until the next Christian holy day, La Candelaria (February 2). Call it joy for levels.
The idea was raised Tuesday by Michael Carter, English Heritage’s senior property historian, in his article for the Catholic news magazine The Tablet, announcing the organization’s endorsement of the extension.
“There is very little joy in January at best,” argued Carter. “This year, the accelerated spread of Covid … only compounds the misery.”
However, you don’t want to miss the Candlemas deadline or, as 17th century clergyman and poet Robert Herrick warned, you may be visited by a goblin. In other words, if you keep the tinsel and see Michael Gove on TV, you are only to blame yourself.
While Carter’s intervention earned him a spot on Radio 4’s Today show, it turns out that many others have had the same idea, with dozens of social media users suggesting they had similar plans.
Becci Wright, director of the film and television unit, told The Guardian that in her town of Osmotherley, North Yorkshire, the Christmas lights were turned on early “in direct response to Covid-19.”
“There was an idea to illuminate the end of a very dark year for many,” he said. After Christmas, a cafe owner on a local Facebook page raised the idea of keeping the lights on throughout January, and about 20 residents plan to do so.
“Hopefully lighting our way through the long dark winter months will create a sense of optimism,” said Wright, who participates herself. “The lights serve as a reminder that we are here for each other.”
Brigid Joughin, a GP in Newcastle, said she had insisted that the tree remain up for the sake of her husband. “I have the luxury of being able to leave the house to work, but he is home all day, so it is good to keep the house as cheerful as possible,” she said.
In a “dark and miserable winter with nothing in our lives to look forward to,” he added, an extension of the holidays seems reasonable. “There are already a lot of Christmas trees in the back lane and I thought, ‘Why is everyone rushing to do this now? Life is not normal, why pretend it is?
However, city councils may not be fully on board with the scheduling of many tree harvesting services for early to mid-January, and already basic crews may not be impressed by the prospect that trees pile up on sidewalks in four weeks.
Churches, however, have long been open-minded on the issue, a Church of England spokesperson said, noting that many routinely kept decorations up until Candlemas. Among others, the cathedrals of Chester, Leicester, Salisbury and Durham maintain some Christmas cheer for the rest of the month.
So is TV host Amanda Holden, who claimed Tuesday that she was mimicking the Queen’s alleged approach, as did the Louise Minchin, BBC Breakfast host, who said his tree would stick around for “quite a long time.”
Still, under normal circumstances, most of us would be surprised to see a Christmas tree in place after this week. Susannah Clark, a 68-year-old retired nurse from Milton Keynes, scoffs at such a convention, and has had hers since December 2019.
His tree is artificial, which eliminates the risk of the needle falling, but not from relatives surprised at Zoom’s calls. Once it stayed on until midsummer, Clark said, it didn’t seem to make much sense to remove it. “What’s the point of? It’s only early!”
Clark, who came out of retirement to help sort out potential coronavirus cases early in the pandemic by phone, hopes to leave his tree in place this year as well. “We had not rationalized it as something related to Covid, but we are both at home, and it cheers up the place, anything that raises your morale a bit.”
Adam Adshead, a 56-year-old man living in Billericay, has good reason to seek that kind of comfort: He lost his sister in June and his father to the coronavirus, two days before Christmas. And so he kept the lights on.
“This year, more than ever, we need to cheer up, and leaving the lights on is a sign of hope for better things to come,” he said. “Maybe there are essential workers coming through at night, and maybe the sight of the lights will bring them a little joy.”
However, Adshead has been thinking mostly of his loved ones and, like most people this Christmas, his joy has an undertone of defiance. “The lights are for them,” he said. “Remember them, honor them and say that despite everything, life goes on.”
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