Thursday, January 9, 2014

When Does Christmas End?

I know many (most?) people have packed the Christmas decorations away, some as early as Christmas night.  I'm still sitting here looking at our Christmas tree and all the assorted decorations around the house.  I would like to say I have some liturgical or traditional reason for that, but the truth is we just haven't had the time.  Unfortunately, it looks like the decorations will stay up until next weekend.

In order to hang my liturgical or traditional hat on something to justify this lack of Christmas closure, I looked into when the Church officially "ends" Christmas.  This may sound strange to many - doesn't Christmas end on December 25?  To that I can emphatically say no.  Like other liturgical holidays (Easter and Pentecost), the celebration doesn't end on the day, but at a minimum extends through the octave (a week after the holy day).  O.K., that should take us to January 1, right?  Well, not exactly.

Most Catholics and many Protestants extend Christmas through Epiphany.  After all, if the wise men show up to bring baby Jesus gifts, how will they find Him if the nativity scene is packed away?  That is why many Catholics wait until Epiphany to pack the Christmas stuff away for another year.

That still doesn't give my family a leg to stand on with regard to why our tree is still in the living room (other than the obvious laziness).  I'm going with Candlemas as my next Christmas season ending date. Celebrated on February 2, Candlemas is also called Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple or the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  It celebrates the first introduction to Jesus in the Temple.  According to Mosaic law, a woman only could enter the temple for ritual purification 40 days after her male child was born.  This was also the same time the child would be "presented" in the Temple.  For Jesus, this presentation was met by old Simeon and the prophetess Anna.  Luke 2:29.  Simeon had long waited for the coming of the Messiah and recognized Jesus as that person.  Holding the baby, he praised God saying: "Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel"  Luke 2:29-32.  We call this the Nunc Dimittis.



One liturgical tradition for February 2 is the blessing of the candles.  According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the priest would bless the candles (always beeswax) and then hand them out to the congregation who would process through the church (or outside) to represent the light of Christ entering the temple.  This would be accompanied by the choir singing "Nunc Dimittis" and other hymns praising the Virgin Mary.  

So, this is all an elaborate lesson to justify the fact that our Christmas decorations are still up.  I doubt we will leave them up until February 2 (but hey, that is an option!), but I think I have bought us another week or two.



Merry Christmas, Epiphany and Candlemas.

CC

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