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Many churches don't take down their Christmas decorations until the Sunday after Epiphany, which is on Jan. 6.
According to the traditional Christian calendar, tonight marks ''Twelfth Night,'' or the Eve of Epiphany, the end of the 12 days of Christmas.
''That's the completion of the 12 days of Christmas,'' said the Rev. Alexander Fecanin, pastor of St. Symeon Orthodox Church. ''Traditionally, the 12 days of Christmas is not the 12 days before Christmas, it's the 12 days following. We're still singing carols.''
Not many people still celebrate with 12 days of gift-giving from Dec. 25 to Jan. 5, as in the famous Christmas carol. But many churches do observe the ancient feast of Epiphany on Jan. 6, a holiday associated in western churches with the coming of the magi to honor the infant Jesus.
''Twelfth Night was the burning of the greens; you took the Christmas wreaths
down and burned them,'' said the Rev. Bill King, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Clanton. ''In the old English tradition you'd have a bonfire on Twelfth Night.''
While Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist and other Western churches celebrate the coming of the Magi to adore Jesus, the Eastern Orthodox church commemorates the baptism of Jesus on Epiphany. Icons representing the baptism of Jesus are on display.
But many Catholic churches will leave up their Nativity displays until this coming Sunday, which is celebrated as the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord on the Sunday after Epiphany, which this year is Jan. 11.
"All the churches take down their creches and decorations after the the feast of the Baptism of the Lord; that's the end of the Christmas season," said the Rev. Richard Donohoe, director of Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Birmingham.
"The Christmas season only begins on Christmas Eve," Donohoe said. "When I was a boy, we didn't put the tree up until Christmas Eve."
In Italy, including at the Vatican, churches will leave up creches through this coming Sunday.
"At the piazza, the tree and the creche is not dismantled until after Epiphany, plus a few more days, depending on when the baptism of the Lord is celebrated," Donohoe said.
Because Epiphany falls on a Tuesday this year, both Catholics and Episcopalians already celebrated it this past Sunday.
"We had three wise children process in with their wooden camels," King said. "We sang, 'We Three Kings.'"
At St. Symeon Orthodox Church, there will be a liturgy tonight on Epiphany Eve at 6:30 p.m., and another Epiphany service on Tuesday at 10 a.m.
During the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, Christmas celebrations in America took place sporadically between Dec. 6, the feast of St. Nicholas, and Jan. 6, the feast of the Epiphany. The earlier onset of U.S. Christmas celebrations and decorations in the modern commercial era may create a sense of anxiety for the holiday to be over. After a Christmas shopping season that for many Americans begins right after Thanksgiving, people tire of the holiday season and are ready to move on.
"In society, everybody seems to be tired out of Christmas by Dec. 25," Fecanin said. "We keep Christmas decorations up in church until after Epiphany."
King noted that in Eastern Orthodox traditions, Epiphany far predates Christmas and is the most important day in the celebration of the Christmas season.
In early church tradition, Epiphany celebrated the Nativity and the appearance of Christ at the River Jordan for baptism. Churches usually celebrate Epiphany on Jan. 6 or the Sunday between Jan. 2-8.
The Feast of Epiphany begins a season that continues until Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent, the season of preparation for Easter.
Around the world, Christmas is celebrated as late as Jan. 27 in the Coptic Church of Egypt.
"Epiphany was celebrated in the earliest church," King said.
"Different Christian traditions celebrate differently," King said. "In Bethlehem, Christmas is celebrated all the way through (Jan. 27)."
Epiphany for Catholic and Episcopal churches marks the visit of the Magi, which is connected to Christmas, although if the visit is historical, the Magi would likely have arrived long after the birth of Jesus. The Gospel of Matthew says that when the Magi visited Herod and told him of the birth of a new king, Herod responded by ordering the slaughter of male children under 2 years old, which would suggest a long lapse of time between the appearance of the star and the arrival of the Magi.
According to the Gospel of Matthew, the magi brought gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem.
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