Time to take down the tree

IF you follow tradition you will take down your Christmas tree today. January 6 is Little Christmas or Women’s Christmas and marks the end of the holiday. This seems to be a uniquely Irish custom. In Norway and Sweden the tradition is to take down the tree on January 13.

But the significance of January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany, is much more universal. In fact the birth of Christ was actually celebrated on this date for most of Christian history, and it still is in the eastern Christian churches.

The Irish tradition seems to be strongest in Munster and is probably on the way out. A friend of mine visited her student son in his flat last June and found that the tree was still up, though looking a little tired. But if you take a more traditional approach and the tree is leaving the house today you may like to try and work out what species it is.