Twelfth Night is the traditional end of the Twelve Days of Christmas and is most commonly kept on the evening of 5 January, the night before Epiphany on 6 January.

What date is Twelfth Night?

  • In many Western Christian traditions (including the Church of England), Twelfth Night is on 5 January, also called Epiphany Eve.
  • It marks the final evening of Christmas’s twelve days, with Epiphany itself falling on 6 January.

Why is there confusion about the date?

  • Some traditions count Christmas Day as the first of the Twelve Days, which makes the twelfth night fall on 5 January.
  • Others start counting on 26 December, which leads them to treat 6 January as both Twelfth Day and Twelfth Night, effectively merging it with Epiphany.

Custom about decorations

  • A common folk belief in Britain is that Christmas decorations should be taken down by Twelfth Night (5 January) to avoid bad luck.
  • Historically, some people kept greenery up until Candlemas (2 February), but modern custom usually follows the Twelfth Night guideline.

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