The rules for the Christmas tree

[Stella]

My rule in the past when the kids were young was to put it up when the mood at school started to turn Christmasy such as in early December. This year my youngest daughter who's 29 and still lives with us, wasn't going to be here for the Dec first so she dragged everything out last week and set it up.

Unlike certain other kinds of holiday decorations, such as an Advent wreath, a Christmas tree is neither a sacramental nor part of a liturgy. Because of this, there are no strict right or wrong answers as to when a Catholic should put up or take down a Christmas tree. Yet depending on your family’s own particular holiday traditions and spiritual needs, there are some dates that might be especially appropriate in your own household.

In terms of when to put up a Christmas tree, there is nothing to prevent a Catholic from setting up a Christmas tree right after Thanksgiving if they so choose. But for other families waiting until Christmas eve to set up a tree could be a helpful way of respecting the season of Advent as a time of quiet and even penitential preparation for the coming of Christ at Christmas. In contrast to the secular emphasis on pre-Christmas celebrations, waiting until Christmas to set up a tree makes it clear that Advent is not Christmas, but rather its own important season of waiting.

And of course, it’s always possible to find a middle ground between these two extremes. For example, perhaps a family could set up a Christmas tree earlier on during Advent, but only start decorating it closer to Christmas.

Or, you could take some cues from our liturgy as for when to set up your Christmas tree. One option would be to wait until Gaudete Sunday — the “pink” Sunday of the third week of Advent — when the church’s prayers specifically tell us to rejoice at the closeness of Jesus’ upcoming birthday.

Another liturgically fitting day to set up a Christmas tree would be Dec. 17, one week before Christmas Eve. This is the day when the church starts praying the “O antiphons” (antiphons which are most popularly well-known as the inspiration for the Advent hymn “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”) before the Gospel at daily Mass and before the “Magnificat” prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours. The beginning of the “O antiphons” marks a shift in the church’s liturgy, where Christmas is anticipated with a more immediate sense of urgency.

You can use a similar sense of liturgically informed prudential decision-making when deciding when to take down your Christmas tree. Although in my own opinion, it’s good to keep in mind that for Catholics Christmas Day is just the very beginning of a whole Christmas season.

The church celebrates the “octave,” or the eight days following Christmas, almost as though it were Christmas day itself. So, Jan. 2, the day after the octave concludes, could be a good day to take down a Christmas tree. Still, you would be more than justified in keeping your tree up even longer!

Jan. 6 is the traditional date of the feast of the Epiphany or “Three Kings’ Day,” a feast which marks the last day of the 12 days of Christmas. But officially, the Christmas season doesn’t end until the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which the church celebrates the Sunday after Jan. 6.

Finally, even if late January is technically considered Ordinary Time, the latest feast in our celebration of the Incarnation is actually the feast of the Presentation of the Lord on February 2. This is the last day that the Vatican keeps up their Christmas tree and crèche in St. Peter’s square in Rome, so a Catholic who follows suit can hardly be criticized for keeping up their Christmas decorations until this point!

https://jerseycatholic.org/reaching-out ... tmas-trees

[peregrinator]

I don't think an Advent wreath is a sacramental or part of the liturgy either - it's more of a household custom. That's not to say there isn't a "right way" (or ways) to do it, but maybe household customs can have right and wrong answers too.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

There wasn't an old rite for blessing one, but there is one now. Or at least a rite for blessing its use.

[Doom]

A Christmas tree is a purely secular symbol of Christmas, I don't actually have a problem with that, most secular Christmas traditions, from Christmas trees, to Christmas cookies to gingerbread houses to candy canes to ugly sweaters are just people trying to make the season a little more fun. Nothing wrong with it, as long as it doesn't overshadow the real meaning of Christmas. But since it's secular, a liturgical rule seems silly, if a parish wants to put up a Christmas tree, that's fine as long as it is not in an inappropriate place.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

It’s rose, not pink.

[peregrinator]

There wasn't an old rite for blessing one, but there is one now. Or at least a rite for blessing its use.

Does that make it a sacramental though? A car can be blessed (or at least its use can).

[peregrinator]

It’s rose, not pink.

Same difference

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

It’s rose, not pink.

Same difference

[Vern Humphrey]

A Christmas tree is a purely secular symbol of Christmas,

It's actually a Druid symbol. The things hung on the tree are reminiscent of "offerings" hung from trees in those days, including but not limited to human victims

[Doom]

Compete and utter BS, Christmas trees originated in Germany in the 16th century, there is zero evidence of any other source or pagan origin, the "Christmas is pagan" nonsense is some of the dumbest crap you find on the Internet

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

I agree with ... with ...

Gosh, the weather has been colder recently.

[Doom]

It is especially damaging when Christians promote that nonsense because it just makes Christianity look stupid...Christmas trees are pagan, Yule logs are pagan, Nativity Sets are pagan, egg nog is pagan, Christmas caroling is pagan, candy canes are pagan, ugly sweaters are pagan (okay I've never actually heard that one but it wouldn't surprise me) on and on and on....when said to non-Christians the message seems clear: Christians are against everything fun. This is especially harmful when kids are raised with these ideas and they come to associate Christianity with "repression" and "extremism", these kids grow up to be atheists and who can blame them, I also reject the idea that Christians have to be opposed to all fun.

[peregrinator]

A Christmas tree is a purely secular symbol of Christmas,

It's actually a Druid symbol. The things hung on the tree are reminiscent of "offerings" hung from trees in those days, including but not limited to human victims

This is the wildest one I've heard yet.

[Doom]

Most “Christmas trees are pagan claim they have a Norse origin and have something to do with the worship of Baldiur, but the fact that there is no consistency over the alleged pagan origins of the practice ought to make any reasonable person suspicious, and experts on Druid religion would be surprised to learn that they practiced human sacrifice.

[Doom]

A Christmas tree is a purely secular symbol of Christmas,

It's actually a Druid symbol. The things hung on the tree are reminiscent of "offerings" hung from trees in those days, including but not limited to human victims

This is the wildest one I've heard yet.

The wildest alleged origin of the Christmas tree, yes. Wildest alleged origin of a common Christmas tradition, sadly no. Just last week I heard a claim that the modern practice, originating in the early 20th century with the rise of department store Santas, or putting children on the lap of a store Santa to take a picture for a Christmas card originated in ancient Caanan with child sacrifices to Moloch. I swear I am not making this up.

But that is only the wildest Christmas tradition theory I have heard

And the wildest "holiday tradition is pagan" theory I have ever heard was a claim, earlier this year, that Easter originated as a pagan fertility rite, people would have a wild orgy after church on Easter Sunday, then all the babies born as a result of that orgy were then sacrificed to Moloch on Christmas day. Now, how they could have arranged not only that numerous women would get pregnant exactly on Easter Sunday but also give birth exactly on Christmas day, I have no idea. My response to that claim was to say that I have attended church on Easter Sunday every single year of my life, even in my early 20s when I wasn't a very observant Christian I still felt enough of a connection that I still attended on Christmas and Easter, and not once have I ever been invited to these alleged Easter Sunday orgies while walking out of church.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

You weren't one of the cool kids, apparently.

[Signum Crucis]

I've posted this before, but will repeat here. When my kids were still at home, I put up what I called an Advent tree. White lights, purple and ROSE ribbons. On Christmas Eve, after Mass, we changed the ribbons to gold ones, added colored lights and ornaments. We also had an Advent Wreath, of course.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

ROSE ribbons.

[anawim]

Only men lump rose and pink as the same thing. Women don't.

Rose

Pink

[Signum Crucis]

ROSE ribbons.