Did I say that Christmas was over? Well, technically the tide of Epiphany stretches through tomorrow. 

On the fortieth day came Mary mild,
Unto the temple with her child,
To show herself clean, who never was defiled,
And therewith endeth Christmas.

Go HERE to read and hear this beautiful carol that links the 40th day after Christmas to the 12 days of Christmas.

This is why, though some take down decorations at Epiphany, others heard for many years that one just had to have the greens down by the end of January.

The poet 17th century English poet  Robert Herrick expressed the traditions—removing the holiday greens, the coming of Spring and kindling the Christmas wood.

This text has been set to music through the years and is a popular mountain carol for the end of the season and you can listen to a brief clip HERE.

Being midway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox, it is now that we truly seek to look to the coming light. From the Scottish immigrants we have a rhyme that references the halfway mark and places pressure on Candlemas to hint at the weather for the rest of the season.

As the light grows longer
The cold grows stronger
If Candlemas be fair and bright
Winter will have another flight
If Candlemas be cloud and snow
Winter will be gone and not come again
A farmer should on Candlemas day
Have half his corn and half his hay
On Candlemas day if thorns hang a drop
You can be sure of a good pea crop

Related to the strength of the sun on Candlemas and having already established a penchant in Appalachia for using animals to divine the season and weather changes, an old German tradition took hold in the mountains involving a marmet (“whistle-pig” to us mountaineers) seeing its shadow . . .

Tonight is the night that Christians traditionally celebrate the arrival of the Wise Men bringing gifts to the Christ child. This day has also been celebrated in the mountains as "Old Christmas."  This carries back to the switch from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian one. Being mostly Protestant, many of the rural residents refused to honor the decree made by the Pope which altered the date of Christmas by eleven days. (As of 2012, due to the calendar, what used to be "Old Christmas" on the 6th, is now technically Old Christmas eve because the Julian calendar gained a day every 130 years.)
Even after residents adjusted to and accepted the new calendar, the traditions remained and many still celebrated Christmas in the new year since it helped to separate the holiday from the increasing secular and commercial excess.

Along with the pioneers who settled among the Appalachian Mountains came a host of strange holiday superstitions, mostly thanks to the Scotch-Irish and English settlers. Many of the stories refer to events that occur at midnight and involve nature-- roosters crowing, horses switching which side they lie on or talking, bees buzzing, barn animals kneeling and facing East, cattle kneeling and lowing, the Christmas Rose blooming, water turning to blood.

In the book, Grandfather Tales: American-English Folk Tales the story of Old Christmas Eve includes a Mummer's Play where they sing "The Cherry Tree Carol."

I hope everyone made merry throughout the holiday season-- but tomorrow is the last chance this holiday to celebrate Christmas Morning!

--heidi.

The Oh Hellos have created Christmas music.

And it is a gift. a balm. a thing of beauty.
And you can afford it.
Because you can name your price.
No excuses.
Your soul will thank you.

*Birdhouse in Your Soul is a song by They Might Be Giants
But more importantly it is a tiny refuge for what is delicate.
Everyone should have one.
And we are collecting bits of twine and cotton here to cozy up the place!