Catholics! Keep Your Trees Up!

New Year’s Day promises two certainties: college football bowl games and Christmas trees on the curb. To Catholics, of course, January 1 is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. It's a Holy Day of Obligation, and the final day of the Octave of Christmas.

The Church, however, is so generous with joy. She does not end our celebration of the Incarnation with the conclusion of the Octave of Christmas. She extends it to Epiphany. Twelfth Night, as our English-speaking brethren call it, is an event Catholics in America should celebrate with more enthusiasm (think: roaring bonfires, grilled meat, lots of singing, red wine, brown ale) and might very well do if it were observed here on the Liturgical Calendar on January 6 as it is England, Australia, and Canada, to say nothing of Vatican City.

But the celebrating doesn’t stop there! After Epiphany, the revelry continues until the Baptism of the Lord, the first Sunday after January 6 (usually). This year, Catholics may very well wish to keep their decorations up through January 11. And if you want to be really traditional, you can celebrate what the faithful called “Christmastide” before the liturgical reforms that followed the Second Vatican Council. In the old rite, or what we today call the Extraordinary Form, Christmastide lasted for 40 days to correspond with the 40 days of Lent, and the 40 days from Easter to Ascension Thursday.

A 40-day party? Gloria in Excelsis! (And people say Trad Cats are a dour bunch.)

Christmastide ended on February 2, the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also called Candlemas Day. On this day, the faithful take candles that they will use throughout the year in their homes to Mass to have them blessed.

Here is how the brilliant Benedictine Abbot Dom Prosper Guéranger helps us understand the totality of the mystery of Christmastide:

We apply the name of Christmas to the 40 days, which begin with the Nativity of Our Lord, December 25, and end with the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, February 2. It is a period, which forms a distinct portion of the Liturgical Year, as distinct, by its own special spirit, from every other, as are Advent, Lent, Easter or Pentecost. One same Mystery is celebrated and kept in view the whole 40 days. Neither the Feasts of the Saints, which so abound during this Season; nor the time of Septuagesima, with its mournful Purple, which often begins before Christmastide is over, seem able to distract our Holy Mother the Church from the immense joy with which She received the glad tidings from the Angels (Luke 2:10) on that glorious Night for which the world had been longing for 4000 years. The custom of celebrating the Solemnity of Our Savior's Nativity by a Feast of 40 days' duration is founded on the Holy Gospel itself; for it tells us that the Blessed Virgin Mary, after spending 40 days in the contemplation of the Divine Fruit of Her glorious Maternity, went to the Temple, there to fulfill, in most perfect humility, the ceremonies which the Law demanded of the daughters of Israel when they became mothers. The Feast of Mary's Purification is, therefore, part of that of Jesus' Birth; and the custom of keeping this holy and glorious period of 40 days as one continued Festival has every appearance of being a very ancient one, at least in the Roman Church.

The feast in the new rite is called the Presentation of the Lord—same joyful event, different emphasis, but if you really want to be a “sign of contradiction” (get it?) do as they did in ages past! Keep your tree and your decorations up until Candlemas!

Another spam posting to celebrate the pagan roots of roman Catholicism...

"The Christmas tree, now so common among us, was equally common in Pagan Rome and Pagan Egypt. In Egypt that tree was the palm tree; in Rome it was the fir; the palm tree denoting the Pagan Messiah, as Baal-Tamar, the fir referring to him as Baal-Berith. The mother of Adonis, the Sun-God and great mediatorial divinity, was mystically said to have been changed into a tree, and when in that state to have brought forth her divine son. If the mother was a tree, the son must have been recognized as the 'Man the branch.' And this entirely accounts for the putting of the Yule Log into the fire on Christmas Eve, and the appearance of the Christmas tree the next morning" (page 97).

Tree worship was very common among the ancients. Says Festivals, Holy Days, and Saints' Days,

"The Christmas tree...recapitulates the idea of tree worship...gilded nuts and balls symbolizing the sun...all the festivities of the [heathen] winter solstice have been absorbed into Christmas Day...the use of holly and mistletoe to the Druidic ceremonies; the Christmas tree to the honours paid to Odin's sacred fir...." (p. 236).

Are you sure you want to OFFEND our Heavenly Father and His Son?

Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you,O house of Israel:Thus saith the LORD,Learn NOT the way of THE HEATHEN,and BE NOT DISMAYED at the signs of heaven;for THE HEATHEN ARE dismayed at them. For the customs of the people ARE VAIN :for ONE CUTTETH A TREE out of the forest,the work of the hands of the workman,with the axe. THEY DECK IT with silver and with gold;THEY FASTEN IT with nails and with hammers,that it move NOT. They are upright as the palm tree,BUT SPEAK NOT : they must needs be borne ,because they cannot go . BE NOT AFRAID OF THEM;for they cannot do evil ,NEITHER ALSO IS IT IN THEM TO DO GOOD . Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD;thou art great,and thy name is great in might. Who would not fear thee, O King of nations?for to thee doth it appertain :forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations,and in all their kingdoms,there is none like unto thee: But THEY ARE ALTOGETHER BRUTISH AND FOOLISH :the stock is A DOCTRINE OF VANITIES. Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish,and gold from Uphaz,the work of the workman,and of the hands of the founder : BLUE AND PURPLE IS THEIR CLOTHING :they are all the work of cunning men But the LORD is the true God,he is the living God,and an everlasting king: AT HIS WRATHthe earth shall tremble ,and THE NATIONS SHALL NOT BE ABLE TO ABIDE HIS INDIGNATION .

Those Satanic Lutherans, someone needs to stop them!

Seriously guys, read the article above it's not that complicated and, coming from Lutherans even, not gonna be any appeal to Catholic Church heirarchy or Tradition or even that dastardly Mary (*gasp* I said the M-word!)

This "Christmas Tree is pagan" garbage is beneath the level of discourse for FR (or it should be). How about if we make a New Years resolution to put a little thought into something before posting and, along those lines ask ourselves, "Is it reasonable to believe no one ever thought of this point before?" Remember if it's too good (or obvious) to be true it probably isn't.

"From the foregoing, it is abundantly clear that the "decorated tree" to which Jeremiah 10 refers is an idol, very likely the Asherah. Therefore, it is very superficial Bible interpretation and pure silliness to understand this passage as directly referring to the use of a fir tree for Christmas! If, and I repeat, if those who set up a Christmas tree fall down and worship it as a god or goddess, complete with altars and incense stands, then Jeremiah 10 applies here. Or if someone loves their Christmas tree more than God, then such a thing might also be considered spiritual idolatry. But apart from these exceptions, I think it is abundantly clear that Christians who erect Christmas trees are NOT worshiping them as gods or goddesses, nor are they loving them more than their Savior Jesus Christ."

Keep them up at least until the Epiphany (Jan. 6th).

Today is the the Forefeast of the Epiphany. The final lines of both the Apolytikion and the Kontakion are rich with the true and ancient Theology of The Church, which is at odds with so much we have read here on FR of late.

Apolytikion of the Forefeast:

Make ready, O Zebulon, and prepare, O Nephtali, and thou, River Jordan, cease thy flow and receive with joy the Master coming to be baptized. And thou, Adam, rejoice with the first mother, Eve; hide not as ye did of old in Paradise; for having you naked, He appeared to clothe you with the first robe. Yea, Christ hath appeared desiring to renew the whole creation.

Kontakion

Today hath the Lord appeared in the courses of the Jordan, crying to John and saying: Be not dismayed at My Baptism; for I have verily come to save Adam, the first to be created.

My mother and I were discussing this the other day: She doesn't recall Jan 1 being a Holy Day of Obligation when she was a child (pre Vatican II) and I don't either.

Yes and No .. It's an important feast day on the catholic liturgical calendar.

In the Latin Church, in accord with the provisions of canon 1246 §2 of the Code of Canon Law, the USCCB has ruled: "Whenever January 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, or August 15, the solemnity of the Assumption, or November 1, the solemnity of All Saints, falls on a Saturday or on a Monday, the precept to attend Mass is abrogated"

In the Eastern (Catholic) Churches, it has always been a Holy day of Obligation as it marks two important events in the life of Jesus - his circumcision and his naming. According to Hebrew law, every male child was to be circumcised on the 8th day after his birth (Gen. 17:11-12). Circumcision was the sign God gave to Abraham of his covenant with his chosen people. The circumcision, the Hebrew child received the physical sign of his membership in the chosen people of God. At the time of circumcision, the child was also given the name by which he was to be known among God's people. Jesus means "Yahweh is Savior."

Jeesus, as God's true Son, had no need of circumcision yet did so to show that he was the fulfillment of the law. In his homily yesterday, our pastor commented that without circumcision, Jesus would not have been allowed to teach in the synagogue.

Does this clarify your question?

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