When is 12th Night 2025? Why there are two different dates for Twelfth Night, why we take down decorations

Christmas decorations should be taken down by 12th night - but when is it? | Canva/Getty Images

So, that’s Christmas over for another year - all the presents have been opened, the food eaten and the drinks drunk.

Now we have entered the so-called ‘daft days’ between Christmas and New Year, when many of us stagger around confused, unable to quite remember what day of the week it is.

But the end of the festive season is just around the corner, when New Year resolutions will be enforced and our houses shed the tinsel, lights and trees of winter celebration.

Traditions dictates that this happens on Twelfth Night - but when is it?

Here’s everything you need to know.

What is Twelfth Night?

Twelfth Night is simply the last day of the Christmas period - as made famous by the song The 12 Days of Christmas. It is traditionally when most people take down their Christmas decorations and its origins date back to the 6th century. By this point most of the needles from your Christmas Tree will probably be on the floor anyway.

When is Twelfth Night in 2025?

It’s not quite as easy as a single date, with the day depending on when you start counting your 12 days - from Christmas Day or Boxing Day.

If, like in the Lutheran and Anglican churches, Christmas Day is considered the ‘first’ day of Christmas (with a partridge in a pear tree) then Twelfth Night is on Sunday, January 5. But other churches start counting from Boxing Day, meaning it falls on Monday, January 6. There’s also the question of whether Twelfth Night is the night before the 12th day of Christmas or the night of the 12th day of Christmas.

Complicating things further, depending on your religion, Twelfth Night can be even later. Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas Day on January 7 meaning they may keep their decorations up until the middle of January.

To be safe, we’d suggest taking decorations down in January 5, but in Scotland it’s certainly acceptable to keep them up for that extra day. Just don’t be one of those people who still have a tree in their window at Easter.

What is Epiphany?

Again, there is not a single single answer as to what Epiphany is, but in Western Christianity it marks when the three wise men, or the Magi, visited Jesus. Also known as Three Kings’ Day, it is a day of feasting and always falls on January 6. In 2025 that’s a Monday and, as illustrated above, many also consider it to also be Twelfth Night.

Meanwhile, in Eastern Christianity, Epiphany marks when Jesus was baptised in the River Jordan. Some Eastern churches still follow the Julian calendar rather than the more commonly-used Gregorian calendar and so celebrate it on January 19. Others mark it on the first Sunday after January 1.

What happens if you don’t take your decorations down by Twelfth Night?

It is widley considered that you will suffer bad luck should you not take your decorations down by Twelfth Night, although many historians consider this to have been invented by the Victorians to get people back into a working mindset after the festivities.

There is also a superstition that leaving decorations up will invite evil spirits into your home. This is thought to have come from the ancient practice of using evergreens (like those we use as Christmas Trees) to ward away nasty ghosties. Conversely, having a withered and dead tree in your house is likely to attract them - and the bad luck they bring.