Twelfth

On December 11, I hung my xmas lights in the front window of my apartment to mark the beginning of about as much festivity as I care to muster. It’s just a single strand of C7 style LED bulbs on a timer that runs from 5pm to 1am. They even mount on the clips I left from last year.

I’m not religious at all. You know me.

But for some reason, I find myself picking January 5th, “Twelfth Night”, as the date that I’ll take them down. For those that are more into religious history, that’s the Day of Epiphany, when the wise men, previously notified by the angel, finally reach Bethlehem to visit the infant Jesus. To me, it means nothing but a date.

So yeah, why then? I don’t know. Maybe it’s the cozy feeling of tradition, of being right, of doing the dance, even if it’s empty.

Some sects believe that it’s bad faith to leave your holiday decorations up beyond this date. Some would say it’s a sin. Take everything down and distribute the fruits of decoration. To me, that signals that a rule was made somewhere because some people get lazy without rules to motivate them. It’s a push against chaos. You can’t let chaos and sloth win.

Always fight the forces of decay.

It’s in that weird dance that I keep my own chaos at bay. It feels correct. But that’s just me. What’s your reasonless ritual?