The residents .... complained ... that the schedule of picking up undecorated Christmas trees at the roadside on Jan. 3rd was inconsistent with celebrating the Christmastide from Dec. 25 through Jan 6th (The 12 days of Christmas)
It seems to me we are mixing up our rituals here.
The 12 days of Christmas is one ritual.
Leaving the Christmas tree up until the 12th day of Christmas is another.
Some rituals have meaning. They enlighten and enliven our faith.
Others are simply ... well, rituals.
An "epiphany" is "a sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something". In the Christian faith, that manifestation is the essence of Christ.
It occurs to me that leaving a Christmas tree up, day after day as it drops its needles, until the essence of the Christian spirit becomes manifest on the 12th day, is an ill-conceived ritual, or, at least, a dispiriting one ... at least it is for me.
I would rather plant a seedling before Christmas and see it come to leaf on January 6th.
To each, his own. :)
