If you take a small tour around the city of Kigali, you can see that Christmas lights are still up. In some banks for instance, Christmas trees have not been taken down,  this is the case with some homes too, even though we are already in the New Year and done with the holidays.

Much as this isn’t trouble in any way, one can still ask themselves when it really is the right time to clear up the decorations and unplug from the festive mood.

A Twitter poll by The New Times that probed about the right time to remove Christmas decorations, had the majority vote for ‘removing them when they feel like,’ others went with religious instructions, and only a few confirmed having them down before New Year’s day.  

"We have started uninstallation of festive decorations and normally this exercise starts from 10th to 15th January every year. Happy New year once again and take care #COVID19 is still around,” the City of Kigali replied in a tweet.

Weekender’s Ines Rutayisire Umurerwa had a discussion with different people, who shared their thoughts about this;

"For me, I removed them on 1st January because Christmas was over and I didn’t want to be the only one with decorations still up among other business owners,” says Patrick Ngabo, who sells electronic devices in town.

Alice Umutoni says the Christmas tree stays up in their house until someone feels bothered about it. And that’s when it’s taken down.

"At home, we never think of it as a big deal, if it is still up or not until someone mentions it or a visitor talks about it, that is when we start thinking of taking it down,” she says.

This is different for Natacha Akaliza who says that she never gets bothered by people asking her why her decorations are still up. On the contrary, she removes them whenever she feels like it or when she gets time to, as she is a busy person after the festive seasons.

Eve of the Epiphany

Although researchers say that Christian groups disagree over which date is the correct one, tradition dictates that the Twelfth Night (after Christmas) is the best time to take down your festive decorations including your tree. It's believed that waiting too long after Twelfth Night will bring bad luck.

Dating back to the fourth century, many Christians have marked the end of the Christmas season 12 nights after Christmas, an evening also known as the Eve of the Epiphany.

The Epiphany marks the day the Three Kings (or Wise Men) visited baby Jesus and is either celebrated on January 5 or January 6.

For Catholics, Christmas decorations are taken down on the third week after Christmas and Jesus’s Baptism.

"We remove them after the baptism of Jesus Christ because by then, we are entering in other events regarding the church that are not related to Christmas,” says Arsene Ruzibiza a Deacon at Kicukiro Catholic Church, Jean Bosco Parish.