Although it is customary to take down the decorations on Twelfth Night, which we call the Epiphany, other countries keep them up until Candlemas known also as the Feast of the Presentation. This later date is on the 2nd February, which is 40 days after the birth of Jesus.

The Feast of the Presentation is still known as a Christmas Feast.

Candlemas was the day that early Christians brought their candles to church to be blessed for the remainder of the year. John Paul 2 attached this to a Day of World Prayer for Consecrated Life. The lighting of candles on Candlemas symbolizes Christ who is the light of the world. In the same way, those in consecrated life are called to reflect the light of Jesus Christ to all people

After then, the Liturgical Calendar refers to ‘Ordinary Time’ or ‘Tempus per Annum’. It is not Christmas any more but rather a time for spiritual growth, allowing us to apply the gifts we have learned during Advent and the Christmas Period. It is a time of rest before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.  

The Liturgical colour assigned to Ordinary Time is green.

The word ‘Ordinary’ itself comes from the reference to ‘ordinal numbers’ by which the weeks are numbered or counted. (Ordinal Numbers – 1st, 2nd, 3rd – refer to rank or order, as opposed to Cardinal Numbers – 1, 2,3  – which refer to quantities)