St. Emeric’s Church on the near west side of Cleveland would leave the beautiful Christmas decorations up until February 2, a full forty days after Christmas.

Hi, this is Fr. Rocky, with another Advent Inspiration.

The Christmas decorations inside of St. Emeric’s Catholic Church were so beautiful, so ornate, so elaborate, I figured “Well if it took so much time to put them, you might as well leave them up for a long time.” But then I discovered that some people – especially from Eastern European countries – stretch out the Christmas season all the way to February 2, the Feast of the Presentation of the Christ Child in the Temple, and also known as Candlemas, because your holy candles can be blessed that day.

For Catholics, the official Christmas Season starts at sundown on Christmas Eve and lasts until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which is on the Sunday after Epiphany. Epiphany is when the Three Kings came to adore the Christ Child, and that is “Twelve Days of Christmas.”

P.S. If you have missed a previous Advent Inspiration, you can find all of them here.