To take the Christmas decs down before 12th night or after??

A predicament I was thinking wasn't one.

I've always taken them down anywhere from the 26th until the 5th.. 

Conversation on Christmas day made me research my reasons, the reason for keeping up until the 12th night is the superstition surrounding the arrival of the Magi, and them taking twelve days to get to baby Jesus with their gifts... Therefore a deep rooted Christian reason.

And the superstition I go by is the bad luck surrounding leaving the tree up after the 5th January.. 

Where if you do, you should leave it up! Or bad luck ... 

And this comes from the tree elves that cause havoc if the tree is left up after the 5th! An ancient pagan and Celt belief... 

Oh dear, the older I get the more superstitions I collect!

So I have taken down everything, bar the tree! Which will come down on the evening of the 5th, so it's down before the thirteenth day!

Flipping heck! 

And talking of elves.. the elf on the shelf ... There's a link here, a link for info and a pagan link! 

M.