In Sweden, today (January 13) is known as “Tjugondag Knut” and traditionally, this is the day when all the 
Christmas decorations are taken down. Some people have parties, “julgransplundring” where you invite your friends over to help with the de-trimming of your tree and house. There are even traditional songs to sing about this event.
Tjugondag Knut means “twentieth day Knut” – twentieth because it is the twentieth day since Christmas (we celebrate on the 24th in Sweden) and Knut because that is the name celebrated on January 13.
Every day is associated with one or two names in Sweden (it used to be one, then was 3 for a while, but they’ve cut it back to 1 or 2) and you celebrate more or less elaborately on “your” day. In my family, we used to send a card or just say Congratulations, but I have friends who got a cake, or whose parents threw parties for them, you can do whatever you want.
Why We Should Move Christmas To March
Taking down all the cheerful decorations and lights is always such a downer. The whole house is so dark and drab and winter feels like it will never end. I hate winter, but even I don’t mind it up until and around Christmas, it just seems right at that time of year. But now, we’re left with months of cold and darkness and nothing to cheer us up inside.
If Christmas was in March, we’d have a few more months to feel cozy and Christmassy, not to mention have much more time to shop. Those weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are always so rushed, there are so many Christmas parties you need to fit in, baking, shopping, decorating – it’s really pretty stressful. Imagine if after Thanksgiving, you had close to 4 months to get all that done. Wouldn’t that make winter so much more bearable and even fun?
I’ve said for years that we should just move the whole thing, and funny enough, when I mentioned it to my husband he said that apparently Jesus was born in March so it would actually be more appropriate. I knew I was right!
I’m going to leave my decorations up a little while longer and work on convincing at least my family that we need to make a change.
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