Post by Patrick on Dec 12, 2008 15:26:37 GMT
"Over in Liverpool only half of the Christmas lights along a New Brighton road were switched on after the local council
managed to break most of them while taking them down after the last
festive season.
The city council claimed it had intended to leave some of the more
awkwardly located lights up all year - switched off, of course -
because they would be too troublesome and time-consuming to remove.
But after complaints from residents about fairy lights and fat jolly
snowmen strapped to lampposts in the height of summer, the council
was forced to take them down (the lights that is, not the residents).
So no wonder the lights got broken: surely everyone knows it's bad
luck to leave Christmas decorations up after January 6? (Actually,
there is some dispute about this. Superstition tells us decorations
should be removed by the twelfth night after Christmas or else invite
misfortune. In modern time-keeping, the twelfth night lands on
January 6, but long ago the day ended when the sun went down, and the
oncoming night signalled the beginning of the next day - so
decorations would have to come down on January 5. In the time when
people mainly decorated their homes with festive holly, mistletoe and
ivy they believed the "tree spirits" would wreak havoc if they were
kept inside too long.)"
managed to break most of them while taking them down after the last
festive season.
The city council claimed it had intended to leave some of the more
awkwardly located lights up all year - switched off, of course -
because they would be too troublesome and time-consuming to remove.
But after complaints from residents about fairy lights and fat jolly
snowmen strapped to lampposts in the height of summer, the council
was forced to take them down (the lights that is, not the residents).
So no wonder the lights got broken: surely everyone knows it's bad
luck to leave Christmas decorations up after January 6? (Actually,
there is some dispute about this. Superstition tells us decorations
should be removed by the twelfth night after Christmas or else invite
misfortune. In modern time-keeping, the twelfth night lands on
January 6, but long ago the day ended when the sun went down, and the
oncoming night signalled the beginning of the next day - so
decorations would have to come down on January 5. In the time when
people mainly decorated their homes with festive holly, mistletoe and
ivy they believed the "tree spirits" would wreak havoc if they were
kept inside too long.)"
