About this site

Every December the same argument breaks out in the same houses. One person wants the tree up on the first of the month. Someone else insists it is far too early. Both are certain. Neither has a source.

This site is the source. It gives one clear answer — yes or no, today, in your country — and then shows you where that date comes from.

How the dates are chosen

For each country we record the earliest socially acceptable date, not the average date people actually manage it. Those are different things, and the argument is always about the first one.

Where a country has a firm religious or civic anchor — the Immaculate Conception on 8 December in Italy and Ireland, the Virgin of Guadalupe on 12 December in Mexico, Christmas Eve itself across Germany, Austria, Poland and the Nordics — we use it. Where the anchor moves, such as the first Sunday of Advent in Britain and France, the date is calculated fresh each year. Where no religious anchor exists, we use the strongest documented secular convention: 1 December across Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, the day after Remembrance Day in Canada.

Some countries genuinely have no fixed custom. Those are marked as inferred on their own page, with the sources shown so you can judge for yourself.

A note on accuracy

Traditions are contested, regional and slowly moving. If we have a date wrong for your country — particularly if you live there — please say so. Corrections with a source will be made.

Who builds it

This site is made in Hobart, Tasmania by Noticeable, a small web design studio. It exists partly because the question deserved a straight answer and partly as a demonstration of the sort of thing we like building: fast, useful, no clutter.

Contact

Corrections, press enquiries and sponsorship: hello@whencaniputmychristmastreeup.com