Nollaig na mban or Women's Christmas is the date on our calendars where the women rest and the men take over the household duties. It takes place on the 6th of January and in times gone by women would meet up with their friends and take some well earned time off.
It is also known as Little Christmas and it's traditional to take down all the decorations on this date. It is said that if you miss the date and leave your decorations up you will invite bad luck for the coming year, what other motivation could you possibly need?!
Easier said than done though when it comes to our much loved Christmas tree.
If you have an artificial one, placing it neatly back in its box and placing it back in the attic will not be too much of a chore (although they never go back in quite the same way as they came out!)
If, however, you have a natural tree, the task can be a bit more of a challenge. What on earth do you do with it? No fear as I will give you some great ideas here on how to dispose and repurpose it.
I will start with the most straightforward method first. If you are lucky enough to have a big garden you can simply place the whole tree (take off your decorations) in an 'out of the way' part of your garden. Behind a shed, hidden in a hedge, under awning of an old building and leave it there as a shelter for wildlife over the winter. By the time late spring/ summer comes around the leftover tree will be fairly broken down naturally and the hedgehogs will thank you.
If you don't have a suitable space for a whole tree but do have some border beds an old Christmas tree can make an excellent mulch. The pine needles from the tree take a long while to break down and due to their aromatic oils naturally repel many of the more winter hardy garden pests.
Simply strip the branches of the needles and spread liberally around the base of plants. This is also excellent as an insulator against hard frosts.
Compost!
Although it will take a while to break down the tree is easily compostable, in fact a chopped up Christmas tree makes an excellent base for the bottom of a new compost pile. If you roughly chop up the branches and place it in the bottom of your pile it creates a perfectly aerated area for the breakdown of anything else you put on top.
If your tree is quite large the actual trunk can be chopped up to make firewood, just be sure to dry it out properly and be aware that it can be quite 'sparky' wood.
For any people who may be more creatively inclined the trunk of the tree can be cut into discs to make coasters and the pine needles once stripped can be sewn into little bags to make little scent packets so you can have the festive smell all year round!
Finally, if you don't have the space, there are many places that will happily take your tree and dispose of it for you. Many local councils will chip it and use it as mulch in public areas so don't waste that tree! :)
Happy new year!
Sophie X
