Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night is a festival celebrated by some branches of Christianity that marks the coming of the Epiphany.

Why is it important?

Twelfth Night (also known as Epiphany Eve) is a Christian festival on the last night of the Twelve Days of Christmas, marking the coming of the Epiphany. Different traditions mark the date of Twelfth Night as either 5 January or 6 January, depending on whether the counting begins on Christmas Day or 26 December.

A superstition in some English-speaking countries suggests it unlucky to leave Christmas decorations hanging after Twelfth Night, a tradition also variously attached to the festivals of Candlemas (2 February), Good Friday, Shrove Tuesday, and Septuagesima. Other popular customs include eating king cake, singing Christmas carols, chalking the door, having one's house blessed, merrymaking, and attending church services.

Origins and History

The Eastern Orthodox Church

The origin of Twelfth Night can be traced to the Eastern Orthodox Church, where it was first celebrated to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ. The Eastern Orthodox Church is primarily found in Western Asia, Eastern Europe, Turkey, the Balkans, and the Caucasus. However, as early as the second century, Christ's birth was celebrated in Rome on December 25.

Officialization

A council of Roman priests declares the twelve days of Christmas, from Christmas to Epiphany, as a sacred and festive season. It was the 4th century. One of the motives for this proclamation, according to historians, was to assist the Roman administration in aligning its solar Julian calendar with the lunar calendars of the Eastern provinces.

England

In Tudor England, Candlemas (February 2) was traditionally the end of the Christmas season. But that later changed to Epiphany's eve, which is also the Twelfth Night. The introduction of Epiphany in England led to the creation of a new season called Epiphanytide that ran from January 5 or 6 to Candlemas. In colonial America, it was a tradition to take down the Christmas decorations at the end of the 12 days of Christmas and eat any edible part of the decorations.

Twelfth Night's Performance

William Shakespeare

On February 2, 1602, William Shakespeare performed his play, "Twelfth Night or What You Will," at Middle Temple Hall. Although the performance was on Candlemas, many believed the play was written as a Twelfth Night entertainment.

A Hidden Treasure

A popular Twelfth Night tradition was to have a bean and pea hidden inside a Twelfth-night cake; the "man who finds the bean in his slice of cake becomes King for the night while the lady who finds a pea in her slice of cake becomes Queen for the night."

Following this selection, Twelfth Night parties would continue and would include the singing of Christmas carols, as well as feasting.

Traditions

Food and drink are the centre of the celebrations in modern times. All of the most traditional ones go back many centuries.

Wassail and Wassailing

The punch called wassail is consumed especially on Twelfth Night and throughout Christmas time, especially in the UK, and door-to-door wassailing (similar to singing Christmas carols) was common up until the 1950s.

In Ireland, it is still the tradition to place the statues of the Three Kings in the crib on the Twelfth Night or, at the latest, the following day, Little Christmas.

Pastries

Around the world, special pastries, such as the tortell and king cake, are baked on Twelfth Night, and eaten the following day for the Feast of the Epiphany celebrations. In English and French custom, the Twelfth-cake was baked to contain a bean and a pea so that those who received the slices containing them should be respectively designated king and queen of the night's festivities.

American Traditions

In colonial America, a Christmas wreath was always left up on the front door of each home. When taken down at the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas, any edible portions would be consumed with the other foods of the feast.

Modern American Carnival traditions are seen in New Orleans. In the mid-twentieth century, friends gathered for weekly king cake parties. Whoever got the slice with the "king", usually in the form of a miniature baby doll (symbolic of the Christ Child, "Christ the King"), hosted the next week's party. Traditionally, this was a bean for the king and a pea for the queen.

Three Kings Cake

The Twelfth Cake, Twelfth-night cake, or Twelfth-tide cake has many forms in many countries.

The roscón de reyes is popular in Spain, Latin America and the United States. Recipes vary from country to country and between cultures but tend to be similar. It generally has an oval shape due to the need to make cakes large enough for large groups.

In Louisiana and parts of the Gulf Coast region historically settled by the French, king cake is associated with Mardi Gras and is traditionally served from Epiphany until Carnival.