The New Year is well underway with all its hope and joy for the future and many people will have already removed the Christmas decorations ready for a fresh start.
Traditionally though Christmas didn’t end until Twelfth Night or Epiphany. People have different ideas about when Twelfth Night is depending on if they begin counting the Twelve days of Christmas from Christmas Day or Boxing Day. In the past Twelfth Night was an opportunity to celebrate again and bring the festivities to a close. There was traditionally feasting, drinking and dancing on this day with the removal of the decorations.
Twelfth Night & Epiphany Fast Facts
- It is believed that Christians began marking Twelfth Night in the 4th Century as it was supposed to mark the day the Three Wise Men arrived in Bethlehem to visit the Baby Jesus. The day after is called Epiphany.
- Epiphany or Three Kings’ Day is a Christian holiday observed on January 6th. It is an important day in the Christian church alongside Christmas and Easter.
- Epiphany celebrates three events: The arrival of the Three Wise Men in Bethlehem to see Baby Jesus, the baptism of Jesus and Jesus’ first miracle.
- Twelfth Night was often celebrated by playing practical jokes on friends and neighbours.
- A traditional food was the Twelfth Night cake. It was a rich fruit cake containing a bean and a pea. The people who found them would become the King of the Bean and the Queen of the Pea and everyone had to do what they said.
- Twelfth Night was a traditional day for plays which was sometimes called ‘mumming’.
- A Yule Log was lit on Christmas day and remained burning until Twelfth Night in order to bring good fortune to the house for the coming year. The remains were kept to kindle next years Yule Log as well as to protect the house from lightning and fire.
- People often went ‘wassailing’ which is a Twelfth Night tradition that has been practised in Britain for centuries. Wassailing was usually carried out in cider producing counties such as Devon, Dorset, Herefordshire, Somerset and Gloucestershire. Wassailing often involved visiting orchards, especially of apple trees to scare away evil spirits and awaken the fruit trees to ensure a good harvest of fruit the following autumn.
Whatever you believe in I hope this Twelfth Night brings you joy.