Winter Blessings and Beauties, Day 66: Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night marks the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas - although there's some disagreement as to whether it falls on 5th or 6th January as some Traditions count Christmas Day itself as the first Day while others begin the count from Boxing Day. Either way, the Christmas interlude is officially coming to its close. Interestingly, this is a relatively modern development which was brought in by the Victorians - in Tudor times, the festivities continued until Candlemas/Imbolc at the beginning of February! Then again those fun-loving Tudors didn't have an Industrial Revolution to run...

For Christians. Twelfth Night primarily marks the visit of the Three Kings to the infant Christ, and the coming of the Epiphany. For non-Christians, nowadays it's merely the day you are supposed to take your Christmas decorations down but in former times it was a special occasion marked with merrymaking, singing of carols, house-blessings etc. One Twelfth Night custom found in many different countries is the eating of a special cake called a 'King Cake' which takes a variety of forms but which crucially often contains a special token hidden within it. Getting the piece of cake containing the token confers luck, blessings or special (temporary) privileges. In times past in the UK, the cake contained a hidden bean, and the finder was declared 'King of Misrule' for the duration of the festivities. Sometimes there was a hidden pea too for the 'Queen of Misrule' to find. The idea of a King and Queen of Misrule, drawn by lot, seems to hark back to the Roman practice of electing a 'King of the Saturnalia'.

Winter Blessings and Beauties: Day 66

Twelfth Night

If you haven't done so already, now is the time to take down the Christmas tree, decorations and cards. Christmas is over with until next December - it's time to reclaim your living space and look forward as the New Year begins to unfold. 

It's also time to notice that the days are already beginning to grow longer since the passing of the Winter Solstice over a fortnight ago. The Wheel of the Year is turning. Why not celebrate with cake!