Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Twelfth Night

 
Dictionary: Twelfth Night
 
Home > Library > Literature & Language > Dictionary

n.

January 5, the eve of Epiphany, celebrated as a holiday in parts of Europe and the United States and marked by feasting, merrymaking, and the lighting of bonfires.


Search unanswered questions...

Enter a word or phrase...
All Community Q&A Reference topics

 
American Theater Guide: Twelfth Night
Top
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > American Theater Guide

Shakespeare's barbed attack on prudery and hypocrisy apparently was first presented to Americans in Boston in 1794. The work did not always sit well with Victorian morality, but there were notable productions in the 19th century, including Ellen Tree's 1837 revival; her 1845 revival with her husband, Charles Kean; William Burton's 1851 mounting; and several productions at Wallack's and Daly's. Among the important 20th‐century productions were those in 1905 with Julia Marlowe and E. H. Sothern (with many critics considering his unctuous Malvolio a high point of his career) and in 1940 with Helen Hayes and Maurice Evans. The successful rock musical, Your Own Thing (1968), was a skillful lyric version, while Music Is (1976) and Play On! (1997), also based on Twelfth Night, were quick failures.

 
English Folklore: Twelfth Night
Top
Home > Library > Literature & Language > English Folklore

(5/6 January)

Still regarded by many people as the end of the Christmas season, and this has a long-standing official sanction, as the Council of Tours of AD 567 ruled that the twelve days from the Nativity to the Epiphany would constitute one religious festival. For most of us nowadays the only practical aspect of the date is that it is said to be the day (or the last day) for taking down the Christmas decorations, or bad luck will follow, but in the past Twelfth Night had its own traditions, which have largely been forgotten.

The overriding feeling of reports of Twelfth Night celebrations in the 18th and 19th centuries is that although substantial in their own right, they were somewhat quieter and more subdued that those at Christmas, but the other recurrent feature is that there is invariably mention of cake and alcohol. The Twelfth Night cake was made the centre of a particular custom, by which a King and Queen were chosen to preside over the festivities. A bean and a pea were baked in the cake, and when slices were handed out to the company, whoever got the piece with the bean in it became King, while whoever got the pea was Queen. The custom was so well known that ‘The King of the Bean’ was proverbial for someone temporarily in charge of celebratory fun. In some cases, coins were used instead of beans and peas, while others adopted the more prosaic method of drawing names from a hat, which gave scope for widening the play-acting, by giving everybody present characters as well. Samuel Pepys recorded using this method for the first time in his Diary for 6 January 1669. Herrick (Hesperides, 1648) also devotes a whole poem to the ‘Twelfe Night King and Queene’. Substantially the same bean-King custom existed on the European continent, and Hutton believes that the custom was reintroduced to Britain from the Continent by the late Tudor period.

The drink was often in the form of a ceremonial wassail bowl—a large receptacle, similar to the modern punch bowl, from which everyone was served. It contained a special drink, often called Lamb's Wool, made from roasted apples, sugar, and nutmeg in ale, or sometimes wine. By extension from the one Twelfth Night cake, the day had become by the 19th century a great one for cakes and pastries in general. Hone reports that every London confectioner made a point of displaying a splendid windowful of cakes in all sorts of shapes and sizes (Hone, 1827: 24-30).

In agricultural areas, two interrelated customs connected to Twelfth Night were wassailing, and the lighting of fires in the wheat fields, to ensure a good crop for the coming year. The latter was apparently confined to the western side of England as reported from Herefordshire, Worcestershire, and Gloucestershire:‘ … they make twelve fires of straw, in a row. Around one fire, which they make larger than the rest, they drink a glass of cider to their master's health and success to the next harvest. Returning home they receive carraway seed cakes and cider …’ (Thomas Rudge, History of the County of Gloucester (1803), ii. 42).

See also BADDELEY CAKE, HOLY THORN, WASSAILING.

Bibliography
The full bibliography list is available here.

  • Wright and Lones, 1938: ii. 50-91
  • Hutton, 1996: 15-16, 110-11
  • Brand, 1849: i. 21-34
  • Hone, 1827: i. 24-30
 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Twelfth Night
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Columbia Encyclopedia
Twelfth Night, Jan. 5, the vigil or eve of Epiphany, so called because it is the 12th night from Christmas, counting Christmas as the first. In England, Twelfth Night has been a great festival marking the end of the Christmas season, and popular masquerading parties are typical entertainment.

 
Wikipedia: Twelfth Night (holiday)
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
For other uses of "Twelfth Night", see Twelfth Night (disambiguation).
Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night
Mervyn Clitheroe's Twelfth Night party,
by "Phiz" (c 1840)
Observed by Christians
Type Christian
Date Evening of 5 January
Observances Merrymaking
Related to Twelve Days of Christmas
Epiphany

Twelfth Night or Epiphany Eve is a festival in some branches of Christianity marking the coming of the Epiphany, and concluding the Twelve Days of Christmas. It is defined by the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary as "the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the last day of the Christmas festivities and observed as a time of merrymaking".[1]

The celebration of Epiphany, the adoration of the Magi, is marked in some cultures by the exchange of gifts, and Twelfth Night, as the eve or vigil of Epiphany, takes on a similar significance to Christmas Eve.

A more recent tradition in some English-speaking countries holds that it is unlucky to leave Christmas decorations hanging after Twelfth Night, a belief originally attached to the festival of Candlemas (2 February).[2]

Contents

Origins and history

In Tudor England[citation needed], the Twelfth Night marked the end of a winter festival that started on All Hallows Eve — now more commonly known as Halloween. The Lord of Misrule symbolizes the world turning upside down. On this day the King and all those who were high would become the peasants and vice versa. At the beginning of the twelfth night festival a cake which contained a bean was eaten. The person who found the bean would run the feast. Midnight signaled the end of his rule and the world would return to normal. The common theme was that the normal order of things was reversed. This Lord of Misrule tradition can be traced[citation needed] to pre-Christian European festivals such as the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia.[3]

Traditions

A Portuguese Bolo-Rei, or King Cake. This size, approx. 50 cm diameter, usually serves 8 people. This pastry is just one of the many types baked around the world for celebrations during the Twelve Days of Christmas and Twelfth Night.

Food and drink are the center of the celebrations in modern times, and all of the most traditional ones go back many centuries. The punch called wassail is consumed especially on Twelfth Night, but throughout Christmas time, especially in the UK. 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 designated king and queen of the night's festivities.

In colonial America, a Christmas wreath was always left up on the front door of each home, and 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. The same held true in the 1800s - 1900s with fruits adorning Christmas trees. Fresh fruits were hard to come by, and were therefore considered fine and proper gifts and decorations for the tree, wreaths, and home. Again, the tree would be taken down on Twelfth Night, and such fruits, along with nuts and other local produce used, would then be consumed.

In the eastern Alps, a tradition called Berchtenlaufen exists. Two to three hundred masked young men rush about the streets with whips and bells driving out evil spirits.[3] In Nuremberg until 1616, children frightened spirits away by running through the streets and knocking loudly at doors.[3]In some countries, and in the Catholic religion worldwide, the Twelfth Night and Epiphany marks the start of the Carnival season, which lasts through Mardi Gras Day.

In literature

William Shakespeare wrote the play Twelfth Night, circa 1601.

Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night, or What You Will was written to be performed as a Twelfth Night entertainment. The earliest known performance took place at Middle Temple Hall, one of the Inns of Court, on Candlemas night, 2 February 1602.[4] The play has many elements that are reversed in the tradition of Twelfth Night, such as a woman Viola dressing as a man, and a servant Malvolio imagining that he can become a nobleman.

Robert Herrick's poem Twelfe-Night, or King and Queene (published 1648) describes the election of king and queen by bean and pea in a plum cake, and the homage done to them by the draining of wassail bowls of "lamb's-wool", a drink of sugar, nutmeg, ginger and ale.

In Harrison Ainsworth's novel Mervyn Clitheroe (Ch. 6), the eponymous hero is elected King of festivities at the Twelfth Night celebrations held in Tom Shakeshaft's barn, by receiving the slice of plum cake containing the bean; his companion Cissy obtains the pea and becomes queen, and they are seated together in a high corner to view the proceedings. The distribution has been rigged to prevent another person gaining the role. The festivities include country dances, and the introduction of a "Fool Plough", a plough decked with ribands brought into the barn by a dozen mummers together with a grotesque "Old Bessie" (played by a man) and a Fool dressed in animal skins with a fool's hat. The mummers carry wooden swords and perform revelries. The scene in the novel is illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz"). In the course of the evening the fool's antics cause a fight to break out, but Mervyn restores order. Three bowls of gin punch are disposed of, and at eleven o'clock the young men make the necessary arrangements to see the young ladies safely home across the fields.

See also

References

  1. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 1993 edition.
  2. ^ "Of late years a belief has grown up that it is unlucky to leave [evergreens] hanging after Epiphany Eve (5 January), but this seems to be a modern notion [...] The older tradition was that they must come down by Candlemas, the day on which the wider ecclesiastical Christmas season ends." — Radford, ed. Cole (1961). Encyclopaedia of Supersitions. London: Hutchinson.
  3. ^ a b c Miles, Clement A.. Christmas Customs and Traditions: Their History and Significance. Courier Dover Publications, 1976. ISBN 0486233545
  4. ^ Shakespeare, William; Smith, Bruce R. (2001). Twelfth Night: Texts and Contexts. Boston: Bedford/St Martin's. pp. 2. ISBN 0312202199. 

Further reading

  • "Christmas". Catholic Encyclopedia. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03724b.htm. Retrieved on December 22 2005.  Primarily subhead Popular Merrymaking under Liturgy and Custom.
  • Christmas Trivia edited by Jennie Miller Helderman, Mary Caulkins. Gramercy, 2002
  • Marix-Evans, Martin. The Twelve Days of Christmas. Peter Pauper Press, 2002
  • Bowler, Gerry. The World Encyclopedia of Christmas. McClelland & Stewart, 2004
  • Collins, Ace. Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas. Zondervan, 2003
  • Wells, Robin Headlam. Shakespeare's Humanism. Cambridge University Press, 2006
  • T.D. Fosbrooke, c 1810, 'Encyclopaedia of Antiquities' (Publisher unknown)
  • J. Brand, 1813, 'Popular Antiquities', 2 Vols (London)
  • W. Hone, 1830, 'The Every-Day Book' 3 Vols (London), cf Vol I pp 41-61.

Early English sources

(drawn from Hone's Every-Day Book, references as found):

  • Vox Graculi, 4to, 1623: 6 January, Masking in the Strand, Cheapside, Holbourne, or Fleet-street (London), and eating of spice-bread.
  • The Popish Kingdom, 'Naogeorgus': Baking of the twelfth-cake with a penny in it, the slices distributed to members of the household to give to the poor: whoever finds the penny is proclaimed king among them.
  • Nichols, Queen Elizabeth's Progresses: An entertainment at Sudley, temp. Elizabeth I, including Melibaeus king of the bean, and Nisa, queen of the pea.
  • Pinkerton, Ancient Scottish Poems: Letter from Sir Thomas Randolph to Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester dated 15 Jan 1563, mentioning that Lady Flemyng was Queen of the Beene on Twelfth-Day that year.
  • Ben Jonson, Christmas, His Masque (1616, published 1641): A character 'Baby-cake' is attended by an Usher carrying a great cake with a beane and a pease.
  • Samuel Pepys, Diaries (1659/60): Epiphany Eve party, selecting of King and Queen by a cake (see King cake).

External links

Sister project Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Twelfth Night


v • d • e
Christmas
Main Christmas tree
Christianity
Folklore
Traditions
Media
Society

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
American Theater Guide. The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Copyright © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
English Folklore. A Dictionary of English Folklore. Copyright © 2000, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Twelfth Night (holiday)".  Read more

Related answers
» More
 
Answer these
» More

Mentioned in

» More» More