Introduction to 'Twelfth Night' (5th January, set in the first half
of the 19th century)
Twelfth Night
Cake contains a dried pea and bean and is distributed in such a way that a
lucky woman finds the pea and lucky man finds the bean and crowned pea queen and
bean king aka the lord and lady of misrule (compare Saturnalia). It is their
duties to get the party going by telling people to do crazy things including
cross dressing and animal guising.
During the 19th
century it became normal to take down the festive decorations by Twelfth Night,
previously they had stayed up until Candlemas (compare present practices in
countries such as Poland and Spain).
In Victorian
Britain people would have gathered in a circle about a fire and drunk wassail
from a loving cup (wassail bowl), these tended to be large bowls decorated with
a foliate pattern and with evergreen leaves woven through the handles around
the outside.
The practice was
to pass the bowl to ones neighbour with a kiss, the recipient would raise the
bowl say 'wassail', people responded with 'drink hail' to encourage imbibing.
Twelfth Night
formed the climax to the Yule tide season and brought the festivities to a
close, unless you were a farmer when you would not return to the fields until
'Plough Monday', the first Monday after
Twelfth Night.
Twelfth Night
Twelftide,
the twelfth day of Yule,
Twelfth Night
Cake and festive misrule.
By night
fall, all trimmings be down,
The gathering
of friends, a night to renown.
Twelfth Night
celebrations, now abound,
The lighting
of fires, to circle around.
Deck the
Wassail bowl, with evergreen,
Receiving the
order, of king and queen.
On this
night, we drink without stealth,
Old English
was hael, to your health.
Drink hail,
pass kiss and merry be,
Drink and
honour, a wassail to thee.
All drink
from the large, wassail bowl,
Festive
misrule, all out of control.
Cross
dressing and animal guises fool,
What a fine
way, to end the Yule.
Copyright Andrew Rea 2007
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