Twelfth Night

Next: Tuesday 5 January 2027

5 January, the last night of Christmas, kept with wassailing, Twelfth cake and mummers’ plays.

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Folklore from the old calendars

A bean for the king, a pea for the queen No longer kept EnglandOn Twelfth Night a bean and a pea were baked into the cake.
A bean, a pea and a forked stick on board ship No longer kept EnglandHenry Teonge, chaplain of an English warship, recorded Twelfth Day 1676 at sea in rough weather past Zante.
A Twelfth-tide King chosen at Whitehall No longer kept LondonFor Twelfth-tide at the court of Charles I, Herrick's Star-Song turned the old game of choosing a Twelfth Night king and queen to the Epiphany, with the singers promising to wassail the Christ child at nightfall, choose Him king and make His mother queen.
Aderyn bee y llwyd on Old Christmas Day No longer kept WalesOn Old Christmas Day a party in Wales went from house to house with the Aderyn bee y llwyd, the bird with the grey beak, made from the skull of a horse with false eyes and ears, ribbons and coloured paper.
Buying fire with a pin Lore and belief HerefordshireOn Old Christmas Day in Herefordshire nobody might borrow fire from a neighbour; it had to be bought with some trifle, such as a pin.
Cutting Off the Fiddler’s Head No longer kept Isle of ManWaldron's history of the Isle of Man says that through the twelve days of Christmas every barn was in use and every parish hired fiddlers at the public charge.
Drinking to the ox with the crumpled horn No longer kept SomersetOn Twelfth Eve the Somerset ploughmen carried the wassail bowl into the ox-house and drank to the ox with the crumpled horn.
Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh Still kept LondonOn Twelfth Day the king used to go in procession with heralds and the knights of the Garter, Thistle and Bath to the Chapel Royal at St James's, and offer gold, frankincense and myrrh in imitation of the Magi.
Hazard for the groom-porter No longer kept LondonThe Gentleman's Magazine for January 1731 reported that on Twelfth Day the king and the Prince of Wales made their offerings of gold, frankincense and myrrh at the Chapel Royal, and that at night the royal family played at hazard for the benefit of the groom-porter.
Hey, for our town green No longer kept EnglandWhen the king and queen of Twelfth Night had been chosen by the pea and bean in the cake, the company cried out Hey, for our town green.
Holly Night at Brough No longer kept WestmorlandOn Twelfth Night the people of Brough in Westmorland carried the holly tree, though by 1827 an ash was used, since ash was plentiful there.
Joy-sops and a health drunk to the bottom No longer kept EnglandOnce the Twelfth Night king and queen had been found by the bean and the pea in the plum cake, the company made joy-sops with the cake, and every man had to drain a health to the pair from brim to bottom.
Lamb’s-wool for the Twelfth Night king and queen No longer kept EnglandOn Twelfth Night the wassail bowl was crowned with lamb's-wool, ale spiced with sugar, nutmeg and ginger, and passed to the new-chosen king and queen.
Lobscouse and Ponsondie No longer kept CumberlandIn Cumberland and other northern parts of England, Twelfth Night ended the Christmas holidays with a dance in a large room from seven o'clock until twelve.
Maidens with the wassel-bowl on Twelfth Night No longer kept EnglandOn Twelfth Night poor maidens carried a wassail bowl of spiced ale with apples from door to door, singing to be let in and hoping for a gift.
Nailing coat-tails at the Twelfth-cake shops No longer kept LondonOn Twelfth Night London boys crowded round the pastrycooks' windows, full of iced Twelfth-cakes, and nailed the coat-tails of onlookers to the window frames.
Presents from the Twelfth Day king and queen No longer kept EnglandWhoever was chosen king and queen on Twelfth Day was once expected to give each other handsome presents and to entertain the whole company.
Regan the trumpeter and the King of the Bean No longer kept EnglandEdward III's court had its King of the Bean on Twelfth Day.
Rosemary blossoms at midnight in the Forest of Dean Lore and belief GloucestershireThe foresters of Dean held that Old Christmas, not the new, was the true Christmas, and that exactly at midnight that night the rosemary blossomed and the oxen knelt.
The Anti-Gregorians’ Old Christmas at Worcester No longer kept WorcestershireWhen the calendar changed in 1752, many country people round Worcester went on keeping Christmas by the old reckoning, which now fell on Twelfth Day.
The Chapel gentlemen’s Twelfth Night play No longer kept EnglandAt the court of Henry VII the Christmas plays were acted by the gentlemen of the King's Chapel, who were well rewarded for playing on Twelfth Night.
The Devon carol-singers’ Twelfth Day feast No longer kept DevonCarol singing on Christmas Eve was very general in Devonshire, and the singers pooled the money they were given at the houses.
The fire for the Magi’s star No longer kept StaffordshireBlount recorded that the people of Staffordshire made a fire on the eve of Twelfth Day in memory of the blazing star that led the three Magi to the manger at Bethlehem.
The first maske in England No longer kept EnglandOn the night of the Epiphany in the third year of his reign, Henry VIII and eleven others came in disguised after the manner of Italy, in long gold garments with visors and caps of gold.
The fond-plough on Twelfth Day No longer kept EnglandOn Twelfth Day the youths of each parish or township dragged a plough from village to village, begging money to make merry with that evening.
The golden mountain at Richmond No longer kept SurreyOn Twelfth Night in the second year of Henry VIII a pageant like a glittering golden mountain, with a golden tree of roses and pomegranates on top, was wheeled up to the King in the hall at Richmond.
The Hobby Horse of Paget’s Bromley No longer kept StaffordshirePlot's Natural History of Staffordshire records a Twelfth Day custom at Paget's Bromley, now Abbots Bromley, which had gone out by the seventeenth century.
The King of the Bean No longer kept EnglandOn Twelfth Night a large cake was baked with a bean inside, and the family and friends cut it by lot: whoever found the bean was King of the Bean for the night, and in England there was always a queen too, sometimes found by a pea.
The king’s gold, frankincense and myrrh Still kept EnglandEnglish kings made an offering at the high altar on the Epiphany of gold, frankincense and myrrh, in memory of the gifts of the three kings.
The Lady Mary’s Twelfth Night banquet No longer kept GloucestershireIn November of about 1525 the council of the young Princess Mary's household wrote from Tewkesbury to Cardinal Wolsey asking how she should keep the coming Christmas.
The Lord Mayor’s Twelfth Day sermon at St Paul’s No longer kept LondonOn the afternoon of Twelfth Day the Lord Mayor, the aldermen, all the crafts of London and the bachelors of the Mayor's company went in procession to St Paul's to hear a sermon, after the old custom.
The Piddle Hinton Old Christmas dole No longer kept DorsetOn Old Christmas Day the rector of Piddle Hinton handed every poor parishioner a pound of bread, a pint of ale and a mince pie.
The riche mount on Twelfth Night No longer kept Kent, LondonOn Twelfth Night in the fifth year of Henry VIII, while the court kept Christmas at Greenwich, a pageant mountain called the riche mount was drawn into the great hall by four wild men.
The Sieve of Candles No longer kept LeinsterSir Henry Piers, describing County Westmeath, wrote that on Twelfth Night eve the people raised a sieve full of oats as high as they could, with twelve candles set round it and a larger one in the middle, all lit.
The Twelfth Night Wassail at Court No longer kept EnglandThe Royalle Book of Henry VII's household laid down how the king kept Twelfth Day, going crowned in his robes and offering gold, myrrh and incense.
The Walsall Penny Dole No longer kept StaffordshireThomas Moseley gave lands in Warwickshire in trust for the town of Walsall in 1453, and on Twelfth Night eve, the anniversary for his soul and his wife Margaret's, the bellman went about calling on everyone to kneel and pray for them.
Turning shirts on the night of Epiphany Lore and belief WalesWelsh girls who wanted to see their future husbands washed linen after the household had gone to bed, set it before the fire to dry and watched to see who came at midnight to turn it.
Twelve fires against the smut at Pauntley No longer kept GloucestershireOn Twelfth Night eve the farm servants of Pauntley gathered in a field sown with wheat and lit twelve straw fires in a row to keep the smut off the crop.
Twelve Fires and the Ox’s Cake No longer kept Gloucestershire, HerefordshireOn Twelfth Night eve Herefordshire farmers and their servants lit twelve small fires and one large one on the highest part of a wheat field, drank old cider and hallooed, and fifty or sixty other fires might be seen at once across the country.
Wassail Eve near Leeds No longer kept YorkshireFamilies near Leeds invited relations and neighbours on Twelfth Eve to play cards and eat a supper of minced pies, then passed round a great wassail bowl of sweetened ale and roasted apples.
Wassailing the Apple Trees Still kept DevonOn Twelfth Night eve the Devon farmer took his men into the orchard with a pitcher of cider, and they circled one of the best-bearing trees and drank to it three times with a rhyme wishing it hats full, caps full and sacks full of apples.
Wassil Eve near Leeds No longer kept YorkshireMr Beckwith remembered in the Gentleman's Magazine of 1784 that near Leeds, when he was a boy, many families asked their relations, friends and neighbours in on the twelfth eve of Christmas for cards and a supper at which mince pies were essential.

Folklore from the old calendars

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