Today we start a four-part look at the traditions of Twelfth Night as part of Johnna McEntee’s “Into the History” segment through Hidden Dirk Mercantile.
Into the History
by Johnna McEntee
Twelfth Night Traditions – Part I
On December 26, there is a strange phenomenon across the United States. An almost audible sigh of relief and the lifting of some invisible veil that we’ve never even noticed until that moment. That collective sigh you hear is the Christmas holiday coming to a close. For some people, the holiday season can be stressful — and as much as they enjoy celebrating on December 25 – they are quite thankful when the day is over and the next Christmas is a year away.
Personally, I love Christmas and everything that comes with it – traveling to see my family and friends, buying gifts I know the recipient will love (getting gifts is fun too), decorations, music, food, the whole lot. I wish I could spread out the party as long as possible!
My sentiments seemed to be echoed in the 18th century holiday festivities. Like we discussed in our article on 18th Century Christmas Traditions, Christmas was celebrated on December 25 in Colonial America, but it wasn’t even close to as big of a production as we make it now. And, Christmas wasn’t the end of the holidays—not by a long shot. This month, let’s look a little deeper into those fascinating traditions around the “twelve days of Christmas.”
For Anglicans, four more holy days were celebrated after December 25, including The Feast of the Epiphany twelve days after Christmas, and The Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary forty days after Christmas.
The twelve days between Christmas and the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6 are what we know as “the twelve days of Christmas.” Because Christmas Day in the 1700s didn’t have the same connotation that it does today, with Santa Claus and his sleigh of gifts, and presents under the tree and the excesses of the 21st century, our ancestors viewed Christmas as the beginning of the celebration and extended their festivities for next full twelve days.
To begin the Yuletide celebrations (the word “yuletide” means the actual “twelve days of Christmas” or December 26-January 6) families would take a ceremonial “Yule log” from the community bonfire that was started on Christmas Eve. This piece of wood was used to start the fires in their own hearths until the end of Twelfth Night.
Picture Caption: The Yule Log being taken to the village bonfire, from “Chamber’s book of Days”
In addition to the gathering of the Yule log, there were several community activities that took place during the twelve days. Horse racing, cock fighting, fox hunting, mock sword fights, games normally reserved for “pub” (such as card playing and nine pins), bobbing for apples, and group games like blind man’s bluff were all very popular. Music, group sing-alongs, and other “outside” performers like tight-rope walkers, acrobats, jesters, dancers and play actors were also a very common sight.
Tomorrow, in Part II of the series, we will look more into some of the more rowdy participants of Twelfth Night revelry.
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