All Things Harvest Christmas Tradition-Twelve Days of Christmas-On the twelfth day...

Christmas Tradition–Twelve Days of Christmas–On the twelfth day…

The twelfth day of Christmas is celebrated as Twelfth Night. It is the eve of the Epiphany and the end of the Christmas season. Epiphany is the celebration of when the Three Wise Men arrived to visit the Christ child. Twelfth Night is a night of celebration and parties signifying the end of the Christmas season.

Central to the festivities is a King’s Cake. In some places the King’s Cake is baked on the Twelfth Night and served on Epiphany. In other traditions it is eaten on this night. King’s Cake is believed to have originated in France sometime in the 12th century. The cake was made in the shape of a circle to portray the circular route that the Kings took so as not to disclose the location of the Christ child. King’s Cakes were originally made with flour, egg, butter, spices, and sometimes fruit.

A dried bean was baked into the cake and whoever received the piece with the bean in it was considered “King” for the evening. The “King” would choose his “Queen” and both would reign for the evening directing others to do their bidding. Sometime during the Georgian period, circa 1714-1830, a dried pea was added to the cake as well so that the woman who received the pea would then become “Queen”.

Another tradition of this night was to drink “Wassail” a drink that was originally made of mulled ale, curdled cream, roasted apples, eggs, cloves, nutmeg and sugar. The drink was served in huge bowls usually made of silver or pewter. Great ceremony was involved in bringing the “Wassail” bowl into the room for serving and celebration.

Tradition holds that this is the last day in the celebration of the Christmas season. As with all nights contained within the Christmas season, Christmas carols were sung. The Christmas carol, “We Three Kings” is a good carol to sing on this night. Tradition also held the lighting of the Christmas Tree and Christmas Candle every evening during the Twelve Days of Christmas. It is considered tradition to light the way for the Wise Men on this night. It is also a night in which the Three Wise Men are placed next to the Manger.

Merry Christmas!

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me…