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n January 6th is Twelfth Night,ntraditionally the Last Day of Christmas, when festivities come to an end, thendecorations are taken down and things get back to normal. In RenaissancenEngland, Twelfth Night was marked in the houses of the wealthy by sumptuousnfeasting, and Henry VIII introduced to his court the Italian custom ofncelebrating with the performance of masques, elaborate costumed entertainmentsnthat combined flowery speeches, song, dance and special scenery, and that werenreally Mummer’s plays dressed up and polished for the elite.
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| Ben Jonson – The Masque of Christmas – 1616 |
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nBen Jonson raisednthe literary bar a little with his Masque of Christmas in 1616, but notnby much; it is what it should be, a light, frivolous short piece created tonraise laughter and provide a colourful spectacle for the court. The othernliterary work associated with the feast-day is, of course, Shakespeare’s TwelfthnNight, a much, much better play that has little to do, per se, withnthe season but does use the idea of disguise and the overturning of the socialnorder associated with the period to full effect.
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| William Shakespeare – Twelfth Night – First Folio |
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nOne custom particular tonTwelfth Night was the King of the Bean, whereby a dry bean was baked into ancake and whoever received the portion containing the bean was made King to rulenover the night’s revels (a character in Jonson’s Masque was namednBaby-Cake, and was attended by an usher bearing a cake containing a bean and anpease).
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n“Now, now the mirth comesn
nWith the cake full of plums.n
nWhere beane’snthe king of the sport heren
nBeside, we must know,n
nThe pea alson
nMust revell, asnqueene in the court here.”n
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| The King of the Bean holds court |
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nCakes became associated with Twelfth Night andnthe confectioners’ shops were filled with richly decorated cakes –
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n“Stars,ncastles, kings, cottages, dragons, trees, fish, palaces, cats, dogs, churches,nlions, milk-maids, knights, serpents, and innumerable other forms”.n
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nInnLondon there was a practice of the boys to gather around the cake shops,nwaiting for the public to come and admire the wonders on offer in the windows.nThen, quickly and with great dexterity, the boys would either nail the hems ofncoats or dresses to the wooden window frame, or pin two people’s coatsntogether, to the great laughter of the spectators and perpetrators. There werentimes when up to eight or ten persons might be pinned together in one long line,neach struggling to escape the indignity, to the amusement of the boys.
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| Pinning clothes together |
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n“Suchnare the scenes, that, at the front and siden
nOf the Twelfth cake-shops, scatternwild dismay;n
nAs up the slipp’ry curb, or pavement wide,n
nWe seek thenpastrycooks, to keep Twelfth-day”n
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nJohn Brand, in his Observations on thenPopular Antiquities of Great Britain (1777), records how the countrynfarmers, with their friends and servants, would gather in the fields at sixno’clock in the evening of Twelfth Night and on the highest point of groundnwould light a large bonfire surrounded with twelve smaller fires, and thennwould drink to each other with old cider, wassail the apple trees to ensure thennext year’s harvest and return home. In the byre, a large cake with a hole innthe middle would be placed over the horn of the best bull and a toast drunk tonthe animal, which would then be tickled until it threw off the cake. If thencake went to the front of the beast, the master wins it but if it falls behindnthen the mistress claims it; after this, the company goes back to the farmhousento drink and dance the night away.
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| Twelfth Night |
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n Thenfollowing day was called St Distaff’s Day, when labourers would go into thenfields, implements prepared and maybe even the oxen would be harnessed to thenplough. In the home, the women would ready their distaffs, preparing them tonbegin to spin the wool, but after a few hours of this half-hearted business,neverything would be laid aside and a sort of half-holiday was declared, asneveryone took a rest to get over the Christmas festivities.
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| R Herrick – Saint Distaff’s Day |
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n“Partly worke,nand partly play,n
nYe must on S. Distaff’s day:n
nFrom the plough soone free yournteame,n
nThen come home and fother them.n
nIf the maides a-spinning goe,n
nBurne thenflax, and fire the tow.”n
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| Plough Monday |
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nThe oxen would be unyoked but the following Mondaynwas known as Plough Monday, when the agricultural year began in earnest andneverything returned back to normal.
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| All hands to the Plough |
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nChristmas was over for another year.
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| January …. |
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