Jan. 6.] TWELFTH DAY. In its character as a popular festival, Twelfth Day stands only inferior to Christmas. The leading object held in view is to do honour to “the three wise men,” or, as they are more generally denominated, “the three kings.” It is a Christian custom, ancient past memory, and probably suggested by a paean custom, to indulge in a pleasantry called the Election of kings by beans. Some, however, maintain it to have been derived from the custom observed by the Roman children, who, at the end of their saturnalia, drew lots with beans, to see who would be king. In England in later times, a large cake was made, with a bean or silver penny inserted, and this was called Twelfth-cake. The family and friends being assembled, the cake was divided by lot, and whoever got the piece containing the bean was accepted as the king for the day, and called King of the Bean. It appears also that there was always a queen as well as a king on Twelfth-Night. A writer, speaking of the celebration in the South of England in 1774, says: “After tea a cake is produced with two bowls containing the fortunate chances for the different sexes. The host fills up the tickets, and the whole company, except the king and queen, are to be ministers of state, maids of honour, or ladies of the bed-chamber. Often the host and hostess, more by design than accident, become king and queen. According to Twelfth Day law, each party is to support his character till midnight.” In the sixteenth century it would appear that some peculiar ceremonies followed the election of the king and queen. Barnaby Googe, in his paraphrase of the curious poem of Herrick, the poet of our festivals, has several allusions to the celebration of this day of our ancestors, as may be seen in the subjoined poem: “TWELFE-NIGHT, OR KING AND QUEENE. “Now, now the mirth comes With the cake full of plums, Where beane’s the king of the sport here; Besides, we must know, The pea also Must revell, as queene, in the court here. Begin then to chuse (This night as ye use) Who shall for the present delight here, Be a king be the lot, And who shall not Be Twelfe-day queene for the night here. Which knowne, let us make Joy-sops with the cake; And let not a man then be seene here. Who unurg’d will not drinke, To the base from the brink, A health to the king and queene here. Next crowne the bowle full With gentle lamb’s-wooll; Adde sugar, nutmeg, and ginger, With store of ale too; And thus ye must doe To make the wassaile a swinger. Give them to the king And queene wassailing; And though with ale ye be whet here; Yet part ye from hence, As free from offence, As when ye innocent met here.” In the last century Twelfth Night Cards represented ministers, maids of honour, and other attendants of a court, and Formerly the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, and the Guilds of London, used to go to St. Paul’s on Twelfth Day to hear a sermon. This is mentioned as an old custom in the early part of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. Twelfth Day and its customs appear to have been observed by royalty almost from time immemorial. At the English court in the eighth year of the reign of Edward III., the majestic title of King of the Bean was conferred upon one of the king’s minstrels, as appears by a Compotus of that date, which states that sixty shillings were given by the king on the day of the Epiphany to Regan, the trumpeter, and his associates, the court minstrels, in the name of the king of the bean.—Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, 1801, p. 255. The grand state of the sovereign on Twelfth Day, and the manner of keeping festival at court, in the reign of King Henry VII., are set forth in Le Neve’s MS., called The Royalle Book, to the following effect: As for Twelfth Day, the king must go crowned in his royal robes, kirtle, surcoat, his furred hood about his neck, his mantle with a long train, and his cutlas before him; his armills upon his arms, of gold set full of rich stones; and no temporal man to touch it but the king himself; and the squire for the body must bring it to the king in a fair kerchief, and the king must put them on himself; and he must have his sceptre in his right hand, and the ball with the cross in the left hand, and the crown upon his head. And he must offer that day gold, myrrh, and sense; then must the dean of the chapel send unto the Archbishop of Canterbury by clerk or priest the king’s offering that day; The same day that he goeth crowned he ought to go to matins; to which array belongeth his kirtle, surcoat, tabard, and his furred hood slyved over his head, and rolled about his neck; and on his head his cap of estate, and his sword before him. At even-song he must go in his kirtle and surcoat, and hood laid about his shoulders, and clasp the tippet and hood together before his breast with a great rich ouche, and his hat of estate upon his head. As for the void on the Twelfth Night, the king and the queen ought to have it in the hall. And as for the wassail, the steward, the treasurer, and the controller, shall come for it with their staves in their hands; the king’s sewer and the queen’s having fair towels about their necks, and dishes in their hands, such as the king and queen shall eat of; the king’s carvers and the queen’s shall come after with chargers or dishes, such as the king or the queen shall eat of, and with towels about their necks. And no man shall bear anything unless sworn for three months. And the steward, treasurer, comptroller, and marshall of the hall shall ordain for all the hall. And, if it be in the great chamber, then shall the chamberlain and ushers ordain, after the above form; and if there be a bishop, his own squire, or else the king’s, such as the officers choose to assign, shall serve him; and so of all the other estates, if they be dukes or earls; and so of duchesses and countesses. And then there must come in the ushers of the chamber, with the pile of cups, the king’s cups and the queen’s, and the bishop’s with the butlers and wine to the cupboard, and then a squire for the body to bear the cup, and another for the queen’s cup, such as is sworn for hire. The singers [of the chapel] may stand at the one side of the hall, and when the steward cometh in at the hall-door, On Twelfth Day, 1563, Mary Queen of Scots celebrated the French pastime of the King of the Bean at Holyrood, but with a queen instead of a king, as more appropriate, in consideration of herself being a female sovereign. The lot fell to the real queen’s attendant, Mary Fleming, and the mistress good-naturedly arrayed the servant in her own robes and jewels, that she might duly sustain the mimic dignity in the festivities of the night. The English resident, Randolph, who was in love with Mary Beton, another of the queen’s maids of honour, wrote in excited terms about this festival to the Earl of Leicester. “Happy was it,” says he, “unto this realm, that her reign endured no longer. Two such sights, in one state, in so good accord, I believe was never seen, as to behold two worthy queens possess, without envy, one kingdom, both upon a day. I leave the rest to your lordship to be judged of. My pen staggereth, my hand faileth, further to write.——The Queen of the Bean was that day in a gown of cloth of silver; her head, her neck, her shoulders, the rest of her whole body, so beset with stones, that more in our whole jewel-house were not to be found. The cheer was great. I never found myself so happy, nor so well treated, until that it came to the point that the old Queen (Mary) herself, to show her mighty power, contrary unto the assurance granted me by the younger Queen (Mary Fleming), drew me into the dance; which part of the play I could with good will have spared unto your lordship as much fitter for the purpose.”—Lives of the Queens of Scotland, Strickland, vol. iv. p. 20. Down to the time of the Civil Wars, the feast of the Epiphany was observed with great splendour, not only at court, but at the Inns of Court, and the Universities (where it was an old custom to choose the king by the bean in a cake), as well as in private mansions and smaller households. Cumberland.In Cumberland, and other northern parts of England, on Twelfth Night, which finishes the Christmas holidays, the rustics meet together in a large room. They begin dancing at seven o’clock, and finish at twelve, when they sit down to lobscouse and ponsondie; the former is made of beef, potatoes, and onions, fried together; and in ponsondie we recognise the wassail or waes-hael of ale, boiled with sugar and nutmeg, into which are put roasted apples; the anciently admired lambs’-wool. The feast is paid for by subscription; two women are chosen, who with two wooden bowls placed one within the other, so as to leave an opening and a space between them, go round to the female part of the society in succession, and what one puts into the uppermost bowl the attendant collectress slips into the bowl beneath it. All are expected to contribute something, but not more than a shilling, and they are best esteemed who give most. The men choose two from themselves and follow the same custom, except that as the gentlemen are not supposed to be so fair in their dealings as the ladies, one of the collectors is furnished with pen, ink, and paper, to set down the subscription as soon as received.—Time’s Telescope, 1825, p. 13. In many of the small towns they partake of scalded field-peas, and a hare or some other kind of game. The peas are Derbyshire.The morris-dancers who go about from village to village about Twelfth Day, have their fool, their Maid Marian (generally a man dressed in woman’s clothes, and called “the fool’s wife,”) and sometimes the hobby-horse; they are dressed up in ribbons and tinsel, but the bells are usually discarded.—Jour. of Arch. Assoc. 1852, vol. vii. p. 201. Dorsetshire.The rector of Piddle Hinton gives away on Old Christmas Day a pound of bread, a pint of ale, and a mince pie, to every poor person in the parish. This distribution is regularly made by the rector to upwards of three hundred persons.—Edwards, Old English Customs and Charities, 1842, p. 6. Lincolnshire.Anciently the Mowbrays had great possessions in and about the Isle of Axholme, and a seat, at which they principally resided, and were considered the greatest folks in that part of the country. It so happened that on Old Christmas Day, while a young lady (the daughter of the then Mowbray) was riding over the Meeres to the church by an old road (at that time the principal one across the village) a gale of wind blew off her hood. Twelve farming men who were working in the fields saw the occurrence, and ran to gather up the hood, and in such earnest were they that the lady took so much amusement at the scene she forbade her own attendants joining in the pursuit. The hood being [7] The quantity of land given by Lady Mowbray was forty acres, known by the name of the Hoodlands. The game usually continues until dusk, and is frequently attended by broken shins and bruised heads. The next day is occupied by the boggons going round the villages, singing as waits, who are regaled with hot furmenty; from some they get coppers given them, and from others a small measure of wheat, according to the means of the donor. The day after that they assume the character of plough bullocks, and at a certain part of West Woodside they “smoke the fool;” that is, straw is collected by those who like, and piled on a heap, a rope being tied or slung over In the History of Lincolnshire (vol. ii. p. 214) is the following account of this custom, differing but little from the notice already given. At Haxey, Old Twelfth Day is devoted to throwing the hood, an amusement, which according to tradition, was instituted by one of the Mowbrays. A roll of canvas, tightly corded together, from four to six pounds in weight, is taken to an open field, and contended for by the rustics. An individual appointed casts it from him, and the first person who can convey it into the cellars of any public house receives the reward of one shilling, paid by the plough-bullocks or boggins. A new hood being furnished when the others are carried off, the contest usually continues till dark. The next day the plough-bullocks or boggins go round the town collecting alms, and crying “Largess.” They are dressed like morris-dancers, and are yoked to and drag a small plough. They have their farmer, and a fool called Billy Buck, dressed like a harlequin, with whom the boys make sport. The day is concluded by the bullocks running with the plough round the cross on the green; and the man that can throw the other down, and convey the plough into the cellar of a public house, receives one shilling for his agility.—See N. & Q. 4th S. vol. ix. p. 158. Middlesex.In London on Twelfth Night, in former days, boys assembled round the inviting shops of the pastrycooks, and dexterously nailed the coat-tails of spectators who ventured near enough to the bottoms of the window frames, or pinned them strongly together by their clothes. Sometimes eight or ten persons found themselves thus connected. The A curious custom of mediÆval origin is observed at the Chapel Royal, St. James’s Palace, on the festival of the Epiphany. After the reading of the sentence at the offertory, “Let your light so shine before men,” &c., while the organ plays, two members of her Majesty’s household, wearing the royal livery, descend from the royal pew and advance to the altar rails, preceded by the usher, where they present to one of the two officiating clergymen a red bag, edged with gold lace or braid, which is received in an offertory basin, and then reverently placed on the altar. This bag or purse is understood to contain the Queen’s offering of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, in commemoration of the gifts of the Magi to the infant Saviour.—Echo, Jan. 7th, 1869. In the Lady’s Mag. for 1760, is the following: Sunday Jan. 6th, being Twelfth Day, and a collar and offering day at St. James’, his Majesty, preceded by the heralds, pursuivants, &c., and the knights of the Garter, Thistle, and Bath, in the collars of their respective orders, went to the Royal Chapel at St. James’, and offered gold, myrrh, and frankincense, in imitation of the Eastern Magi offering to our Saviour. Isle of Man.In this island there is not a barn unoccupied on the whole twelve days after Christmas, every parish hiring fiddlers at the public charge. On Twelfth Day the fiddler Somersetshire.A friend of mine, says Mr. C. W. Bingham in N. & Q. (3rd S. vol. ix. p. 33), met a girl on Old Christmas Day, in a village of North Somerset, who told him that she was going to see the Christmas thorn in blossom. He accompanied her to an orchard, where he found a tree, propagated from the celebrated Glastonbury thorn, and gathered from it several sprigs in blossom. Afterwards the girl’s mother informed him that it had been formerly the custom for the youth of both sexes to assemble under the tree at midnight on Christmas Eve, in order to hear the bursting of the buds into flower, and she added, “As they comed out, you could hear ’um haffer.” Jennings, and after him Halliwell, give this word haffer for to crackle, to patter, to make repeated loud noises. Staffordshire.At Paget’s Bromley a curious custom went out in the seventeenth century. A man came along the village with a mock horse fastened to him, with which he danced, at the same time making a snapping noise with a bow and arrow. He was attended by half a dozen fellow-villagers, wearing mock deers’ heads, and displaying the arms of the several landlords of the town. This party danced the Hays, and other country dances, to music, amidst the sympathy and applause of the multitude. There was also a huge pot of Westmoreland.Twelfth Night, or Holly Night, was formerly celebrated at Brough, by carrying through the town a holly-tree with torches attached to its branches. The procession set out at 8 o’clock in the evening preceded by music, and stopped at the town-bridge, and again at the cross, where it was greeted each time with shouts of applause. Many of the inhabitants carried lighted branches as flambeaux; and rockets, squibs, &c., were discharged on the joyful occasion. After the tree had been carried about, and the torches were sufficiently burnt, it was placed in the middle of the town, when it was again cheered by the surrounding crowd, and then was thrown among them. The spectators at once divided into two parties, one of which endeavoured to take the tree to one of the inns, and the other to a rival inn. The innkeeper whose party triumphed was expected to treat his partisans liberally.—Hone’s Table Book, 1838, p. 26; Handbook for the Lakes, Murray, 1866, p. 113. WALES.In some parts of Pembrokeshire, the following practice is observed. A wren is secured in a small house made of wood, with door and windows, the latter glazed. Pieces of ribbon of various colours are fixed to the ridge of the roof outside. Sometimes several wrens are brought in the same cage, and oftentimes a stable-lantern, decorated as above mentioned, serves for the wren’s-house. The proprietors of this establishment go round to the principal houses in their neighbourhood: where, accompanying themselves with some musical instrument, they announce their arrival by singing the ‘Song of the Wren.’ The wren’s visit is a source of much amusement to children and servants, and the “Joy, health, love, and peace, Be to you in this place. By your leave we will sing, Concerning our king: Our king is well drest; In silks of the best; With his ribbons so rare, No king can compare. In his coach he does ride, With a great deal of pride; And with four footmen To wait upon him. We were four at watch, And all nigh of a match; And with powder and ball We fired at his hall. We have travell’d many miles, Over hedges and stiles, To find you this king, Which we now to you bring. Now Christmas is past, Twelfth Day is the last. Th’ Old Year bids adieu; Great joy to the New.” It would appear from the ninth line of the song that the wren at one time used to occupy a coach, or that her house was placed upon wheels.—N. & Q. 3rd S. vol. v. p. 109. Ornamental line
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