HomeRegency LifeRegency Christmas TraditionsRegency Christmas Traditions: Twelfth Night Revelries

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Regency Christmas Traditions: Twelfth Night Revelries — 7 Comments

  1. ‘Tis been fascinating to read about the regency Christmas traditions over this last month. Thank you to all writers who contributed. Some of the traditions were still current in our house when I was growing up in Scotland and England. My Grandmother, who lived with us would make the Christmas puddings, including the sixpences. she always referred to Christmas ‘boxes’, not presents. Mum would make the rich fruit Christmas cake some weeks earlier, leaving it to soak in brandy before finally covering it with marzipan and royal icing. In those days we children didn’t like fruit cake so we only ate the icing. After lunch all the adults would have a snooze so we entertained ourselves with our new toys until they woke up and then the board games or cards came out. On New Year’ Eve my father would go first footing with his lump of coal. Being reasonably tall and dark haired he was always welcome but somewhat inebriated by the time he returned. Unlike today, we never put up the decorations until Christmas Eve and took them down on January 6th after 12 days.

    Christmas is very different now, not least because I live in New Zealand and it is summertime.

  2. Fascinating yet again. I have read many books containing Twelfth Night Parties, but have never known much of the traditions, being that they are not commonly celebrated in the US. I have had friends who celebrate The Three Kings, so that is much more familiar to me.

  3. For me as a modern Anglican (Reformed Episcopal), Twelfth Night celebrations are both a kiss goodbye to Christmastide and a welcome of Epiphanytide. Our party is always the 5th of January at sunset when we “burn the greens.” Our priest reminisces about the huge bonfires his church in Colorado used to have when he was a boy with hundreds of Christmas trees such that the fire department watched the smoldering remains all night, putting out hot spots.

    Since we’re constantly under fire danger here in the mountains of Southern California, we burn a few handfuls of greens in a small metal-lined fire pit as the sun sets, praying together the first Evensong of the Epiphany. (For Anglicans, as with the Jewish faith, celebrations of holy days begin at sunset of the previous day and last through the next sunset.) Then we go into the house and enjoy Christmas trifle and sherry–yum!! 🙂

    So I am very much looking forward to celebrating Twelfth Night/Eve of Epiphany tomorrow night! 🙂

    ~Susanne 🙂

  4. Six lbs of butter and a pound and a half of
    sugar…wow!
    Thank you for this series, which I have really
    enjoyed reading. Happy New Year 2016.

  5. I don’t own equipment (pots, pans, bowls) large enough to handle the large cakes. But it is interesting how elaborate some of these celebrations are…how much money went into the staging of such!

    Our family never had any celebrations outside of Christmas Day. When I married a man of Roman Catholic faith we began to attend midnight masses but I gave that up a few years back as I need my sleep.

    Sian – your family sounds interesting in their traditions. And I will never see New Zealand but the films set there and the photos of it show it to be a gorgeous land!

    It was interesting to read about some of the celebrations in the various P&P books.

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