Twelfth Night, January 5th

One of the favorite holidays that I have never celebrated properly (until tonight- wahoo!) is Twelfth Night. The days between Christmas and Epiphany (January 6th) was traditionally a time of feasting and partying. It was common in the British Isles to celebrate holidays at 6pm the previous evening, as in Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve before New Year's Day. This is why Twelfth Night became a bigger holiday than the more religious based holiday of Epiphany which celebrates when the Wise Men arrived at the stable and gave gifts to the newborn Savior.

Some things you should know about Twelfth Night:

* You should take all your Christmas decorations after your Twelfth Night celebrations, if they are taken down before or if they are left up for another night, you will have bad luck the whole year. If you are late taking your decorations down, to avoid a year of bad luck you must leave them up for the rest of the year.

* It is a time for tricks and practical jokes, if you have a party you should appoint a Lord of Misrule, if you have problems choosing one, stick a bean in a cake, and whoever gets the bean becomes the Lord of Misrule

* Traditionally, wassailing was done on this night, which was pouring the spiced drink onto the roots of the fruit trees to ensure a fruitful new year. I think drinking yummy wassail should be good enough for modern celebrations.

* If you kept a Yule Log burning since Christmas, you need to extinguish it tonight

* Likewise, if you have a natural tree and wreaths, you should burn them in a bonfire

* Mummers, if you happen to have a few hanging around, should perform at your festivities