What is all this you ask?
Twelfth Night : according to Wikipedia
"Twelfth Night is a festival in some branches of Christianity marking the coming of the Epiphany and concluding the Twelve Days of Christmas.
It is defined by the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary as "the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the last day of the Christmas festivities and observed as a time of merrymaking".[1] However, there is currently some confusion as to which night is Twelfth Night:[2] some count the night of Epiphany itself (sixth of January) to be Twelfth Night
Food and drink are the center of the celebrations in modern times, and all of the most traditional ones go back many centuries. The punch called wassail is consumed especially on Twelfth Night, but throughout Christmas time, especially in the UK. Around the world, special pastries, such as the tortell and king cake are baked on Twelfth Night, and eaten the following day for the Feast of the Epiphany celebrations. In English and French custom, the Twelfth-cake was baked to contain a bean and a pea, so that those who received the slices containing them should be designated king and queen of the night's festivities.
In colonial America, a Christmas wreath was always left up on the front door of each home, and when taken down at the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas, any edible portions would be consumed with the other foods of the feast. The same held true in the 1800s - 1900s with fruits adorning Christmas trees. Fresh fruits were hard to come by, and were therefore considered fine and proper gifts and decorations for the tree, wreaths, and home. Again, the tree would be taken down on Twelfth Night, and such fruits, along with nuts and other local produce used, would then be consumed.
Modern American Carnival traditions shine most brightly in New Orleans, where friends gather for weekly King Cake parties. Whoever gets the slice with the king, usually in the form of a pink plastic baby doll, hosts next week's party."
For details and parade schedules in New Orleans for Mardi Gras
be sure to visit
My favorite Krewe
(a secret personal connection,
you know there are many secrets
about memberships and such in the Krewes!)
is pairing with my favorite NFL team
Drew Brees will be
Bacchus XLII
This ball is my favorite as well.
We still celebrate Mardi Gras here at the Blog Plantation no matter where it happens to be located!
I am off to prepare our wassail!
Thanks for dropping by Y'all!
1 comment:
This was a wonderfully informative post. I was raised that you had to take all of your decorations down before the New Year or it is bad luck. I wonder if my ancestors had issues with the Twelfth Night celebration? Odd, huh?
I am going to hang my brand new Mardi Gras wreath on the front door tomorrow!
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