When is Twelfth Night?
Twelfth Night 2013
The date of Twelfth Night 2013 is Saturday 5 January.
Twelfth Night is the date by which all Christmas decorations should be taken down to avoid bringing bad luck upon the home. If you forget to take them down by this time superstition holds that they should remain up for the remaining year.
Countdown to Twelfth Night
There are -137 days until Twelfth Night.
There are -3310 hours until Twelfth Night.
About Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night falls each year on 5 January. It falls on the evening before the Twelfth Day (6 January) which marks the end of the twelve days of Christmas.
The reason it falls on the 5th rather than 6th of January is due to how the end of the day was marked by our ancient ancestors. Rather than starting a new day in the middle of the night (midnight) as we do nowadays, they marked the end of a day when the sun went down and the new day started with the beginning of the night. Thereby nights became part of the holiday that we would perceive to be starting the next day.
For example, Christmas started at sunset on 24 December (Christmas Eve) rather than at midnight on 25 December as it does nowadays.
Twelfth Night Cake
Twelfth Night Cake is a rich fruit cake which is the forerunner to the traditional Christmas cake we now enjoy over the festive holidays.
This cake was traditionally presented at the start of the Twelfth Night festivities so that guests could find the hidden items baked within it. The finders of these items would then be crowned with the following titles.
A dried bean = King of the Revels
A dried pea = Queen of the Revels
A clove = The Knave
A rag = The Tart