Twelfth Night

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Traditionally, leaving any decorations up past midnight is very unlucky. If you have a real tree and an open fireplace, you can burn the tree - it produces a wonderful smell, but you do need to use a fireguard, as the fire tends to spit and pop because of the resin in the wood.

A midnight visit to Glastonbury Abbey grounds to see if the Glastonbury Thorn has blossomed is another tradition dating back to long before 1752 (when the calendar was updated). Christmas Eve used to be on this day - and apparently the famous thorn is still sticking to the old calendar!

All Christmas decorations should either be removed by midnight on the 5th January, Twelfth Night, or be left in place for the whole of the year, so as not to bring bad luck.

If a real Christmas tree has been used, some families will cut it up and burn it on Twelfth Night, either indoors or on a bonfire. In some parts of Europe, large piles of Christmas trees are burnt in one big bonfire.

Although often thought of as taking place on 6th January (which is the Twelfth Day of Christmas), Twelfth Night is in fact the Eve of Twelfth Day. This is because we have changed the way we think about dates since the time when the term was originally coined.

In some branches of Christianity, Twelfth Night is a formal holiday, but it is more generally considered as marking the coming of the Epiphany on 6th January.

In some countries Twelfth Night signals the start of the Carnival season which lasts through until Mardi Gras. This is the case in New Orleans, where the first Carnival celebrations take place on 6th January.

Twelfth Night was once the last 'fling' of the 12-day-long Christmas or Yule feast. A big cake would be baked with two tokens in, and the finders became King and Queen for the evening, with authority to tell everybody else what to do.

The William Shakespeare play, "Twelfth Night (or What You Will)" was first performed at the Middle Temple Hall, London in 1602.

The Pagan Twelfth Night

In England in Tudor times, Twelfth Night marked the end of a longer Winter festival which started on All Hallows' Eve (now celebrated as Halloween), when a Lord Of Misrule would be appointed to run the forthcoming Christmas festivities. Twelfth Night signalled the end of his tenure. This tradition can be traced back to Celtic Festivals in Europe and the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia.

In some Pagan circles the Winter festival starts at the Winter Solstice on or around 21st December. The Twelfth Night (usually New Year's Day) represents the end of the celebrations.