Originally Posted By Gail (6 JAN 2004 11:26pm)
We call January 6th, "Little Christmas" and usually put away any holiday decorations by that date too. (Never heard of the 'bad luck' angle or the 12th Night cake)  

Thanks for the post and the cake!

Originally Posted By dombrewer (7 JAN 2004 12:10am)

My pleasure!

Well it's always been a superstition in my family that leaving the decorations up after Twelfth Night is meant to be incredibly bad luck for the year ahead - that's probably just my mother over-reacting  

. I think it's a known tradition, not just my mother's paranoia.

My family follow a similar tradition - but the superstition is that if you leave your decorations up after the 12th night you have to leave them up for the rest of the year - or suffer the consequences! >

Well seeing Andro ate the whole thing  I guess that means he got the pea....

Which means....

Eva is the King and Andro is the Queen. Worship them.  

Originally Posted By dombrewer (6 JAN 2004 8:08pm)
Inspired by the thread about taking down your Christmas decorations it surprised me that no one mentioned the 12th Night rule that we always follow in my family and I think is pretty well known in England... basically it all comes down tonight or it's bad luck!

A short history....

Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night, the 6th of January, has been celebrated as the end of the Christmas season since the Middle Ages. One of the most important days in the Christian calendar, Twelfth Night also marked the Feast of the Epiphany, when the three wise men, or Magi, arrived in Bethlehem to behold the Christ child.

The word 'epiphany' comes from the Greek word for manifestation, and was chosen because this was the night on which the Christ child, called 'the King of the Jews', was manifested to the Gentiles.

Most ancient writers agreed that there were three wise men. Over time they became known as the Three Kings - Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar. Caspar was thought to have brought the Christ child frankincense for divinity, Melchior gold for kingship and Balthazar myrrh for humanity.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, Twelfth Night parties were popular and usually involved games-playing, drinking and eating. A special Twelfth Cake, the forerunner of today's Christmas cake, was the centrepiece of the party, and a slice was given to all members of the household.

Traditionally, it contained both a dried bean and a dried pea. The man whose slice contained the bean was elected King for the night; a Queen was found with a pea. For the rest of the evening, they ruled supreme. Even if they were normally servants, their temporarily exalted position was recognised by all, including their masters.

Twelfth Night was popular until the late 19th century. As the antiquarian William Sandys then observed, 'Twelfth Night ... is probably the most popular day throughout the Christmas, thanks to Twelfth Cake and other amusements'.

So in honour of this feast, have some cake
[img]http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/society_culture/society/images/gal_christmas_twelfthcake.jpg[/img]

and some fabulous verse:  

OLIVIA:  Your lord does know my mind; I cannot love him:
Yet I suppose him virtuous, know him noble,
Of great estate, of fresh and stainless youth;
In voices well divulged, free, learn'd and valiant;
And in dimension and the shape of nature
A gracious person: but yet I cannot love him;
He might have took his answer long ago.  

VIOLA:  If I did love you in my master's flame,
With such a suffering, such a deadly life,
In your denial I would find no sense;
I would not understand it.  

OLIVIA:  Why, what would you?  

VIOLA:  Make me a willow cabin at your gate,
And call upon my soul within the house;
Write loyal cantons of contemned love
And sing them loud even in the dead of night;
Halloo your name to the reverberate hills
And make the babbling gossip of the air
Cry out 'Olivia!' O, You should not rest
Between the elements of air and earth,
But you should pity me!  

Originally Posted By Allanon (7 JAN 2004 10:12am)

Come on , Dom !! A poet you are , I'm teasing a scar . If I only knew , what to say , I might just do it anyway . From this , I always try to gain ,
Regardless of whether it causes pain ,
I see one's that just like to laugh ,
But they don't really have ol' Gandalf's staff ,
From this I do not have a clue , whatever may happen ... here's to you . Cheers !!  

Originally Posted By Gail (10 JAN 2004 7:06am)
Who knows, Daryl?

You can leave your lights up as long as you want. I won't say a word. People have very different traditions, which I find interesting. Don't you?

You can light my lights any day/night.

Originally Posted By Daryl (10 JAN 2004 7:42am)
Did somebody trip on the plug? Damn, I hate when that happens.  :

Originally Posted By Gail (10 JAN 2004 7:54am)

Reminds me of:

Daryl Mary, full of grace.

(I'll apologize in advance.)