12th night traditions

[bootygirl]

When is the 12th night? Do you have any traditions?

[Sweets101]

12th night is the 12th night after Christmas isn't it?

[SpringerS]

It's this Thursday. I'd love to have a party for it but don't think I'll manage it this year. I have special Christmas breakfasts with DS on the 30th of November and on Christmas Eve. So I'm thinking that this year I'll make a breakfast-y King Cake in advance and have it all set up for DS when he gets up on Thursday morning with hot chocolate, cream and marshmallows. And a little figure in the cake for him to find.

[workatemylife]

We don't have a party, but in the past it has been the day to take down all the Christmas decorations, clean the house etc. I take the DCs out for a nice coffee / chocolate in our local café and buy a new candle for the table on the way home.

In the evening we make a nice meal (not a major effort, just something that we all like) and finish up with a galette www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/marys_galette_38999 for dessert, with hidden coins for the DCs.

This year, DP is not going to be home for dinner on Thursday, so the decs will come down as planned but we'll probably do the meal on 6th January. The galette is an Epiphany tradition anyway.

I suspect that this is all just me trying to avoid admitting that Christmas is actually over. Oh look, let's do another Christmas thing and pretend that we're not back at school, work etc

[Mama1980]

We always make a wassail drink for twelfth night and light candles in our little orchard. We also bake a 12 th night cake and ask friends round. It's my favourite night of Christmas.

[bootygirl]

Thanks for the replies. I know the 6th is Little Christmas here and traditional women did nt do any house work or cooking as it is their day off.

However we never did this as a child and I was thinking of marking it in some way!

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Ooh nice ideas

DH has taken down our decorations (we always do the 1st Jan as our Put Away Day)
I'm arriving back home on Thursday (at DParents right now) so after sorting out washing, recycling and shopping , I'll cook something to celebrate ( Celebrate me being home , obviously ) for 12th Night.

Enchiladas/ Burritoes were the order from DD.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

The Gallette looks lovely , sort of appley/marzipanny

Adds items to shopping list

[SpringerS]

Are you in Ireland booty? I think a confusion arises here because the RCC count the 12 days of Christmas as the 12 days after Christmas while the Anglican church counts Christmas as the first day of Christmas. So in the UK the 5th is generally seen as the 12th day and the day decorations come down. In Ireland they tend to be left up until at least the 6th, or the 7th in areas where Women's Christmas is actually celebrated.

I'd only ever heard of Women's Christmas as something that is genuinely celebrated from friends in Cork and Kerry. But in the last couple of years it seems to have spread to more of the country, probably because of social media, and lots of restaurants are offering special Women's Christmas menus on Friday. So I'm going out for dinner and drinks with my mum, aunts and female cousins. But I'm planning to start taking the decorations down once we get in on Thursday evening, so hopefully the house will be free and clear of them by the time I go out on Friday and I can look forward to coming home to a bright and airy house after my last Christmas night out.

[bootygirl]

springers yes I am in Ireland. My MIL always says you can't take your decorations down till after the 6th, its bad luck 🙄 or at least that is my DH excuse! But I since discovered that actually she takes all but one item down!! I am Anglican myself!
There are nt any restaurant were I am doing Woman's Christmas, but no doubt it will catch on! I think it harks back to a time when women did all the housework & cooking.

[SpringerS]

There are nt any restaurant were I am doing Woman's Christmas, but no doubt it will catch on! I think it harks back to a time when women did all the housework & cooking.

It absolutely does. The thing is that it must have been hard to kick back and relax on the 6th knowing you'd be the one taking the decorations down and giving the place a good clean the next day! Though I guess it was just throwing out a bit of dried up greenery and putting away the nice candles back when it was genuinely celebrated throughout the country.

This is the first year I've seen Women's Christmas specials being advertised in the restaurants where I am. But a good few places have jumped on the bandwagon. Generally a specific 3 course menu plus glass of wine for €20, seems to be the offer. I guess it's a nice boost for them after Christmas to be able to pull in a crowd in dull January and I'd say the atmosphere will be good if it catches on. I'd honestly never heard of it until a few years ago from some Cork friends of my parents. When I was a teen until my early 20s we always went out on the 6th for my friend's birthday and no body ever mentioned Women's Christmas. But I'll take any excuse to celebrate.

[bootygirl]

springers. Good on you! No doubt it will be a welcome lift for businesses in January!

[dementedma]

Not sure if I'm keen on the idea of Women's Christmas. Sounds like an ingenious marketing ploy. Be better to get men to pull their weight more around actual Christmas than have a patronising women's only one afterwards.
Or is that just me? Sorry, didn't mean to piss on anyone's chips...

[val4]

In Ireland , 6th January is called "Nollag na Mban" or "womens Christmas", where women traditionally relaxed after a busy Christmas, by gathering up all the leftover Christmas cake, plum pudding, sherry etc, and met together in a house to put their feet up and relax! Its also the feast of the Epiphany, (Catholic calender), which celebrates the arrival of the 3 wise men to honour the baby Jesus. As children we all went to mass that day, had a special meal and never took our decorations down until 7th.

[GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER]

The Feast of the Epiphany (6th) is actually Christmas Day for some eastern Orthodox churches. Our Armenian neighbours celebrate Christmas on the 6th, and when a dd was working in Ethiopia and came home for our Christmas one year, she went back armed with a lot of M&S sale crackers for their staff's Christmas dinner - they were much appreciated!