Curious on the tradition of Christmas celebration in Regency England? Then read on the following guest post by author Regan Walker! Alongside the post, you'll also find the info on The Twelfth Night Wager, an excerpt and the author links. To be entered in the giveaway, you must comment. As many comment you make, your chance of winning increases!
Christmastide in Regency England (1811-1820), when Prince George reigned as Regent, was a more subtle celebration than the one we observe today. It began with Christmas Eve (though the evening of Christmas Day was “First Night”) and continued to Twelfth Night, or January 5th, followed by the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th when the wise men that followed the star of the new King, arrived in Bethlehem to behold the Christ child.
Twelfth Night has its origins in ancient Rome and was a mid-winter event observing pagan fertility rites, a festival of feasting and public celebration. At some point, this tradition became incorporated into the Christian celebrations and included feasting, drinking, games, plays, dances and masked balls. Shakespeare's play,
Twelfth Night, which includes characters disguised as people they are not, was written to be performed on Twelfth Night.
In additional to all the revelry, there was a Twelfth Night cake, an ornate confection into which a bean, a coin or a tiny carved or cast metal version of the Baby Jesus was placed (it could also be a bean). During early evening, the cake was cut and its pieces distributed to guests who were advised to chew carefully. The person who found the icon then became the king or “Lord of Misrule,” or the Bean King. His Queen Consort or the Queen of Twelfth Night was the woman who found a dried pea in the cake. The king and queen reigned for the evening, no matter their normal status in society.
By the late 18th century, the selection of Twelfth Night's "royalty" could also be accomplished by the distribution of paper slips with each piece of cake. The slips were opened and the person holding the one with a special mark inside was declared the king.
During Jane Austen’s life time, the celebration of Twelfth Night was at the height its of popularity. Sets of “characters” were available to purchase from enterprising stationers. They were cut up into small papers and the slips were chosen from a hat. Whatever character the person drew became their identity for the evening. In my novella,
The Twelfth Night Wager, the heroine hopes to play Susie Salamander.
Fanny Knight, Edward Austen Knight’s daughter and Jane Austen’s niece, wrote about some of her Twelfth Night Celebrations in Kent. Here’s her report of the Twelfth Night celebration in 1809:
Though by Jane Austen’s time the cake may not have been used to assist in the choosing of characters, it was still an important part of the celebration. They were costly and complicated to make and, if they could afford to do so, many people bought them from confectioners’ shops.
In my Christmas novella,
The Twelfth Night Wager, two men at White’s club, one of whom is known as the “red headed rake,” make a scandalous wager involving a virtuous widow. The wager, by its terms, must be won or lost by Twelfth Night. The story includes all the fall activities in London and the countryside (pheasant shooting, fox hunting and riding), as well as the Christmastide celebrations leading up to Twelfth Night.
It’s not too late to experience the season!