TWELFTH NIGHT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 58, 9 March 1936, Page 10

TWELFTH NIGHT.

J DRURY LANE CEREMONY. GRAND FINALE OF MERRYMAKING. (XELLE M. SCANLAX). The Epiphany, Twelfth Night, Little s Christmas Day—call it what name you will—is January 0 by the calendar. It is the end of the Christmas season, and has b long been marked by many festivals and c customs. To commemorate the gifts brought by the Three Wise Men to the Infant Christ s at the stable of Bethlehem, the King still . sends his offering of gold, frankincense and myrrh from Buckingham Palace to be offered at the altar of the Chapel a Royal at St. James' Palace. Two of 7 the King's Gentlemen Ushers are chosen each year for this duty, and they bear the Royal gifts to the altar between two - lines of the Yeoman of the Guard from 5 the Tower of London in their scarlet and gold Tudor uniforms. The gifts are enclosed in bags of crimson velvet with t long gold cords, and are received on a , gold plate by the Precentor of the Chapel Royal. From the Chapel Royal, with its cere--5 monv of deep religious significance, to the pantomime at Drury Lane is a wide . span. Here, too, a traditional ceremony is carried out on Twelfth Night. This year the Baddcley cake was cut for the one hundred and forty-sccond time. In the days of Sir Augustus Harris this ° was the occasion for an annual party on a large scale, and half fashionable London was invited. But the cost of these parties must have far exceeded the • "interest on £100 worth of Consolidated ■ Bank annuities" left by the cook, who 3 became an actor, Robert Baddeley, which was "to provide cake and wine for the ladies and gentlemen of Drury Lane ■ Theatre" on the night of the Epiphany. ■ It is his one memorial. Baddeley was overshadowed by his beautiful wife, Sophia Baddeley, who made her debut as Ophelia at Drury Lane in 1765. i Baddeley gave up cooking to go on the ■ stage, where he played low comedy parts, and he was the original Moses in "The School for Scandal." It was while dressing for this part that lie had a tit ( in his dressing room and died in 1794. On Twelfth Night, England takfsdown , the Christmas decorations, the holly and ivy, the coloured streamers, and removes the Christmas cards, which have been stood- on mantelpiece, piano, bookshelf and every other niche since Christmas Eve. It is the custom here, also, to cut the pictures off these cards, and send them to the children's hospital, where the convalescent youngsters paste them into scrap books. In the old days the Christmas festivities extended from December 25 till January 0, and there was a grand finale of merrymaking on Twelfth Night. In Devonshire the farmer and his men went into the orchard bearing a large pitcher of cider, and there, circling one of the best trees, they drank a rhyming toast three times, wishing apples to the tree, and prosperity to themselves. Another Devonshire custom was to take into the orchard after supper a milk-pan full of cider that had roasted apples pressed into it. They visited each of the good trees in turn, and drank to it: "Wealth to thee,, good npplo-troe. Well to bear, pocket-full, liat-full, peck-full, bushel-bag-full." After which they threw the remainder of the cups of cider and fragments of apples at the tree. They might like to try this among the orchards of Henderson or Nelson. The Wassail Ceremony. In Herefordshire they went wassailing. The farmer and his friends went to the highest part of the wheat field, and there lit twelve small fires and one large one to signify Christ and the Twelve Apostles. Much cider was drunk. Afterwards the party went home t» supper, and then went to the cattle stalls, where they toasted each oxen by name. A largo cake with a hole in it was, with much ceremony, put over the horn of the first ox, and the ox tickled to make it toss its head. If it threw the cake behind it, the mistress got it; if before him, it belonged to the farm bailiff. Until-the middle of the nineteenth century the confectioners' windows used to be full of very elaborately decorated Twelfth Cakes, costing from a few shillings to many pounds. It was to commemorate these Twelfth Cakes that Baddeley made his bequest to Drury Lane. One very potent drink associated with Twelfth Night was known as "Lamb's Wool," and was drunk from a wassail bowl. The ingredients were ale, sugar, nutmeg and roasted apples. I'm sorry that I can't give you the exact recipe, but of course it is midwinter here, and you might prefer it with some crushed i ice i Hunting the Wren takes place on , Twelfth Night in some countries. Usually small boys, with a wren in a gaily decorated cage, go from house to house singing songs. "The Wren, the Wren, the King of all Birds," is the usual beginning, and it concludes wish- j ing joy, health, love and peace to all j the household. In Ireland they still i continue this custom, and they are glad i t.o go off with the slice of Christmas cake '] or few pence they are given. ! Most of these picturesque old customs ] are now dead and forgo' ten, and out in i New Zealand you probably spent Twelfth ] Night putting balm on sunburn, and . picking winners £-»i the next meeting. i