It's About Time

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

Monday, January 8, 2024

1330 The Adoration of the Magi

Master AB German School Adoration of the Magic 1530

The gifts from these men from the East are noted to have brought impressive gifts to the new baby Jesus. Then, like now, gold represented wealth & power. Frankincense was a type of incense & perfume. Myrrh is the “outlier,” according to Dr. Kristin Swenson, an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. It’s been used as a perfume & in ancient Egypt, in embalming processes, & which some Christians have interpreted as foreshadowing Jesus’s death.

January 6th is observed as a Christain church festival called Epiphany in commemoration of the arrival of the Magi at the end of their long journey from the Far East, in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ. In Western Christain churches, Epiphany portrays the 1st manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. In some Eastern Christain Churches, Epiphany celebrates baptism of Christ. (The word Epiphany also defines "a revealing scene or moment," & may also be seen as "an appearance or manifestation especially of a divine being.")

1433 The Adoration of the Magi

Attributed to Fra Angelico (Italian painter, 1387-1455) Adoration of the Magi 1433

In the Bible, Matthew’s Gospel says soon after Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, ruled by the Roman King Herod, “some men who studied the stars came from the East to Jerusalem & asked, "Where is the baby born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star when it came up in the East, & we have come to worship him.'” According to the Gospel, the men had followed a star to the house where Jesus & Mary were & presented gifts of gold, frankincense & myrrh.

Sunday, January 7, 2024

"The light of the righteous shines brightly." Proverbs 13:9

This week, my closest friend from church died unexpectedly. "The light of the righteous shines brightly." Proverbs 13:9. Kathy Waugh's life was filled with the light of a beautiful heart...one touched by the grace of God's love. These posts honor her.

FROM JESUS' BIRTH ON DEC. 25th THRU EPIPHANY EVE ON JAN. 5th, SEVERAL POSTS WILL WILL FOCUS ON ANGELS TELLING THE SHEPHERDS OF THE NEWBORN & THEIR VISITING THE NATIVITY SCENE

FROM JAN. 6th EPIPHANY UNTIL FEB. 1st , SEVERAL POSTS WILL FOCUS ON THE ARRIVAL OF THE 3 MAGI & THEIR VISTING THE NATIVITY SCENE

FROM FEB. 2nd UNTIL ASH WEDNESDAY ON FEB. 14th, SEVERAL POSTS WILL FOCUS ON MARY & BABY JESUS VISITING THE TEMPLE

FROM FEB. 14th ON, SEVERAL POSTS WILL FOCUS ON LENT & EASTER

Saturday, January 6, 2024

12th Night - Just a Bit of English Literature

First Folio William Shakespeare wrote the play Twelfth Night, circa 1601.

William Shakespeare wrote a play called Twelfth Night, Or What You Will, but it did not deal with the traditional religious holiday. Steve Sohmertells us that Shakespeare wrote Twelth Night for two performances: (1) on Twelfth Night 1602 Gregorian, and (2) on Candlemas 2 February Julian. The title 'Or What You Will' refers to Queen Elizabeth's decision to retain England's Old Julian calendar (27 Dec Julian = 6 Jan Gregorian).

Those interested in Elizabethan Christmas - Twelfth Night customs in literature might be interested in the details imparted in Steve Roth's “Hamlet as The Christmas Prince: Certain Speculations on Hamlet, the Calendar, Revels, and Misrule” in Early Modern Literary Studies 7.3 (January, 2002). Among cited sources of this article, one might read, Popular and Popish Superstitions and Customs On Saints’-Days and Holy-Days in Germany and Other Papist Lands A. D. 1553, Being the Fourth Booke of “The Popish Kingdome, or reigne of Anitchrist, written in Latine verse by Thomas Naogeorgus (or Kirchmaier), and englyshed by Barnabe Googe. . . Anno 1570.

Ben Jonson's The Masque of Blackness was performed on 6 January 1605 at the Banqueting House in Whitehall. It was originally entitled The Twelvth Nights Revells. The accompanying Masque, The Masque of Beauty was performed in the same court the Sunday night after the Twelfth Night in 1608.

Robert Herrick's(1591-1674)poem Twelfe-Night, or King and Queene, published in 1648, describes the election of king and queen by bean and pea in a plum cake, and the homage done to them by the draining of wassail bowls of "lamb's-wool", a drink of sugar, nutmeg, ginger and ale.

Twelfth Night: or, King and Queen

NOW, now the mirth comes
With the cake full of plums,
Where bean's the king of the sport here ;
Beside we must know,
The pea also
Must revel, as queen, in the court here.

Begin then to choose,
This night as ye use,
Who shall for the present delight here,
Be a king by the lot,
And who shall not
Be Twelfth-day queen for the night here.

Which known, let us make
Joy-sops with the cake ;
And let not a man then be seen here,
Who unurg'd will not drink
To the base from the brink
A health to the king and queen here.

Next crown a bowl full
With gentle lamb's wool :
Add sugar, nutmeg, and ginger,
With store of ale too ;
And thus ye must do
To make the wassail a swinger.

Give then to the king
And queen wassailing :
And though with ale ye be whet here,
Yet part from hence
As free from offence
As when ye innocent met here.

Charles Dickens' 1843 A Christmas Carol briefly mentions Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present visiting a children's Twelfth Night party. "It was a long night, if it were only a night; but Scrooge had his doubts of this, because the Christmas Holidays appeared to be condensed into the space of time they passed together. It was strange, too, that while Scrooge remained unaltered in his outward form, the Ghost grew older, clearly older. Scrooge had observed this change, but never spoke of it, until they left a children's Twelfth Night party, when, looking at the Spirit as they stood together in an open place, he noticed that its hair was grey."

In Chapter 6 of Harrison Ainsworth's 1858 novel Mervyn Clitheroe, the eponymous hero is elected King of festivities at the Twelfth Night celebrations held in Tom Shakeshaft's barn, by receiving the slice of plum cake containing the bean; his companion Cissy obtains the pea and becomes queen, and they are seated together in a high corner to view the proceedings. The distribution has been rigged to prevent another person gaining the role. The festivities include country dances, and the introduction of a "Fool Plough", a plough decked with ribands brought into the barn by a dozen mummers together with a grotesque "Old Bessie" (played by a man) and a Fool dressed in animal skins with a fool's hat. The mummers carry wooden swords and perform revelries. The scene in the novel is illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz"). In the course of the evening, the fool's antics cause a fight to break out, but Mervyn restores order. Three bowls of gin punch are disposed of, and at eleven o'clock the young men make the necessary arrangements to see the young ladies safely home across the fields.

January 6th - Epiphany & The Adoration of the Magi 1514

Workshop of Gerard David (Netherlandish, ca. 1460–1523), Adoration of the Magi, ca. 1514.

January 6 is observed as a Christain church festival called Epiphany in commemoration of the arrival of the Magi at the end of their long journey from the Far East, in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ. In Western Christain churches, Epiphany portrays the 1st manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. In some Eastern Christain Churches, Epiphany celebrates baptism of Christ. Epiphany also means "a revealing scene or moment," & epiphany may also be seen as "an appearance or manifestation especially of a divine being."

The biblical Magi, also known as the Three Wise Men, the Three Kings, & the Three Magi, were distinguished foreigners in the Gospel of Matthew. They are said to have visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, & myrrh. They are figures in traditional accounts of the nativity celebrations of Christmas & are an important part of Christian tradition.

The Gospel of Matthew is the only one of the 5 gospels in The New Testament of the Bible to mention the Magi. Matthew 2:1–2 has it that they came "from the east" to worship the "king of the Jews." The gospel does not mention the number of Magi. Still, most western Christian denominations traditionally portray them to have been 3 in number, based on the biblical statement that they brought 3 gifts.

In Eastern Christianity, especially the Syriac churches, the Magi often number 12. Their identification as kings in later Christian writings is probably linked to Isaiah 60:1–6, which refers to "kings [coming] to the brightness of your dawn" bearing "gold & frankincense." Further identification of the Magi with kings may be due to Psalm 72:11, "May all kings fall down before him."

Epiphany, also called Feast of the Epiphany, Theophany, or Three Kings’ Day, is a Christian holiday celebrated Twelve days after Christmas, typically on January 6. It is also celebrated on January 19 for those Orthodox Churches who have Christmas on January 7. Many traditions change over time & differ from country to country.

In western churches, the holiday celebrates the arrival of the Three Wise Men, sometimes called the Three Kings, in Bethleham & their visit to honor the "newborn king," the baby Jesus. It also begins the liturgical season of Epiphanytide, which the season after Christmas time.

For eastern (Orthodox) churches, Epiphany marks the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River. The word "epiphany" comes from the Greek epiphaneia which means "manifestation". The periods of Jesus' life that are revisited during the holiday are his birth & baptism. These are the first 2 times his divine powers manifested.

Many countries celebrate Epiphany with:

special pastries,

singing,

chalking the door to bless the house,

consuming Three Kings Cake,

winter swimming, &

attending church services

Some children receive their presents on this day as well, signifying the gifts given to the baby Jesus by the Three Wise Men.

It is also customary for many Christians to remove their Christmas decorations on Epiphany Eve, Twelfth Night. According to tradition, those who fail to remove their Christmas decorations on Twelfth Night must leave them untouched until Candlemas, the 2nd & last opportunity to remove them. If one forgets to remove them during Candlemas as well, they will have bad luck.

Boston Public Library

Friday, January 5, 2024

Twelfth Night (also known as Epiphany Eve)

The Evening's Chosen "King" Drinks at a Twelfth Night Feast. c 1645, by Jacob Jordaens

Twelfth Night (also known as Epiphany Eve) is a Christian festival on the last night of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Different traditions mark the date of Twelfth Night as either 5 January or 6 January, depending on whether the counting begins on Christmas Day or 26 December.

A superstition in some English-speaking countries suggests it is unlucky to leave Christmas decorations hanging after Twelfth Night. Other traditional customs in England include eating king cake, singing Christmas carols, chalking the door, having one's house blessed, merrymaking, & attending church services.

In 567 the Council of Tours proclaimed that the entire period between Christmas & Epiphany should be considered part of the celebration, creating what became known as the twelve days of Christmas, or what the English called Christmastide. On the last of the twelve days, called Twelfth Night, various cultures developed a wide range of additional special festivities.

The Church of England, Mother Church of the Anglican Communion, celebrates Twelfth Night on the 5th & "refers to the night before Epiphany, the day when the nativity story tells us that the wise men visited the infant Jesus."

In 567 A.D, the Council of Tours "proclaimed the twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany as a sacred & festive season, & established the duty of Advent fasting in preparation for the feast." Christopher Hill, as well as William J. Federer, states that this was done to solve the "administrative problem for the Roman Empire as it tried to coordinate the solar Julian calendar with the lunar calendars of its provinces in the east."

In medieval & Tudor England, Candlemas traditionally marked the end of the Christmas season, although later, Twelfth Night came to signal the end of Christmastide, with a new but related season of Epiphanytide running until Candlemas. A popular Twelfth Night tradition was to have a bean & pea hidden inside a Twelfth-night cake; the "man who finds the bean in his slice of cake becomes King for the night while the lady who finds a pea in her slice of cake becomes Queen for the night."

Food & drink are the center of the British celebrations in modern times. All of the most traditional ones go back many centuries. The punch called wassail is consumed especially on Twelfth Night & throughout Christmas time, especially in the UK.

William Shakespeare wrote the play Twelfth Night, circa 1601. It is unknown whether Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night, or What You Will was written to be performed as a Twelfth Night entertainment. The earliest known performance took place at Middle Temple Hall, one of the Inns of Court, on Candlemas night, 2 February 1602. The play has many elements that are reversed, in the tradition of Twelfth Night, such as a woman Viola dressing as a man, & a servant Malvolio imagining that he can become a nobleman.

In colonial America, a Christmas wreath was left up on the front door of each home. When taken down at the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas, any edible portions would be consumed with the other foods of a feast. The same held true in the 19th–20th centuries with fruits adorning Christmas trees.

England's 12th Night Characters

During the late 1700s, sets of characters were available to purchase from enterprising stationers.

Traditionally, Twelfth Night is a Christian holiday, celebrated on January 5. It marks the twelfth & final night of the Christmas season & the coming of Epiphany. Contrary to popular belief, Christmas is not just December 25. That is only the first day of Christmas & it includes the eleven days that follow. The Twelve Days of Christmas begin on Christmas Day (December 25) & end on Epiphany (January 6).

During the Middle Ages, Christmas was a time of continuous feasting & merriment, which climaxed on Twelfth Night. The days & nights are counted separately. Therefore, the height of celebration became the night before, or eve, of Epiphany. The twelve day count actually begins with the night of December 25, the "first night." The day of December 26 is the "first day," the night of December 26 is the "second night," & so on. The Twelfth Night is the night before Epiphany, & the twelfth day is Epiphany itself.

Food & drink are central in the celebrations of this holiday. The punch, called wassail, is consumed during Christmastime, but especially on Twelfth Night. Around the world, special pastries, such as the tortell & king cake, are baked on Twelfth Night. They are eaten the following day for the Feast of the Epiphany celebrations. Some people chalk their doors indicating the year & the initials of the 3 Kings, Caspar, Malchior, & Balthazar. They also abbreviate the Latin phrase, Christus mansionem benedicat “May Christ bless the house. as a way of blessing their home.

There is also a popular belief that it is unlucky to leave Christmas decorations hanging after Twelfth Night, though some may leave them up until Candlemas. Other popular Twelfth Night customs include singing Christmas carols, having one's house blessed, merrymaking, as well as attending church services.

In some countries, Twelfth Night & Epiphany mark the start of the Carnival season. For Carnival in the United States, think about New Orleans, where it lasts through Mardi Gras Day.

Boston Public Library

In the late 17C, the English diarist Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) described his enjoyment of a new custom whereby Twelfth Night merrymakers drew slips of paper from a hat on which were written the names of characters found at the bean king's court. They were expected to impersonate this character for the rest of the evening. In this way everyone present at the celebration, not just the king & queen, got into the act.

By the end of the 18C this innovation had almost completely replaced the earlier custom of planting a bean & a pea inside the Twelfth Night cake. In fact, it became so popular with ordinary folk that, by the end of the 18C, shops sold packets of cards & sheets of paper with names & drawings of characters printed on them. The absurd names given to these characters served to describe their exaggerated personalities. Examples included Sir Tunbelly Clumsy, Sir Gregory Goose, & Miss Fanny Fanciful.

One anonymous writer in the Universal Magazine of 1774 wrote: "I went to a friend's house in the country to partake of some of those innocent pleasures that constitute a Merry Christmas; I did not return until I had been present at drawing King and Queen, and eaten a slice of the Twelfth Cake.....A noble cake was produced, and two bowls, containing the fortunate chances for the different sexes. Our host filled up the tickets; the whole company, except for the King and Queen, were to be ministers of state, maids of honour, or ladies of the bedchamber. Our kind host and hostess, whether by accident or design, became King and Queen. According to Twelfth Day law, each party is to support their character until midnight."

See Boston Public Library

The Adoration of the Shepherds

Adoration of the Shepherds British Library manuscript

Adoration of the Shepherds, Bodleian MS. Arch. Selden B. 26, fol. 8r.

Adoration of the Shepherds, folio 96r, Libro de Horas de Juana I de Castilla

Adoration of the Shepherds

The Adoration of the Shepherds, Master of the Prayer Books 1510-20

There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock. Behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. The angel said to them, "Don't be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people. For there is born to you, this day, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This is the sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a manger." Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army praising God, and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest,

on earth peace, good will toward men."

It happened, when the angels went away from them into the sky, that the shepherds said one to another, "Let's go to Bethlehem, now, and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." They came with haste, and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby was lying in a manger. When they saw it, they publicized widely the saying which was spoken to them about this child. All who heard it wondered at the things which were spoken to them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, just as it was told them. Luke 2:8-20

Paintings of the shepherds looking at the newly-born baby Jesus in the manger are formally known as the Adoration of the Shepherds. This art subject is commonly combined with the Adoration of the Magi, the 2 groups often occupy opposite sides of the image space of The Holy Family. Here, the 2 groups the rich nobles & the commom folk represent all the peoples of the world. This combination is initially found in the 6th-century Monza ampullae made in Palestine.

Twelfth Night Celebrations in London 1835

Twelfth Night from The Book of Christmas illustrated by Robert Seymour 1836

In 1835, Leigh Hunt published an account of Twelfth Nights past in his London Journal.
Christmas Goes out in Fine Style: "Christmas goes out in fine style,—with Twelfth Night. It is a finish worthy of the time. Christmas Day was the morning of the season; New Year’s Day the middle of it, or noon ; Twelfth Night is the night, brilliant with innumerable planets of twelfth cakes. The whole island keeps court; nay, all Christendom. All the world are kings & queens. Everybody is somebody else, & learns at once to laugh at, & to tolerate, characters different from his own, by enacting them. Cakes, characters, forfeits, lights, theatres, merry rooms, little holiday faces, & last not least, the painted sugar on the cakes, so bad to eat but so fine to look at, useful because it is perfectly useless except for a sight & a moral,—all conspire to throw a giddy splendor over the last night of the season, & to send it to bed in pomp & colors, like a Prince.

"Twelfth-cake & its king & queen are in honor of the crowned heads who are said to have brought presents to Jesus in his cradle—a piece of royal service not necessary to be believed in by good Christians, though very proper to be maintained among the gratuitous decorations with which good & poetical hearts willingly garnish their faith. “The Magi, or Wise Men, are vulgarly called the three kings of Collen (Cologne). The first, named Melchior, an aged man with a long beard, offered gold; the second, Jasper, a beardless youth, offered frankincense; the third, Balthaser, a black or moor, with a large spreading beard, offered myrrh.” This picture is full of color, & has often been painted. The word Epiphany (Eirifaitiat, ivperapparllio, an appearance from above), alludes to the star which is described in the Bible as guiding the Wise Men. In Italy, the word has been corrupted into Beffania, or Beffana, (as in England it used to be called Piffany) ; & Beffana, in some parts of that country, has come to mean an old fairy, or Mother Bunch, whose figure is carried about the streets, & who rewards or punishes children at night by pulting sweetmeats, or stones & dirt, into a stocking hung up for the purpose near the bed’s head. The word Beffa, taken from this, familiarly means a trick or mockery put upon anyone — to such base uses may come the most splendid terms. Twelfth Day, like the other old festivals of the church of old, has had a link of connection found for it with Pagan customs, & has been traced to the Saturnalia of the ancients, when people drew lots for imaginary kingdoms. Its observation is still kept up, with more or less ceremony, all over Christendom. In Paris, they enjoy it with their usual vivacity. The king there is chosen, not by drawing a paper as with us, but by the lot of a bean which falls to him, & which is put into the cake; & great ceremony is observed when the king or the queen ” drinks;” which once gave rise to a jest, that occasioned the damnation of a play of Voltaire’s. The play was performed at this season, & a queen in it having to die by poison, a wag exclaimed with Twelfth Night solemnity, when her Majesty was about to take it, “The queen drinks.” The joke was infectious; & the play died, as well as the poor queen.

"Many a pleasant Twelfth-Night have we passed in our time; & such future Twelfth-Nights as may remain to us shall be pleasant, God & good-will permitting; for even if care should be round about them, we have no notion of missing these mountaintops of rest & brightness, on which people may refresh themselves during the stormiest parts of life’s voyage.

"We spent a Twelfth Night once, which, by common consent of the parties concerned, was afterwards known by the name of The Twelfth Night. It was doubted among us, not merely whether ourselves, but whether anybody else, ever had such a Twelfth Night;

"The evening began with such tea as is worth mention, for we never knew anybody make it like the maker. Dr Johnson would have given it his placidest growl of approbation. Then, with piano-forte, violin, & violoncello, came Handel, Corelli, & Mozart. Then followed the drawing for king & queen, in order that the “small infantry” might have their due share of the night, without sitting up too too-late (for a reasonable “too-late” is to be allowed once & away). Then games, of all the received kinds, forgetting no branch of Christmas customs. And very good extempore blank verse was spoken by some of the court {for our characters imitated a court), not unworthy of the wit & dignity of Tom Thumb. Then, came supper, & all characters were soon forgotten but the feaster’s own; good & lively souls, & festive all, both male & female,—with a constellation of the brightest eyes that we bad ever seen met together…

"The bright eyes, the beauty, the good humor, the wine, the wit, the poetry (for we had celebrated wits & poet’s among us, as well as charming women), fused all hearts together in one unceasing round of fancy & laughter, till breakfast,—to which we adjourned in a room full of books, the authors of which might almost have been waked up & embodied, to come among us. Here, with the bright eyes literally as bright as ever at six o’clock in the morning (we all remarked it), we merged one glorious day into another, as a good omen (for its was also fine weather, though in January) ; & as luck & our good faith would have it, the door was no sooner opened_ to let forth the ever-joyous visitors, than the trumpets of a regiment quartered in the neighborhood struck up into the morning air, seeming to blow forth triumphant approbation, & as if they sounded purely to do us honor, & to say ” You are as early & untired as we.”

Wassailing apple trees on the twelfth night to ensure a good harvest, a tradition in Maplehurst, West Sussex

Christmas in Britain & Europe - 12th Night - The Bean King

Jacob Jordaens, The Bean King. 1635-55.

Twelfth Night, the evening before Epiphany (January 6 - when the biblical kings reached the newborn Christ Child), was a final frenzy of Christmas feasting, drinking & raucous merry making before the community returned to its daily working grind for the rest of the winter.

In medieval & Tudor England, the Twelfth Night marked the end of a winter festival that started on All Hallows Eve — now more commonly known as Halloween. The Lord of Misrule symbolized the world turning upside down. On this day the King & all those who were high would become the peasants & vice versa. At the beginning of the Twelfth Night festival, a cake that contained a bean & perhaps a pea was eaten. The male who found the bean would rule the feast as a king. Midnight signaled the end of his rule, & the world would return to normal. The common theme was that the normal order of things was reversed. This Lord of Misrule tradition dates back to pre-Christian European festivals such as the Celtic festival of Samhain & the Ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia. In some places, particularly south-western England, Old Twelfth Night is celebrated on 17 January. This continues the custom on the date determined by the old Julian calendar. In England, the lord of the manor was charged with the solemn responsibility of providing the Twelfth Night cakes for his tenant families. This usually informal practice achieved the status of law at the village of North Curry, Somerset, in 1314.

Jacob Jordaens, The Bean King. ca. 1640-45

Dancing, clowning, & consuming prodigious quantities of liquor and food, the celebrants followed the practice of crowning one of themselves "king" to rule over the 12th Night's celebrations. Those who donned the crown were also expected to treat their fellow revelers to a round of drinks. During the Renaissance, some of the most splendid feasts of the Christmas season occurred at the homes of the wealthy on Twelfth Night. In England King Henry VIII (1491-1547) appears to have introduced the Italian custom of celebrating Twelfth Night with masques. These elaborate costumed events featured the enactment of some simple scenes or tableaux using song, dance, flowery speeches, & fancy scenery. The masques performed at court were short, simple, & sometimes frivolous works designed to raise as much laughter as possible while providing a colorful spectacle. These productions were very popular during the Christmas season, but they were also performed at other times of year. The famous writer Ben Jonson (1572-1637) offered a Christmas masque - Christmas His Masque - to be performed at court in the year 1616. In England the Twelfth Night masque reached its zenith in the early 17C and then began to decline.

Jan Miense Molenaer (1610-1668) Twelfth Night 1660

At some point, this tradition gave rise to the creation of the "12th Night Cake" or the "King Cake" (after the Biblical kings) -- an often-ornate confection into which a bean, a coin or a tiny carved or cast metal version of the Baby Jesus was placed. In English & French custom, the Twelfth-cake was baked to contain a bean and a pea, so that those who received the slices containing them should be designated king & queen of the night's festivities. During early evening ceremonies, 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 queen of 12th Night. Sometimes the designated king of the festivities was called the Bean King.

The King Drinks

Samuel Pepys recorded a party in London on Epiphany night, 6 January 1659/1660, & described the role the cake played in the choosing of a "King" & "Queen" for the occasion: "...to my cousin Stradwick, where, after a good supper, there being there my father, mothers, brothers, & sister, my cousin Scott & his wife, Mr. Drawwater & his wife, & her brother, Mr. Stradwick, we had a brave cake brought us, & in the choosing, Pall was Queen & Mr. Stradwick was King. After that my wife & I bid adieu & came home, it being still a great frost." The choosing of King & Queen from the pie, usually by the inclusion of a bean & a pea, was a traditional English 12th Night festivity. The cake was called a "12th Cake", "Twelfth-night cake", or "Twelfth-tide cake."

Twelfth Night - Jan Steen -1662

By the late 18C in England, the selection of 12th Night's "royalty" was also alternately 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 king. Some believe this paper ballot tradition was instituted as a matter of safety to prevent often-inebriated & distracted guests from inadvertently choking to death on hard beans, coins or a cast metal Jesus hidden in wads of cake.

Twelfth Night (The King Drinks) by David Teniers c. 1634-1640

Traditionally, groups of family & friends may have "king cake parties" through the Carnival season between Epiphany & the day before Lent. In Portugal & France, whoever gets the King cake trinket is expected to buy the next cake for these get-togethers.

Twelfth Night, Jan Steen, 1668

The King Cake is a popular food item during the Christmas season (Christmas Eve to Epiphany) in Belgium, France, Quebec & Switzerland (galette or gâteau des Rois or galette des rois), Portugal (bolo rei), Spain, & Spanish America (roscón or rosca de reyes & tortell in Catalonia), Greece & Cyprus (vasilopita) & Bulgaria (banitsa).

Twelfth Night or 'The King Drinks' - Peter Paul Rubens

In the United States, Carnival is traditionally observed in the Southeastern region of the country, particularly in New Orleans, Saint Louis, Mobile, Pensacola, Galveston, & other towns & cities of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. In this region, the king cake is closely associated with Mardi Gras traditions & is served throughout the Carnival season, from Epiphany Eve to Fat Tuesday.

Le gâteau des Rois, by Jean-Baptiste Greuze, 1774

Related traditions are the tortell of Catalonia; the gâteau des Rois or reiaume in Provence; or the galette des Rois in the northern half of France, & the Greek & Cypriot vasilopita. The galette des Rois is made with puff pastry & frangipane (while the gâteau des Rois is made with brioche & candied fruits). The gâteau des Rois is known as Rosca de Reyes in Mexico.

England's 12th Night Cakes & Naughty Boys

Twelfth Night in London streets” from The Book of Christmas illustrated by Robert Seymour 1836

By the early 19C, the Twelfth Night cake had evolved into a large & complicated display of cake, icing, & other embellishments. Bakeries displayed these models of the confectioner's art in their windows, & people gathered outside to admire them. The playful atmosphere of Twelfth Night may have encouraged schoolboys to carry out a Twelfth Night prank. Unnoticed among the throng of cake-admirers, they pinned the clothing of two adults together or nailed a gentleman's coat-tails to the windowsill. Then they stood back & enjoyed the confusion that arose when the pinned & nailed individuals attempted to leave the bakery window.

George Cruikshanks Comic Almanac Exitement outside the pastry cook & confectioners shop window as people view the 12th Night Cakes

The tradition of cakes on Twelfth Night was so strong, that it became the busiest day of the year for bakers, as related in this 1827 extract from William Hone's Every-Day Book: "In London, with every pastry-cook in the city, and at the west end of the town, it is 'high change' on Twelfth-Day. From the taking down of the shutters in the morning, he, and his men, with additional assistants, male and female, are fully occupied by attending to the dressing out of the window, executing orders of the day before, receiving fresh ones, or supplying the wants of chance customers. Before dusk the important arrangement of the window is completed. Then the gas is turned on, with supernumerary argand-lamps and manifold wax lights to illuminate countless cakes of all prices and dimensions, that stand in rows and piles on the counters and sideboards, and in the windows. The richest in flavour and the heaviest in weight and price are placed on large....salvers; ..... all are decorated with all imaginable images of things animate and inanimate. Stars, castles, kings, cottages, dragons, trees, fish, palaces, cats, dogs, churches, lions, milkmaids, knights, serpents, and innumerable other forms, in snow-white confectionary, painted with varigated colours, glittering by 'excess of light' reflected from mirrors against the walls."

The Every-day Book, 1827, Naughty Boys

The Magi travel the Long Silk Road to see the Newborn King

Benozzo Gozzoli (Italian early Renaissance painter, c 1421–1497) Scenes from the Procession of the Magi Young, Detail of the Young King on wall of Chapel, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence 1459-62

In Christianity, Epiphany refers to the moment that a person believes that Jesus is the son of God.

To symbolize this, Western Christian churches generally celebrate Epiphany as the arrival of the 3 kings at the birthplace of Jesus (The Adoration of the Magi) 12 days after Christmas. Traditionally, Eastern Christian churches celebrated Epiphany (or Theophany) in conjunction with Christ's baptism by John the Baptist on January 19th. Some Protestant churches celebrate Epiphany as an entire religious season, extending from Christmas Day until Ash Wednesday.

Benozzo Gozzoli (Italian early Renaissance painter, c 1421–1497) Scenes from the Procession of the Magi, Detail of the Middle King on South wall of Chapel, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence 1459-62

Benozzo Gozzoli (Italian early Renaissance painter, c 1421–1497) Scenes from the Procession of the Magi, Detail of the Old King on west wall of the Chapel, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence 1459-62

Benozzo Gozzoli (Italian early Renaissance painter, c 1421–1497) Detail from the Procession of the Young King, Scenes from the Procession of the Magi Chapel, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence 1459-62

Benozzo Gozzoli (Italian early Renaissance painter, c 1421–1497) Detail from the Procession of the Middle King, Scenes from the Procession of the Magi Chapel, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence 1459-62

Benozzo Gozzoli (Italian early Renaissance painter, c 1421–1497) Detail from the Procession of the Youngest King, Scenes from the Procession of the Magi Chapel, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence 1459-62

Benozzo Gozzoli (Italian early Renaissance painter, c 1421–1497) Scenes from the Procession of the Magi Chapel, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence 1459-62

1510 The Adoration of the Shepherds

Giorgione (Giorgio Barbarelli from Castelfranco 1477-1510) The Adoration of the Shepherds 1510

1510-20 The Adoration of the Shepherds

The Adoration of the Shepherds, Master of the Prayer Books 1510-20

"Glory to God in the highest,

on earth peace, good will toward men."

Thursday, January 4, 2024

1600s The Adoration of the Shepherds

Attributed to Gerard van Honthorst (Dutch painter, 1590-1656) Adoration of the Shepherds

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, good will toward men. Luke 2:8-14 King James Version of The Bible

1500s The Adoration of the Shepherds

Francesco Bassano the Younger (1563-1570) Adoration of Shepherds

HARK! the Herald Angels sing Glory to the new-born King!

Melozzo da Forli (Italian Renaissance artist, 1438-1494) Angel

1614 The Adoration of the Shepherds

El Greco (Greek painter, 1541-1614) The Adoration of the Shepherds 1614

They came with haste, and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby was lying in a manger. When they saw it, they publicized widely the saying which was spoken to them about this child. All who heard it wondered at the things which were spoken to them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, just as it was told them. Luke 2:8-20

Wednesday, January 3, 2024

The Roads from The East - Medieval Spice Trade's Appeal for Muslim, Jewish & Christian Merchants

Catalan Caravan Atlas Drawing

The Medieval Spice Trade

Newberry Library by Sarah Peters Kernan

How were spices used by medieval Europeans, & why were spices so valuable in medieval Europe?

Spices were not solely culinary ingredients; they were also used for their aromatic properties in perfumes & incense. In a time when bathing was infrequent, streets were not paved, & animal dung was a constant presence, pleasant aromas were highly valued. For example, frankincense & myrrh were prized for their aromas.

Additionally, these spices were closely tied to the Christian tradition. In images of the three kings visiting the newborn Christ Child on Epiphany, the close of the Christmas season, frankincense & myrrh are presented as gifts equal to gold.

Spices were an important commodity in the Middle Ages with an allure & mythology dating back to Antiquity. Spices were expensive & a sign of status in the Roman Empire. They were consumed in large quantities by the wealthiest citizens. Like many other goods, spices were easy to transport because of safe & maintained routes controlled by the Romans.

When the Roman Empire fell, local powers took control of routes & travel became more difficult as these entities engaged in war, embraced different religions, & neglected maintenance of old Roman roads. As a result, for several centuries in the early Middle Ages, people in Western Europe lacked consistent access to spices.

After religious crusaders tasted the cuisines of the Middle East in the high Middle Ages, they renewed a widespread European interest in spices for culinary & medicinal applications. Merchants procured a wide range of spices for consumers, including pepper, ginger, cinnamon, clove, & saffron, as well as the now-obscure spices like grains of paradise & spikenard. Sugar was also used as a spice during the Middle Ages.

Spices again became revered luxury items & status symbols across Europe. European merchants sought out spices from Asia, traveling dangerous routes through the Middle East & Africa. Traders were faced with many challenges, including physical danger & constant economic strain from local tariffs & taxes.

Because spices were from distant lands & European consumers had no direct access to their sources, stories about spice origins flourished. Contemporary authors recorded myths about pepper trees guarded by serpents & cinnamon requiring harvest from nests of fantastical birds built on perilous cliffs. These legends only added to their mystique & justified their expense.

Muslims controlled all routes of access to spices in the East from Europe. This presented a challenge for Christian & Jewish traders from the West, as there was perpetual tensions & outright warfare between Christian & Muslim powers.

Muslims dominated not only land routes which spanned across the Middle East & northern Africa to Pakistan & western India, but also maritime routes throughout the Indian Ocean. In 1453, Italian merchants were largely forced to stop trading spices through combined land & sea routes. In that year the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople, a city at the convergence of all land routes to the spice centers of the East, & began levying prohibitively expensive tariffs on goods transported through the city.

n an effort to find new seaways to Asia, kingdoms sponsored exploratory expeditions. Some explorers discovered new water routes to China & India, re-opening trade of spices & other goods, while others claimed land & resources in the New World.

Luxurious Consumption

Throughout the Middle Ages, spices were a status symbol & sign of luxury. Only the wealthiest could afford large quantities of spices to use for culinary purposes. Meals in noble households were ostentatious affairs, even small & relatively private meals.

Consider what spices do in a cooked dish: they color food, flavor food, & make food more aromatic. Spices, then, enhance the senses of sight, taste, & smell. In the context of a medieval meal, especially a feast intended to impress guests, spices played a major role.

Fountains flowing with spiced wine might be installed in or near a great hall; this lavish service of wine would scent an entire room with spices like cloves, grains of paradise, ginger, & cinnamon. Nearly any dish, whether roasted, stewed, or baked, could include an impressive array of these imported spices.

In one image of a meal from a 15C prayerbook, two wealthy diners share a private meal. They are being served a pie, which in the Middle Ages consisted of a meat or fish mixture baked in a decorated pastry crust. This mixture would undoubtedly include many spices. The exterior of the pie would often be brushed with a wash with saffron, a remarkably expensive spice made from the hand-picked threads of crocus flowers, turning the finished dish into a gleaming, golden work of art.

Wealthy Ancient Romans used spices copiously in their foods, a tradition that continued for many more centuries...Pepper & cumin were the most common combination, & the chicken dish also includes spiced wine as another ingredient.

While the spice dishes of the popular cookbook De re coquinaria fell out of favor in medieval Europe, the cookbook was still copied by manuscript scribes & was printed several times during the Renaissance.

The Value of Spices

The value of spices was determined not only by their taste & status as luxury items, but also their medical properties & the fantastic legends attached to their production. Spices were believed to have important medical qualities; spices were ingredients in medieval pharmaceuticals.

Apothecaries, the medieval equivalent to pharmacies, were stocked with supplies of spices which were then carefully mixed with other spices, minerals, & animal products to create an array of medications to be ingested by or applied on a patient.

Medieval & renaissance writers devoted many pages to the benefits of spices, including the excerpts which describe cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, & pepper.

Some spices were legitimately difficult to harvest. Musk, an oil from the scent glands of a Central Eurasian deer, & ambergris, a waxy substance produced by the digestive system of the sperm whale, were 2 such spices.

Others, however, were more easily procured. Yet merchants assigned bizarre stories to other spices to heighten their value for European consumers. Since most people in the medieval West had no contact with the Far East & the actual origins of spices, these myths persisted for centuries.

The two most notable of these are tied to pepper & cinnamon. Pepper was said to be guarded by serpents which had to be chased away by fire. This fire turned fresh, white peppercorns into black, wrinkled spices...

Cinnamon had a similarly wild story. Merchants claimed that a mythical bird called a Cinnamologus made nests out of cinnamon sticks in Arabia. These nests were built on perilous cliffs, & people had to drive the birds from these nests in order to harvest the cinnamon.

A Profitable Venture

Spice merchants could reap enormous profits, but they also faced dangerous journeys to procure their goods. Whether traveling by land or sea, they faced perils like pirates & raiders, religious & political conflict, & accidents like shipwrecks.

Traders furthermore faced financial strain to move spices from Eastern points of trade to Europe. Whenever spices were transported through different kingdoms or points of trade, merchants had to pay steep tariffs.

Depending upon the spice, merchants could charge 50 or 60 percent more in Europe for the spices they bought in the Middle East. Some contemporary accounts state that merchants charged 100 percent more. However, a majority of the markup was due to tariffs, leaving traders with a smaller profit, even as little as 10 percent.

Spices entering the European market were typically transported through Venice. This city was located in a prime location in Mediterranean. It was relatively easy to access major gateways to Eastern trade routes like Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey); Aleppo, Syria; & Alexandria, Egypt.

From the eleventh through the 15C, Venetian merchants ruled the European spice trade. As a result, Venice became an extremely wealthy & powerful city. Such a wealthy city attracted the most talented artisans to produce innovative architecture, artwork, & music.

By the late Middle Ages, thousands of tons of the most common spices were imported into Europe annually through Venice. The value of these spices was approximately the value of a yearly supply of grain for 1.5 million people.

In 15C England, a pound of pepper cost more than two days’ wages by a skilled London craftsman. A pound of cloves cost nearly five days’ wages, while a pound a saffron cost one month’s wages. Prices varied throughout Europe & fluctuated over time, but the general idea remained the same: spices were a very expensive ingredient in medieval Europe.

Changes in the Renaissance Spice Trade

Italian traders were forced to significantly reduce trade in spices via combined land & sea routes through Constantinople in 1453. In this year, the Ottoman Empire, an Eastern superpower, conquered the city. Since Constantinople was located on major east-west & north-south trade routes, the Ottomans could charge restrictively high taxes on all goods bound for the West.

Because Europeans were denied access to spices though Constantinople, kingdoms began to sponsor the exploration of new routes to India to directly obtain spices. Portugal & Spain, however, were the first to make significant headway.

The Portuguese had already begun to explore northern Africa earlier in the 1400s. So, they quickly set out on a possible sea route to India around the southern tip of Africa.

Bartolomeu Dias first crossed the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, & in 1497, Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape, continued to the eastern coast of Africa, & sailed across the Indian Ocean to Calicut in south India.

At long last, Europeans had direct access to Indian spices without the intervention of Arab traders. By the beginning of the 16C, the Portuguese had complete control of the African sea route.

Other explorers attempted alternate routes to India by traveling westward. Christopher Columbus, an explorer for the Spanish crown, was the first of these explorers to reach the New World in 1492 traveling this route, mistaking the Bahamas for the East Indies.

Over the following centuries, consumption of spices declined. Yet they still remained an important commodity. The Dutch struggled, & eventually succeeded at the turn of the 17C, to wrest control of trade from the Portuguese by establishing the Dutch East Indies Company.

The British East India Company, a direct competitor, was founded at around the same time. The goal of these companies was all the same: to establish direct trade with Indian spice producers & keep tariffs as low as possible.

1591 The Adoration of the Shepherds

1591 Jacopo Bassano (Italian painter, 1510-1592) Adoration of the Shepherds