Here at Beaumont Emergency Hospital we are Kicking Off 2020 with a Twelfth Night Celebration. Below are 12 Twelfth Night Facts:
- Twelfth Night is also known as Epiphany Eve.
- Twelfth Night is a festival in some branches of Christianity that takes place on the last night of the Twelve Days of Christmas, marking the coming of the Epiphany.
- Different traditions mark the date of Twelfth Night on either January 5 or 6 January, depending on which day one considers to be the first of the Twelve Days: 25 or 26 December.
- Modern American Carnival traditions shine most brightly in New Orleans.
- In the mid-twentieth century friends gathered for weekly King Cake Parties.
- King Cakes are round in shape, filled with cinnamon, glazed white, and coated in traditional carnival color sanding sugar.
- Whoever got the slice of King Cake with the “king”, usually in the form of a miniature baby doll, hosted the next week’s party.
- Prior to the baby doll found in most King Cakes, a bean was used to identify the king and a pea for the queen.
- Parties centered around king cakes are no longer common and king cake today is usually brought to the work place or served at parties, the recipient of the plastic baby being obligated to bring the next king cake to the next function.
- In Louisiana, Twelfth Night marks the beginning of the Mardi Gras/Carnival season.
- The interval between Twelfth Night and Mardi Gras is sometimes known as “King Cake Season.”
- Carnival Krewes begin having their balls on Twelfth Night.
- The first New Orleans Mardi Gras parades in street cars on Twelfth Night.