The Twelfth Night and the King of the Bean

A Canadian New Years Continued

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In many Christian homes, the Epiphany or Twelfth Night, was, and still is; celebrated on January 6, or twelve days after Christmas.  Representing the time when the Three Wise Men warned Mary and Joseph of Herod's evil doing, it has become a day of much rejoicing, and many cultures have added their own unique twist to the event.

The Twelfth Night

The festivities usually began on the evening of January 5, with a costume party, or "revel", where every light in the community was left on (Festival of the Lights) and the partygoers tried to outdo each other with choruses of the Twelve Days of Christmas.   It was also a time for practical jokes, and one of the earliest was to hide birds in an empty pie shell, so that when it was (carefully) cut into, the birds would fly out and the pranksters would recite loudly 'Sing a Song of Sixpense'.  (Please don't try this at home)

The Feast of the Epiphany was always huge with at least twelve courses, and usually twelve different kinds of cheeses.   Though oyster stuffing was almost a requirement, the other dishes varied, so long as they were hot and spicy.  Ginger snaps, spiced ale and of course Twelfth Night cake, could be found on many tables.

Typical Twelfth Night Bill of Fare

Oyster Suffing Larded Grouse Potted Ham Potted Ox Tongue 'Crontes a la Savory' Cabbage Salad Stuffed Eggs Corn Pudding Indian Sauce Spiced Currant Rolls Ginger-Bread Pudding 12 Different Cheeses Spruce Beer

The following are from Tried and True Recipes, published in Kingston, Ontario; about 1890; and are instructions on how to prepare the dishes in the above Twelfth Night Bill of Fare.

Oyster Stuffing

One pound bread crumbled fine, add two stocks of celery chopped fine, one-half pound of butter melted, salt and pepper to taste. Add to this two quarts of the best oysters, strained from their liquor, and carefully picked over for bits of shell, etc. When oysters are mixed with bread, add enough of their liquor to moisten dressing well.

Larded Grouse

Clean and wash the grouse. Lard the breast and legs. Run a small skewer into the legs and through the tail. Tie firmly with twine. Dredge with salt, and rub the breast with soft butter; then dredge quickly with flour. Put into a quick oven.  If to be very rare, cook twenty minutes; if wished better done, thirty minutes. The former time, as a general thing, suits gentlemen better, but thirty minutes is preferred by ladies. If the birds are cooked in a tin-kitchen, it should be for thirty or thirty-five minutes. When done, place on a hot dish, on which has been spread bread sauce. Sprinkle fried crumbs over both grouse and sauce. Garnish with parsley. The grouse may, instead, be served on a hot dish, with the parsley garnish, and the sauce and crumbs served in separate dishes. The first method is the better, however, as you get in the sauce all the gravy that comes from the birds.

Potted Ham

Cut all the meat, fat and lean, from the remains of a boiled ham, being careful not to mix with it either the outside pieces or the gristle. Chop very fine, and pound to a paste with the vegetable masher. To each pint of the paste add one teaspoonful of mixed mustard and a speck of cayenne, and if there was not much fat on the meat one tablespoonful of butter. Pack this smoothly in small earthern jars. Paste paper over these, and put on the covers. Place the pots in a baking-pan, which, when in the oven, should be filled with hot water. Bake slowly two hours. Cool with the covers on. When cold, take off the covers and pour melted butter over the meat. Cover again, and set away in a cool place. The ham will keep for months. It is a nice relish for tea, and makes delicious sandwiches.

Potted Ox-Tongue

Boil a fresh tongue; skin, clean and remove the bones.  When cold, mince very fine and add four ounces of butter to each pound of tongue, some mace, nutmeg, cloves, paprika, salt and a little black pepper; mix well; place in jars and pour melted butter over. This will also be found very delicious for picnic sandwiches.

'Crontes a la Savory'

Oblong pieces of bread fried in hot fat and drained. Two tablespoonfuls of finnan-haddy scraped down, four tablespoonfuls of anchovy paste, half tablespoonful of whipped cream and cayenne pepper. Put finnan-haddy and anchovy paste in a mortar, pound, put this through a sieve, add two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, as you pass it through put this in sauce-pan; add seasoning and cream, set sauce-pan in boiling water, let it cook for ten minutes.  Spread  this mixture on the bread, ornament with rounds of hard-boiled egg and parsley.

Cabbage Salad

Half a cup vinegar and a tablespoon butter; let it come to a boil. Then, after mixing thoroughly, add a tablespoon of mustard, one of brown sugar, an egg and half a cup of sweet milk, stir in slowly with the vinegar and keep stirring until it boils. Cut up fine half a head of cabbage, pepper and salt to taste, and put it into the dressing and let it come to a boil.

Stuffed Eggs

Cut six hard-boiled eggs in two. Take out the yolks and mash them fine. Add two teaspoonfuls of butter, one of cream, two or three drops of onion juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix all thoroughly. Fill the eggs from the mixture, and put them together. There will be a little filling left, to which add a well beaten egg. Cover the other eggs with this last preparation, and roll in cracker crumbs. Fry in boiling lard till a light brown.

Corn Pudding

Scrape the substance out of twelve ears of green uncooked corn, add yolks and whites beaten separately of four eggs, a teaspoonful of sugar, the same of flour mixed in a tablespoon­ful of butter and season with pepper and salt. Add one pint of milk, bake about half or three-quarters of an hour.

Indian Sauce

One dozen ripe tomatoes, one dozen apples, one pound raisins (chopped fine) one large red pepper, six or eight onions. Boil one hour and put through sieve, then add seven ounces ginger, one-half pound mustard, one pound salt, two pounds brown sugar and one gallon vinegar.

Spiced Currant Rolls

Dissolve one yeast cake in a pint of scalded and cooled milk, add flour for a sponge, when light add three eggs, one-half cup each of sugar and melted butter, a teaspoon of salt, and flour to knead. When light, roll in a thin sheet, brush with butter, dredge with cinnamon and sugar, sprinkle with currants, roll and cut in rounds. Bake twenty minutes.

Ginger-Bread Pudding

One cup cream or milk, one cup molasses, one cup suet, one cup raisins (if liked), two and a half cups flour, one teaspoon soda, two tablespoons sugar, one nutmeg and a little salt, steam three hours, one teaspoon cinnamon.

Spruce Beer

Three-quarter pound loaf sugar, one gallon water, quarter ounce of ginger, grated rind of two lemons, one teaspoonful essence of spruce, add half cake yeast dissolved in half cup of water, ferment, strain, bottle air tight.

The Twelfth Night  was a traditional day for plays or "mummings," and it is thought that Shakespeare's comedy took its name from the fact that it was first performed as part of Twelfth Night celebrations about 1601.  But if skits were not your thing, you could be sure that would always be a dance and after the traditonal feasting , the tables would be pushed back and the jigs and reels begun. This was also when the Yule Log, which was lit on Christmas day, would be extinguished and its charred remains kept, both to kindle the next year's Yule log, and to protect the house from fire and lightning.

From Mrs. Simcoe's Diary ( Page 72)  Jan.6, 1792 - "Le Jour des Rois - the Epiphany visit of the Wise Men to Christ.  I went with Madame Baby to the Cathedral, and heard Du Plessis, the Bishop's Chaplain, preach a most excellent sermon on the subject of the Kings of the East seeking Jesus Christ. His action was animated and his sermon impressive. The Bishop himself was present.  He wore a white muslin dress and a rich mantle embroidered with gold; blue silk gloves, worked with gold; his mittens pink and silver, blue and gold. He changed them two or three times during the service, which had a theatrical, poor and unfit appearance".

The King of the Bean

Another event associated with the Epiphany, or January 6; is the Twelfth Night Cake, used to establish the 'King of the Bean' or 'La Roi Favette'.  After supper, a round cake is brought out, which encloses a bean. It is cut into as many pieces as there are members of the family;  including the hired hands; plus one. The pieces of cake are then then placed in a sack and the youngest member of the family pulls out each piece, offering the first piece to God.  This is then set aside and given to the next poor man who comes to the door and asks for help. The second piece goes to the eldest of the family and so on down to the youngest, until all of the cake has been distributed.

Everyone now begins to eat their cake until someone's teeth hits the bean and they yell out "hey!"  If it is a boy, he becomes the 'King of the Bean', and must choose his queen from amoung the female guests.  If a girl finds the bean, she becomes Queen and can choose her king.  From then on 'the Royal couple' are watched closely and everytime the "king" takes a drink, they must yell out "Le Roi boit!" (The King drinks) and if they fail to do so they are ridiculed by the rest of the party and must pay a forfeit.  Usually this is some little penance like singing a song, doing a silly dance or kissing someone; but it is all in good fun.  Other things could be added to cake to create additonal role playing; like a clove going to 'The Villain', a twig for "The Fool" or a rag for a 'Tarty Girl". Another custom on this day is that a girl wishing to know who will be her future husband places her garter beneath her pillow on the eve of the feast, and when getting into bed recites this prayer:

"O grand sint Francois! C'est aujourd'hui la veille des Rois. En mettant le pied sur ce bois, Je te prie de me faire voir cette nuit Celui que je dois avoir pour mari. "O' great St. Francis! Today is Kings' Eve. Putting my foot on this wood I pray you to make me see tonight The one whom I must have for husband.

Or the girl could simply howl three times to the moon:  "Beautiful Moon I greet you", and so long as she did so without laughing, the image of her future husband would appear (Man in the Moon?)

The English also played a variation of the game, described in 'Hones Table Book', c1850" "First buy your cake.  Next, look at your invitation list, and count the number of ladies you expect, and afterwards the number of gentlemen. "Then you write down on slips of paper the names of as many famous characters in history, male and female, as will cover the list of guests. Add to each slip some pleasant bit of verse. "Fold them up exactly of the same size, and number each on the back; taking care to make the king No. 1 and the queen No. 2. Cause tea and coffee to be handed to your visitors as they drop in. When all are assembled and tea is over, put as many ladies' characters in a reticule as there are ladies present; next put the gentlemen's characters in a hat. Then call on a gentleman to carry the reticule to the ladies as they sit; from which each lady is to draw one ticket and to preserve it unopened. Select a lady to bear the hat to the gentlemen, for the same purpose. There will be one ticket left in the reticule, and another in the hat,which the lady and gentleman who carried each is to interchange, as having fallen to each. Next arrange your visitors, according to their numbers; the king No. 1, the queen No. 2 and so on. The king is then to recite the verse on his ticket; then the queen a verse on hers; and so the characters are to proceed in numerical order. "This done, let the cake and refreshments go round; and hey! for merriment!"

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