It's official: Christmas ends today.
Q: Did it not end with the beginning of the January sales?
A: Heathen. The twelfth day after Christmas is when Christians mark the Epiphany.
Q: Which was?
A: Epiphany comes from the Greek, epiphaneia, which means appearance or manifestation. The feast commemorates the day when the three wise men found the Christ child.
Q: How should I celebrate?
A: With a special supper to mark the feast of the Epiphany, or by disposing of that dead Christmas tree lurking in the corner.
Q: What if I don't want the magic of Christmas to end?
A: Such feelings, though strange, are not new. Twelfth Night, held on the eve of the Epiphany, was a traditional time for revelry, being one of the last chances for getting together and making merry before winter set in. Among the activities was the festival of the bean king, or Rey de Habas, in which the child who found the bean in the Twelfth Night cake was appointed sovereign for a day.
Q: Other ways to celebrate?
A: Shakespeare's comedy was written specially to be performed during Twelfth Night celebrations.
Q: A quick burst of England's Bard if you please?
A: ''If music be the food of love, play on'', and ''Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.''
Q: What did all of this revelry have to do with Christian celebration?
A: Not a lot. It probably owed more to the Roman saturnalia.
Q: Which was ?
A: The festival to celebrate Saturn, a Roman deity. Saturnalia involved a seven-day public holiday which ran from December 19. During this time the Roman state shut up shop and citizens gave themselves over to a week of drinking and debauchery.
Q: Sounds familiar. Care
for one last sherry and a mince pie?
A: Go away.
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