Epiphany or Twelfth Night 2025 is on Monday, January 6, 2025: when is twelfth night?

Monday, January 6, 2025 is Epiphany or Twelfth Night 2025. Epiphany DanceArts The premier DanceArts company of Dallas specializing in modern dance

5th January, the eve of the Feast of the Epiphany.

Twelfth Night is a holiday in some branches of Christianity marking the coming of the Epiphany, or Twelfth Day, and is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the last day of the Christmas festivities and observed as a time of merrymaking".

In some traditions it is taken to mean the evening of the Twelfth Day itself, the sixth of January. This apparent difference has arisen probably due to the old custom of treating sunset as the beginning of the following day. Therefore Twelfth Night would have been considered as occurring on the twelfth day, though in present day custom it is the previous day.

The celebration of Epiphany, the adoration of the Magi, is marked in some cultures by the exchange of gifts, and Twelfth Night, as the eve of Epiphany, takes on a similar significance to Christmas Eve.

what is a twelfth night party?

12th night is Epiphany, the traditional day when the Wise Men delivered their gifts to the baby Jesus. That is why there are 12 days of Christmas, with 12th night being the last.

Some people have a party then, to exchange gifts, etc. A group in the City of Ottawa called the "Twelfth Night Society), recreates the courts of Mary Queen of Scots, and Elizabeth I's of England (1575), and holds costumed functions, often with a very funny skit that parodies just about everything, and everyone. This is in keeping with a Shakespearian tradition, from his play Twelfth Night. Other communities have similar groups.

I have played Blindman's Bluff, although I cannot remember the rules! Forfeits is another very old game, involving questions which if answered incorrectly, result in the payment of a "forfeit."

Twelfth Night, Shakespeare?

I don't know any specific points within the play that would allow us to know the time of year it takes place, but Twelfth Night is a reference to the twelfth day of Christmas (like in the song). Back in the olden days (and maybe still in some places today), the whole season of Christmas (on the Catholic calender for example) was celebrated, and that would go from Dec. 25th to Epiphany... so there were 12 days of Christmas.

From what I've been told, on the 12th day the nobles would trade places with their servants and people would play different roles for that day-- like how Viola disguises as a man in the play.