Twelfth day

A Sermon preached by Maiſter Hugh Latimer on Tvvelfth day, at Grimſtrope. Anno. 1553.

A Preſbyter of the Church of England has long officiated in a Meeting Houſe of this ſeceding deſcription, in London; but that is not all, he ordains too: […] But I would ſay both to the ordainer and the ordained, by what authority doſt thou theſe things, and who gave thee this authorty? […] [A]s to any legality to be derived from ſuch pretended orders, without the permiſſion I have alluded to, thoſe who draw Kings and Queens over a twelfth-day cake, have as good claims to the Crown of England!

The Epiphany is called Twelfth Day, because it falls on the twelfth day after Christmas Day. Epiphany signifies Manifestation, and is applied to this day because it is the day whereon Christ was manifested to the Gentiles.

It is indeed remarkable that the twelfth day nearly coincides in the time of the year with the Saturnalia; and Fosbrooke even finds that the king of the Saturnalia was elected, like the king of the twelfth night, by a bean. […] As all the various customs of different countries on this day concur in the common object of commemorating the visit of the three wise men, or kings, to the birthplace of Christ, a king is in some way or other always a conspicuous personage in the entertainments which take place. In France, previously to the revolution, this mode of celebrating twelfth day prevailed as well at court as among the people in general. At the former, one of the nobles was chosen king, and at the entertainment which followed, the twelfth-day monarch was attended by the king and courtiers.

[W]e fell into a discussion upon the merits of those family meetings which this season brought with it; and it was agreed that the celebration of Christmas, of New Year's and Twelfth-days, the birthday and saint's day of the head of the family, and other festivals, were favourable to the maintenance of domestic harmony, and were therefore worthy of being preserved.

[…] Epiphany is a Christian feast, also known as Twelfth Day, as it is the twelfth day after Christmas. Traditionally, this coincides with the visit of the Magi. The day is marked by feasting and celebration.