Passion for the Past: My Annual 18th Century 12th Night Party

I love having living history friends who have the same passion for the past that I do. Some of the ideas I've had and worked on over the years that have come to fruition are due to such friends: Civil War/Victorian Christmas parties, our 19th century fall harvest presentations, our Victorian Christmas's at historic Fort Wayne, utilizing 1st person at some reenactments and especially fashions shows, our colonial cabin excursions, making candles, celebrating the various long-forgotten religious holidays such as Candlemas, Rogation Sunday, & Lammas Day, making homemade cider and celebrating Thanksgiving, and so many more experiences. All were ideas I've been able to make come true, with a lot of help from my friends. Without the right people, ideas can be for naught.

This also includes my annual colonial period Christmas party.

~I would like to thank Karen Dunnam, Larissa Fleishman, and Norm Gerring for the use of their photos for today's post~

~o0o0o0o0o0~

Tom letting Ken into the Inn.

Some of our dinnerware~

So entrenched is the view that the modern Christmas has its origins in Victorian times that it sometimes comes as a shock to realize that many of the customs we enjoy during this festive season date back centuries earlier, oftentimes to the Middle Ages or before and carried on through future centuries. Yes, it's true; Christmas party celebrations have been going on since...well...at least the Middle Ages, and, like most other holidays, it's had its ups-and-downs in popularity. But the parties, in one way or another, continued on. Even when Christmas was outlawed in England and in the Massachusetts colony for about twenty years in the mid-1600s, people still found ways to celebrate. Through the centuries, folks enjoyed their December rituals, oftentimes combining Paganism with Christianity. Such parties celebrated the Birth of Christ through food and drink, much as we do in our modern day. And from the Medieval times onward, folks gave gifts and sang carols, sometimes for 12 days!

Yet too many believe that Christmas bypassed the 18th century.

This is simply not true at all.

So, for my 2025 18th century/Revolutionary War-era 12trh Night/Christmas gathering I, once again, went to the 1835 Cady Inn, located at Mill Race Village - the same historic village where we hold our Patriot's Day event (Battles of Lexington & Concord) in April, and celebrate the 4th of July.

Even though the Inn was built in 1835, it certainly has the look and feel - exterior and interior - of one from the 18th century.

As can be seen in this picture, the Cady Inn, though built in the 1830s,
clearly has the look and feel of a tavern decades earlier.

Yes, sometimes I truly feel like I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been...(to quote Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir"):

Every Picture Tells A Story don't it?
And this one most certainly does.
In fact, every year listed I put there for a reason:
1066 - Battle of Hastings
1492 - Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic
1620 - Pilgrims crossed the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Mayflower and founded Plimouth Colony
1763 - the 1st Treaty of Paris ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War between Great Britain and France, as well as their respective allies
1775 - the start of the Revolutionary War between the American colonies and England occurred with the Battles of Lexington & Concord
1776 - The United States declared its Independence
1783 - the 2nd Treaty of Paris, ending the Revolutionary War between the United States and England---the United States gained Independence!
1812 - The War of 1812 between Great Britain and the United States began
1863 - Battle of Gettysburg
1941 - Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor--America gets involved in WWII
1961 - The year I came into this world
1965 - the year my wife, Patty, came into this world
1967 - the Summer of Love: The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and other amazing music by a large variety of pop n rock groups (Hey! It's important to me!)
2025 - The year we are in---

So let's travel through time and space to Christmas 1774/12th Night 1775:

A fair showing, wouldn't you say?
I believe more would have come, but we had a 2" to 4" snowfall the night before and I believe a few people were nervous about driving in it, though the roads were pretty clear. There was also a virus going around and a couple people caught it, feeling pretty nasty.
However, we had a few others join us who hadn't come before, so it was a sort of wash.
But I thank each and every person who came out to celebrate this holiday.

It means so much to me - - and as long as folks continue to want to come to such a gathering, I'll continue to host it.

Such celebrations in the dead of winter go back millennia. It was a bright spot in a darkened world. And we know that once December 21st/22nd comes around, usually the darkest (thus, shortest) day of the year, the daylight hours begin to get longer, and will continue to do so until June 21st/22nd.

And here in the bleak mid-winter we sometimes need something to look forward to...some sort of celebration or party or gathering, to lift our spirits.

For me, it's getting together with friends - friends who have helped make my events a success - at my 12th Night/Christmas Season gathering.

Brian came and brought along his latest acquisitions:

The spoon is Elizabethan era pewter seal spoon ca1570s-1610.

The fork and knife are first half of the 17th century, 1600-1630s.

The broad rimmed pewter plate is from the 1660s with the cartouche marks,

indicating it was made in Belgium.

Brian also wondered who and how many people may have eaten

using these utensils...time has come today...

Most of our time was spent chatting and catching up.
Jackie missed most of last year, and now she has returned!

Jim usually reenacts the 17th century with Brian, but I am certainly glad he
jumped up a century to join us on this day!

Norm and Christy joined us as well.

I mainly invited those who have taken part in our Patriot's Day (Lexington & Concord) and 4th of July events out there at Mill Race Village, as well as a couple others who have helped us or taken part elsewhere, such as Waterloo Cabin. I don't know...I suppose I just like to show my appreciation for all of their help, and having such a gathering as this to add a little brightness in the dead of winter is a way I can show it.

Mark & his wife, Debbie~

Norm (who portrays our minister) and his son Tony~

Karen came along as well - here she is with Christy~

As Larissa wrote: "Selfies were invented in 1775."

Okay, so they weren't, but here is our selfie:
Peter the violin player---he does not reenact the 18th century, though he does
do the Civil War and especially World War II. And he plays a mean fiddle!
And then there's me, Larissa, and Jackie.

Karen is also a dance caller for historic dances and balls.
She is well-known in the Revolutionary War and Civil War reenacting hobby.

I see Tom the 18th century doctor, and Larry the brewer.
Yes, Larry brews 18th century beer.

I was giving a small welcoming speech here.

Norm, our minister, said grace before our meal.

We had a nice feast:
mac & cheese

a rotisserie chicken

shortbread

Irish Soda Bread Scones
baked beans and pies

corn muffins, biscuits, cookies

king cake
and numerous other delights, including various jams.

Oh, and cider to wash it all down:

Various jams - -
and...

Historical homemade brew - taste testing rather than downright drinking.
Read the cards to read the beer's history~

Enjoying the meal~

There were enough foods and desserts that if anyone left hungry, it was their own fault.
Hey! I see Ken Roberts there!

Much of our time was spent enjoying conversations.
Norm, here, has been reenacting since the Bicentennial - 1976, while Ken has been
in this hobby since about 1960.

Like last year, I asked to have a sort of sing-a-long, something very common in 18th century taverns, especially during 12th Night celebrations. Whereas last year went pretty good, with a lot of vim and verve, this year...well...lol. It went fair...

It seems people wanted to do more visiting. And that's well and fine. I'm glad we could all be friends and have good conversations. Most of us don't see each other near as often as we'd like or should, especially this time of year. But we did make the attempt to sing 12th Night songs such as Jolly Old Hawk and Gloucestershire Wassail:

Wassail Wassail all over the town
our bread it is white and our ale it is brown
Our bowl it is made of the white maple tree
with a wassailing bowl we'll drink to thee~~~~~

We also sang Deck the Hall with it's original "drinking" lyrics - (click HERE)

There I am with my hair in a queue, Peter the fiddler to my left, and Jackie.

The good folks who took part I am honored to call my friends, and for those who could not make it, I look forward to seeing you this coming year...and next 12th Night!

The gathering lasted from roughly 12 noon until around 4, though we had the place until 5. So, while most guests left a bit early, a few stayed and we just sat and spoke about possible upcoming events, such as a colonial ball.

Just a pic before we go...

I hope you enjoyed the photos and stories of my little period gathering. I believe it's important for friends of (mostly) the same mindset to get together every-so-often, especially in the cold months of winter.

Again, I would like to thank Karen Dunnam, Larissa Fleishman, and Norm Gerring for the use of their photos to help enhance this blog posting.

Now...one more thing to keep in mind as we head into 2025:

The semiquincentennial is here!

We are at the cusp of what is being called the Semiquincentennial - America's 250th birthday. The celebration isn't only about the Revolutionary War and the Declaration of Independence - it's about our history --- did you see that? our history --- which does include the Rev War, plus the wars that followed: the War of 1812, the Mexican American War, the Civil War, the Spanish American War, The Great War (WWI), World War II, the War in Korea, Vietnam War, the Gulf War. We can also celebrate American accomplishments, such as the electric light, the steamboat, the cotton gin, the automobile, the aeroplane, and even Jazz and rock n roll, big band, and country music. Then there are the various incidences such as the Great Depression, war protests, Civil Rights, man on the moon, Voyageur spacecraft...yes, America's 250th is about celebrating and commemorating all of this and so much more.

Please remember this as we move into these next few years.

It's only the beginning...

By the way---coming up Saturday, April 26 of this year (2025) we will be commemorating the 250th anniversary of what is generally considered the first battles of the American Revolution: Lexington & Concord, held right at the same historic park as this party---and where we've had the reenactment since 2019, Mill Race Village, in Northville, Michigan. I truly hope we can get a goodly amount of participants!

Now I know Massachusetts has the ultimate reenactment of this, for that's where it actually happened. I like to think our event is for those who cannot travel out to the east coast.

Before I came up with that first event, now six years ago, I had thought and thought about how very cool it would be to create a living history event here in Michigan to commemorate this oh-so-important day and date of April 19, 1775 with an actual reenactment.

And with the semiquincentennial of the American Revolution at hand, I believe the timing could not be better to continue these commemorations and celebrations, especially for those of us who reenact the period.

Now, a few short years ago there were a few TV shows that had great success showing America's 18th century period, such as AMC's "Turn: Washington Spies," HBO's "John Adams," and even the play "Hamilton." And because of these shows there was a pretty strong resurgence of interest in the era of the Revolutionary War. Over the years I have had many patrons come up to me at reenactments and comment on how they've seen at least one of the above shows and it piqued their interest in the period. Or, in some cases, re-piqued. And this is why they come out: to see history up close and personal.

But TV shows and a play are not enough.

This is what we're trying to do~~~

As I have often said, it is unfortunate that Patriot's Day is only celebrated "officially" in four states: Maine, Wisconsin, Connecticut, and, of course, the state in which it all happened, Massachusetts, where the Battles of Lexington & Concord are reenacted annually.

And for years I have been doing as best as I can to spread the word here in southeastern lower Michigan through this Passion for the Past blog and by dressing in period clothing and venturing out to our local historic open-air museum of Greenfield Village to pay a sort of homage to our founding generation. Sometimes I go alone, while other times I am with a few other living historians. No matter which way, I try to get the word out and teach America's history.

I hope you will do your part as well and spread the word of America's 250th birthday!

Passion for the Past

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

My Annual 18th Century 12th Night Party

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