Unfortunately, I have archived the caches for days 1-7. They were all located on Chaplain Island and while during the winter months they were in good locations. When spring came, flood waters washed most away, including some of the very trees that they were attached to. I attempted to replace the caches several times over the next few months but each time the flood waters were still up or the ground was still too soft with much standing water. My original intent for this series was to provide a series of winter friendly caches so that there would be caches to experience for the holidays, preferably with a new cacher. But I realize that although these were placed in good locations when it was freezing out, the same locations weren't so great for other months. The remaining Days of Christmas caches will remain for at least a few months but they too will be archived, probably before the end of the year.
The evening of the 5 January is also Twelfth Night.
Twelfth Night is a festival in some branches of Christianity marking the coming of the Epiphany and concluding the Twelve Days of Christmas.
It is defined by the Shorter 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".[1] There is some confusion these days, however, as to which night is Twelfth Night:[2] modern practice is often to regard the night of Epiphany itself (sixth of January) to be Twelfth Night.[2] The older tradition of Twelfth Night being the 5 January stems from the medieval practice of the day beginning at sunset, rather than at midnight as it does now. Thus Twelfth Night falls on 5 January, ahead of Twelfth Day on the 6th.
A recent belief in some English-speaking countries holds that it is unlucky to leave Christmas decorations hanging after Twelfth Night, a belief originally attached to the festival of Candlemas which celebrates the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (2 February).[3]
Traditions
Food and drink are the centre of the celebrations in modern times, and all of the most traditional ones go back many centuries. The punch called wassail is consumed especially on Twelfth Night, but throughout Christmas time, especially in the UK. Around the world, special pastries, such as the tortell and king cake are baked on Twelfth Night, and eaten the following day for the Feast of the Epiphany celebrations. In English and French custom, the Twelfth-cake was baked to contain a bean and a pea, so that those who received the slices containing them should be designated king and queen of the night's festivities.[5]
In colonial America, a Christmas wreath was always left up on the front door of each home, and when taken down at the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas, any edible portions would be consumed with the other foods of the feast. The same held true in the 19th-20th centuries with fruits adorning Christmas trees. Fresh fruits were hard to come by, and were therefore considered fine and proper gifts and decorations for the tree, wreaths, and home. Again, the tree would be taken down on Twelfth Night, and such fruits, along with nuts and other local produce used, would then be consumed.