"New Characters for Twelfth Night"
In this room a small family party is about to take place on Twelfth Night - the 6th of January. Twelfth Night has been celebrated as the end of the Christmas season since the Middle Ages. It combines elements of the Christian feast of Epiphany, the visit of the wise men to the stable at Bethlehem, and the end of the twelve days around the pagan feast of Saturnalia, centered around the winter solstice.
From medieval times, the revels have always incorporated elaborate disguises and role reversal. Traditionally a King and Queen are chosen for the night to lead the proceedings served by their 'courtiers'. The King is elected by the discovery of a dried bean in the traditional Twelfth-Night cake, and the Queen by a pea. Because the selection was random, the situation could arise whereby a servant was elected Bean King and the served by his master all night.
By the early nineteenth century, the celebration of the Christmas season was beginning to enjoy a revival. Old traditions reappeared, and the Twelfth-Night game became more like present-day charades, with characters chosen by picking cards. The cake became increasingly decorative with sugar frosting and gilded paper trimmings and could be topped with elaborate figures made of plaster of Paris or sugar past, and it no longer contained the bean and pea of earlier times.