Old Farmer's Almanac reminds us of holidays like Plough Monday

I was thumbing through my Old Farmer’s Almanac earlier this week and saw where yesterday was what is known as Twelfth Night. This almost forgotten holiday marks the evening before the Epiphany, which is also known as the Twelfth Day, that is, the twelfth day after Christmas. It honors the arrival of the three wise men at Bethlehem after the birth of Jesus.

Some aspects of this holiday are disputed. For example, some say that Twelfth Night commemorates the appearance of the Star of Bethlehem to the three wise men, rather than their arrival in Bethlehem. Some also celebrate Twelfth Night on Jan. 6, rather than Jan. 5, because they say that you shouldn’t begin counting off the 12 days until the day after Christmas, Dec. 26. In any event, the holiday symbolizes the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles.

Around this time of year, former Monroe Journal columnist Martin J. Johnson often wrote about Twelfth Night in his column “Second Thoughts.” Johnson, who died in 1987, was the manager of the Social Security district office in Mobile. His weekly newspaper column appeared in The Journal and in other regional newspapers for many years, primarily in the 1950s and 1960s.

Like many folks in the Port City, Johnson was big into Mardi Gras. He noted that the first celebration of a form of Mardi Gras in Mobile was not by the French, but by the Spanish. According to Johnson, there was a Spanish Mystic Society whose members appeared in a parade each year on Twelfth Night, dressed in grotesque costumes – to portray ghosts and phantoms – and carrying lighted torches.

Many people when they hear the words “Twelfth Night” probably think of William Shakespeare’s famous play of the same name. The Bard wrote this play about 420 years ago with an eye towards having it performed as an entertainment that would close out the Christmas season. The first documented performance of this romantic comedy was in 1602.  

Many people in the audience have also probably heard that it’s bad luck to take down your Christmas decorations before New Year’s. This idea is actually rooted in an old English superstition that says you should take down your Christmas tree and decorations on Twelfth Night. Over the years, especially in America, New Year’s has been substituted for Twelfth Night to avoid bad luck in the year ahead.

Another forgotten holiday that’s coming up is Plough Monday, which is the first Monday after Twelfth Night. In England, Plough Monday – which you will also find in the Old Farmer’s Almanac – marks the traditional start of the agricultural year. At its core, this holiday was mostly about getting back to work after the Christmas holidays.

The day prior to Plough Monday was called – you guessed it – Plough Sunday. This religious holiday was all about blessing the land, and most celebrations involved bringing farm implements into church for special prayers. Today, some farmers in England even ride their tractors to church for the “Blessing of the Plough.”