In the spirit of one of the oldest community traditions, one and all are invited on the twelfth night of this holiday season to join together and share in the fun and festivities of storytelling.
It is “an evening of story-sharing, merrymaking, and imagination,” according to folk music activist Phil Shapiro.
The annual Twelfth Night Celebration has been an Ithaca tradition for more than three decades, presented by various members of the Ithaca folk music community.
“I guess the thing that surprises people the most about Twelfth Night is it doesn't have any reason for being except that we like to do it. And, as the world becomes more and more digital, telling stories is, well, more and more analog. In other words, what we're doing is the opposite of the direction that our culture is moving in,” Shapiro said.
He describes it as “a rare example of what happens when people decide to entertain themselves, instead of letting someone else do it.”
In 16th century England, the twelfth night marked the end of a winter festival of “mayhem and misrule,” which began on All Hallows Eve or Halloween. It is a night described by the Oxford Dictionary as “a time of merrymaking.”
In keeping with the old English tradition of merrymaking, the annual Twelfth Night Celebration will not only include a gathering of storytellers, but, as Shapiro describes, “an interruption by the #Champeons of Folly#, a band of traveling players and dancers who will regale the assembled multitudes with an outrageous mummers' play, with Morris dancers a-leaping and jingling.”
The night will be topped off with the crowning of a Monarch of Twelfth Night, also known as the Lord or Lady of Misrule, who will read “the proclamation of pronouncements and predictions for the year 2008.”
All ages are welcome. People are asked to bring a snack to share, a couple of dollars to share expenses, and a story to tell.
“It's a lot of fun,” Shapiro said. “And a lot of magic.”
If you go
What: The Annual Twelfth Night Celebration
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 5
Where: The Unitarian Church, 306 N. Aurora St., Ithaca
Cost: Donations welcome
For details: Call (607) 844-4535 or e-mail pds10@cornell.edu.
The annual Twelfth Night Celebration has been an Ithaca tradition for more than three decades, presented by various members of the Ithaca folk music community.
“I guess the thing that surprises people the most about Twelfth Night is it doesn't have any reason for being except that we like to do it. And, as the world becomes more and more digital, telling stories is, well, more and more analog. In other words, what we're doing is the opposite of the direction that our culture is moving in,” Shapiro said.
He describes it as “a rare example of what happens when people decide to entertain themselves, instead of letting someone else do it.”
In 16th century England, the twelfth night marked the end of a winter festival of “mayhem and misrule,” which began on All Hallows Eve or Halloween. It is a night described by the Oxford Dictionary as “a time of merrymaking.”
In keeping with the old English tradition of merrymaking, the annual Twelfth Night Celebration will not only include a gathering of storytellers, but, as Shapiro describes, “an interruption by the #Champeons of Folly#, a band of traveling players and dancers who will regale the assembled multitudes with an outrageous mummers' play, with Morris dancers a-leaping and jingling.”
The night will be topped off with the crowning of a Monarch of Twelfth Night, also known as the Lord or Lady of Misrule, who will read “the proclamation of pronouncements and predictions for the year 2008.”
All ages are welcome. People are asked to bring a snack to share, a couple of dollars to share expenses, and a story to tell.
“It's a lot of fun,” Shapiro said. “And a lot of magic.”
If you go
What: The Annual Twelfth Night Celebration
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 5
Where: The Unitarian Church, 306 N. Aurora St., Ithaca
Cost: Donations welcome
For details: Call (607) 844-4535 or e-mail pds10@cornell.edu.
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