Incoming Epiphany

Today's the day:  Epiphany!  Here are 3 famous Epiphanies we learned in school: Ancient Greek mathematician and physicist Archimedes famously cried out "Eureka" ' "I have found it!" from the bathtub where he realized that his volume displaced the same amount of water in the tub and he could calculate the volume of gold in a crown. Isaac Newton was sitting below an apple tree when an apple fell on his head, which caused him to develop his Universal Law of Gravitation. Albert Einstein developed his Special Theory of Relativity after arriving home one night feeling defeated. He imagined having arrived home at the speed of light, and how the light from the town’s clock tower would not have reached him in his car, even though the clock inside the car would be ticking normally. This would make the time outside the car and inside the car just different enough to be striking. We can look up epiphany on google and immediately discover the seven ways to help you have an epiphany. It starts with: Be observant.  Look around you.  But there's more. Next article is The Atlantic.  It starts with: Go for a hike or a drive.  Walk around the city.  Psychology Today tells us: When one of these amazing gifts comes to us, the way to honour it is to put it to use".  The next is another Psychology Today article that questions what is an epiphany: "By epiphanies I mean the major, life-changing revelations that have the greatest impact on our lives."  Huffington Post says there are 8 Epiphanies everyone should have.  Others have different numbers -  18, 12, 9, 8, 17, or 10 epiphanies? We can take the easy route and google images of epiphany quotes. That is where I found the one that seems to apply to today given this is the Day of Epiphany.    Epiphany Day should be everyday.

Little Drummer Boy Juggling

We're at Epiphany Eve, Twelfth Night.  The three Magi visit the Nativity scene and reveal Jesus.  The little drummer boy plays his instrument. Does our "Little Drummer Boy" count as one of the drummers drumming on the twelfth day of Christmas?  I don't think so as "Little Drummer Boy" was composed in 1941.  It was first recorded by the Trapp Family Singers in 1951.  The song relates to our Twelfth Night:  he was summoned by the Magi to the Nativity of Jesus, so he's got the right day and place.  Wikipedia gives the origin of this song.  It is considered to be somewhat similar to a "12th-century legend retold by Anatole France as Our Lady's Juggler. In the French legend, a juggler juggles before the statue of the Virgin Mary, and the statue, according to which version of the legend one reads, either smiles at him or throws him a rose". I thought about so many drummers drumming - in comparison today's orchestra which has one or two drummers.  So how did the twelfth night get to having 12 drummers.  And if this song started out in the 1400's there might have been one person on the fife (pipe) and drum.  They could have saved the pipers piping fee - one person typically played the tabor drum and pipe simultaneously. Since our earliest recorded information on the song is the 1780's, we might instead turn to the snare drum.  It was used from the 16th century onward.  It was a military instrument that allowed troops to communicate with one another.  It was also used in ceremonial occasions. I guess today's marching band would have its origins in the military and ceremonial traditions. I like to think that our many drummers drumming are announcing the arrival of the Twelfth Night. Our pictures today are scenes taken at Brock University's School of Performing Arts.

Twelfth Night or What You Will

There are quite a few variations for this penultimate day of the Twelve Days.  Ladies dancing, ladies spinning, badgers baiting, lords a-leading, dancers a-dancing, lads a-louping, bulls a-beating.  Our Twelfth Night of Christmas is tomorrow.  It is "always on the evening of 5 January, but the Twelfth Day can either precede or follow the Twelfth Night according to which Christian tradition is followed. Twelfth Night is followed by the Feast of the Epiphany on 6 January. In some traditions, the first day of Epiphany (6 January) and the twelfth day of Christmas overlap". (source:  Wikipedia) So what about "Twelfth Night, or What You Will" - Shakespeare's play?  It is believed to have been written around 1601-02 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The first recorded performance was on 2 February 1602, at Candlemas, the formal end of Christmastide in the year's calendar.  A law student, John Manningham, who was studying in the Middle Temple in London, described the performance which took place in the hall of the Middle Temple.  The Middle Temple is a place with great  architectural history. The western part of "The Temple" was the headquarters of the Knights Templar until they dissolved in 1312.  There are many buildings in the four "Inns of Court" that are listed buildings. There has been damage over the centuries - fires, the Great Fire of London, and the Blitz. But the Halls' magnificent double-hammer beam roof remains along with the 29 foot oak High table. Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake have been known to dine in the Hall.  The buildings in the Temple itself are still held under the 1608 letters patent of James I.  The Middle Temple Hall where our performance took place was constructed between 1562 and 1572, and opened in 1576 by Queen Elizabeth I.  It was thought that Shakespeare himself was probably present for the first performance.  Our heroine in the play is Viola.  Violas and pansies are flowers that are closely related.  I've never considered how they are different.  I found this: If the flower has four petals pointing upward and only one pointing downward – you’re looking at a Pansy. If the flower has two petals pointing upward and three petals pointing downward – you’ve got a Viola.  These words, though, come from one of Shakespeare's other plays.

Ladies Dancing 9 Pipers Piping 11

Are there pipers piping or ladies dancing today?  There are so many variations in the 12 days of Christmas, so I'll cover both today. As for pipers piping, we don't have much in the way of musical pipers anymore.  We have piper airplanes and pubs named after pipers.  There are "The Pipers" - a pair of standing stones near The Hurlers stone circles on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, UK.  According to folklore they represent musicians playing for three circles of dancers who were turned to stone for engaging in festivities on a holy day.   And what kind of pipe would they have been a-piping or playing?  There's a folk pipe with six holes (also known as a fipple flute) , a tabor pipe with three holes,  a reed pipe, and hornpipe.  Flageolets were developed from the tabor pipe and became an orchestral instrument.  In the U.K. there was a Pipers' Guild in the first half of the 20th century.  Bagpipes are still with us, but they've been known as bagpipes since Roman times, so they don't seem to make sense as the pipes in our song. During the research for this, I came across the Library of Congress Subject Headings for Pipe, (Musical instrument).  You can scroll through this amazing and vast book of knowledge.  I decided it is vast as Pipes are on page 3403.  In comparison "9 Ladies Dancing" is an expression that has been taken on to describe products and activities.  One can get it barrel-aged at the Bruery - the Beer of the Month Club.  There are several Nine ladies dancing videos, 9 Ladies Dancing Punch recipe at Serious Eats, 9 Ladies Dancing Productions, a 9 Ladies Dancing book on Amazon. Who were these ladies?  "Lady" is a civil term of respect for a woman among English speakers - the equivalent of gentleman.  I expect that in this traditional song it is a formal title for woman of high social class. Gentleman/Lady is a rank in the hierarchy of royal, noble and chivalric ranks, as shown in the wikipedia entry for Lady.  "Lady" has evolved into many expressive terms, some of refinement and others of derision.  "Hey lady" would not be a term of endearment today. However, the "First Lady" is the well-known title for the U.S. President's wife.   Today's images celebrate the second of January with two flowers and two walls. Where does the blue path lead to?