Twelfth-cake and riddles on HMS Erebus
A Twelfth Night celebration illustrated by Robert Seymour from The Book of Christmas (1836) by Thomas Kibble Hervey – note the cake in the left part of the picture and the cards in people's hands.
In his entry for January 6th, 1841 in his Antarctic-journal-slash-autobiography, Robert McCormick (who was surgeon on the Erebus on the Antarctic expedition) makes this reference to a Twelfth-cake eaten by the officers:
Wednesday, 6th. — Being Twelfth-night, all the officers took tea in the cabin with Captain Ross, and partook of a Twelfth-cake, which had been given him in a tin case, and was to have been opened on the 6th of January, 1840, but had been reserved for entering the ice. It was accompanied by the customary painted figures on paper and sugar, with enigmas to solve, which afforded us all some amusement and laughter; to aid which we had a glass of cherry brandy each.
(The age of the cake always surprised me a little, but apparently, according to the 19th century Cassell’s Dictionary of Cookery, fruit cake “will improve with keeping – indeed, confectioners do not use their cakes until they have been made some months; and if a cake is cut into soon after it is made it will crumble.” (x))
I had no idea that “painted figures on paper and sugar” were a customary part of the Twelfth-cake tradition, so I had a poke around the web and was delighted to learn that Twelfth-cakes came with various figurines for decoration. They were made from moulded sugar paste, with some depicting people, some not.
In the Every-Day Book of William Hone (1827), Twelfth-cakes are described as decorated with “Stars, castles, kings, cottages, dragons, trees, fish, palaces, cats, dogs, churches, lions, milkmaids, knights, serpents, and innumerable other forms, in snow-white confectionery, painted with variegated colours”.
An advertisement for “well executed Twelfth-Night characters”, 1842 (The Australian). Queen Victoria’s Twelfth-cake, 1849 (ILN).
The Twelfth-cakes themselves were generally large, domed, and heavy, full of nuts, dried fruits, and spices. Hone, again, calls them “Dark with citron and plums and heavy as gold”. (A recipe from 1802 is available here, and one from 1830 here – the latter promises a cake 12-14 inches across.)
You could also buy sets of cards with Twelfth Night figures and riddles on them, which were sold in packs. In the late 18th century, it was customary for the party to draw lots with the cards – and whichever character a person was assigned, they would have to play until midnight.
An extant pack of Park's Twelfth-Night characters, 1843. (The Puzzle Museum)
The resolution on these is only just about legible, but here's a close-up of four of them and their solutions from the sheet:
Transcriptions: From left to right: SIR OLIVER OGLE. Why is a lover like a gooseberry? BETRICE BOUQUET. When is a cheese most like college? CHARLES CUTEMDOWN. Why are Jews at a feast like a brewer? PATTY PRIMROSE. Why is a dandy like a haunch of venison?
Solutions: He is easily made a fool of. / When it is eaten. [Eton] / He brews [Hebrews] drink here. / He is a bit of a buck.
———
Sources:
The Puzzle Museum https://www.puzzlemuseum.com/month/picm08/2008-04-parks.htm
The Dickens Museum blog https://dickensmuseum.com/blogs/charles-dickens-museum/dickens-and-the-spirit-of-twelfth-cake-past-by-pen-vogler
Elizabeth Gaskell House blog https://elizabethgaskellhouse.co.uk/twelfth-night-cakes/
Sydney Living Museums blog https://blogs.sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/cook/let-them-eat-fruit-cake/
Foods of England blog http://www.foodsofengland.co.uk/twelfthcake.htm
Primary sources:
Hone, William, The Every-Day Book (1827) - Project Gutenberg
Kibble Hervey, Thomas, The Book of Christmas (1836) - Project Gutenberg
Kitchiner, William, The Cook's Oracle (1830) - Project Gutenberg
McCormick, Robert, Voyages of Discovery in the Arctic and Antarctic Seas (1884) - Hathi Trust
The Australian, January 8th, 1842 - Trove Newspaper Archive
Illustrated London News, 13th January 1849 - Hathi Trust
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One headcanon for pretty much every wordgirl villain
Amazing Rope Guy's birthday is April 1st
The reason BLHG has a.. big left hand is because he has the condition Hemihyperplasia (which from what i've seen causes a part of a person's body to be larger than the other. Pls correct me if this is wrong, i am not familiar with the condition)
Brent is multilingual (since Chuck is his half brother, Brent's father spoke spanish, which inspired Brent to learn more languages)
Captain Tangent binge watches pirate movies in his spare time (E.g: Peter Pan, Treasure Island, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc)
Chuck has a video game collection that he's very proud of. It's full of older, retro games, and he also owns all the consoles to go with them.
Glen owns a body pillow, im not specifying of who. That's up for interpretation.
You know how Dr Two Brains is based on the myth that mice like cheese? In reality, mice prefer grains and berries. I'd think it would be funny if in a situation where he was forced to exclusively eat berries and grains, it'd make him ill (similar to how cheese really affects mice).
Eileen's last name is 'Rucker,' which is a German last name meaning 'thief' or 'Greedy'
Maria and Eileen are the absolute bestest of friends, with Eileen treating Maria like a little pet.
Granny May used to do ballet when she was younger, which gave her some of the agility she now has.
I couldn't think of a headcanon for Guy Rich specifically, but his brother's name is Duke.
Hal and Granny May went to the same school when they were young. They do not like each other at all.
Invisi-bill is simultaneously the worst and the best at playing Hide and Seek. He can just go invisible to hide, but is usually way too fidgety to stay in one spot permanently.
Lady Redundant Woman is a heavy sleeper. She also snores really loudly
Leslie is actually a mixed martial artist, but generally prefers Karate
Miss Power is fully capable of blinking, but is also capable of licking her eyeballs just to freak people out. She thinks its funny
Mr Big is really fond of 80s music because it reminds him of his band
Ms Question didn't realize this immediately about her powers, but she can produce electricity. If you touch her bare skin, she can accidentally shock both you and her. She can also stick magnets to herself.
Nocan.... ok im gonna be completely honest, i can't think of anything for this guy.
Reason and Rhyme have a secret handshake. Rhyme is the one who made it, and Reason messes it up everytime they try to do it
Royal Dandy calls Dave dad :) (but in a british way so probably something stupid(/j) like papa)
Seymour is insanely good at poker. He's perfectly capable of playing any version of it, but he's also really good at cheating at it. He hides cards in his sleeve and in his shirt and then swaps them out for whatever hand he has.
While it's not obvious, the Butcher likes jewelry. He doesn't wear it much, but you'll always find a ring or two and earrings in his house. (Reginald x Butcher shippers, do with this as you will)
The Coach was actually a highly successful man before trying to trick the Whammer. Most people don't realize that he went to really prestigious schools when he was younger.
The Learnerer's real name is Alfred, in reference to his voice actor
The Whammer was an actual pro-wrestler at one point, but was forced to stop because 'whams' aren't a legal move in the wrestling world.
Timmy Tim-Bo is the Coach's nephew
Tobey will play little puzzle games when not building robots (Crossword, Sudoku, etc)
Victoria Best tries to sneak into the villain convention, but usually gets caught pretty quickly.
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I was watching a pmseymour video. I was having a good time. I heard this post and thought it was funny and decided to look at the url to follow the person.
AND IT WAS YOU. WHAT. DUDE YOU DONT UNDERSTAND.
I looked at the url and pfp. I thought “that looks familiar”.
WHY ARE YOU IN MY YOUTUBE PLEASE
HI FROM YOUR YOUTUBE!!!
Yeah I have no idea why I'm in your youtube or how my silly little post got included, but apparently it was and now that's just. A thing that's happened. So!
Very flattered that my cheese dream was funny enough that you'd want to follow me based solely on that one post without any other knowledge of me. I don't think I can really take credit for it because it was my subconscious in the middle of the night that created this new cheese feature
but hello! haven't heard from you in a while and it's nice to see you! cheesing you! cheesing you! cheesing you! cheesing you!
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