Traditional Games

GAMES

Twelfth Night was a night for fun. Families and friends gathered to enjoy one another's company and mark the end of the holiday season. Children's games were a big part of the celebration, with even the oldest in the group enjoying the frivolity they remembered from their youth.


Pass The Slipper

All participants except one gather in a circle, standing near enough that their shoulders touch. The one left out of the circle is placed in the middle and blindfolded. Music is played while the group passes the shoe to one another behind their backs.

When the music ends, the shoe is kept by whoever has it. The player in the middle removes his/her blindfold and attempts to guess who holds the shoe. If he/she guesses correctly, the one caught with the shoe is then "it" and must come to the middle and be blindfolded. If the one guessing cannot find the shoe in three guesses, the blindfold is replaced and play continues as before.

Vignettes

A common game at 19th Century house parties was quite similar to the modern game of charades, but with a few key differences:

• The group was split into several groups, generally no larger than 4 people, though often consisting of couples.
• Each group drew a slip of paper, on which was written a scene from literature that would be familiar to the other guests.
• The groups were then given a set amount of time and a collection of "costumes" (often little more than lengths of fabric to wear over their clothing, items which might serve as a stand-in for a weapon, homemade accessories like crowns, etc). They spent this time devising a means of silently reenacting the scene they had drawn and could use what costume pieces they thought might be helpful.
• The guests reassembled and each team took turns acting out their scenes. Like the modern game of charades, no words or sounds were permitted--everything was done in pantomime. The other teams would attempt to guess what their opponents were portraying.
• Small prizes, not unlike party favors, were awarded to those teams who were said to have the best reenactment, those who guessed the most scenes correctly, those that were the most creative, etc.