Twelfth Night

Tonight is Twelfth Night. It was, at one time, the occasion for much merrymaking, as celebrants prepared to wrap up the twelve nights of the Christmas season with revelry. Although Shakespeare's Twelfth Night is not set on the same night, it celebrates in the appropriate spirit. That comedy featuring confusion between lovers, cross-dressers, and disguised twins begins with the opening line: If music be the food of love, play on! The speaker of that line, Duke Orsino, is heartsick and hoping that an excess of music might quell his obsession with his indifferent beloved.

Hilarity ensues, and at one point, the fun-loving Sir Toby Belch inquires, Dost thou think, because thou are virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?

If you're caught up in the Twelfth Night merriment, you might assume Sir Toby's reference is to the twelfth cake, a cake baked with a bean or coin inside. On Twelfth Night, whoever gets served the slice containing the small object is declared the Lord of Misrule.

But cakes and ale actually has a less-food-specific sense: since at least as long ago as Shakespeare's day, cakes and ale has been shorthand for "the good things of life"; "pleasure, enjoyment." In fact, lexicographers have been known to take pleasure in the fact that the first known print appearance of cakes and ale dates to Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.