Enchanting pagan characters will lead a mysterious procession along the South Bank for the Twelfth Night this weekend.
Actors from the Lions Part theatre company will appear as the Green Man and the Holly Man in a fascinating ceremony starting by Shakespeare’s Globe at midday on Sunday, January 5.
The Twelfth Night, a pagan-rooted festival dating back to the 6th century, celebrates the winter time, traditionally thought to be when natural and supernatural worlds collide.
The Thameside Twelfth Night celebration, which passes from the Globe, along the Thames, and to the historic site of Soap Yard in Borough Yards, is considered a must-see.
Visitors can expect to meet the Holly Man, the winter guise of the Green Man, decked in “fantastic green garb and evergreen foliage”.
They will be led to the Bankside Jetty for a traditional ‘freestyle’ performance of St. George Folk Combat Play, featuring bizarre characters like Turkey Sniper, Clever Legs, and the Old ‘Oss.
Cakes distributed at the end of the play have a bean and a pea hidden in two of them. Spectators who find them are hailed King and Queen for the day and crowned with the ceremony.
They then ‘dance’ the people along the Thames Path, through the remarkable Dirty Lane to the renovated Soap Yard in Borough Yards.
Here, there will be more dancing, storytelling, singing and a Kissing Wishing Tree.
Twelfth Night is an annual collective celebration of the New Year held in the Bankside area of London. Twelfth Night mixes ancient Midwinter seasonal customs and contemporary festivity. It is free, accessible to all and happens whatever the weather. Find out more here.