church might have wished for the Twelve Days of Christmas to be entirely devoted to a celebration of Christ, the unruly mayhem continued, with its highpoint often coming on Epiphany or Twelfth Night (hence Shakespeare’s play of the same name, which is full of drinking, pranks and cross-dressing). And a new practice was emerging – or, at least, an old one in a slightly different guise. Starting in the late medieval period, the kings of France had begun electing their own Christmas rulers to preside over the celebrations – the kings of Saturnalia and the Popes of Fools made
