twelfth of never

Though originally taken from an old Anglo-Irish expression for a date which would never arrive and then used as a term of evasion and non-commitment, an outside of time celebration that occurs neither before nor after Christmas, in Newfoundland and Labrador Tibb’s Eve was unofficially pinned to the day before of Christmas Eve. Advent being a sacred and sober time, akin to Lent, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, most refrained imbibing until Christmas day. The night's festivities have evolved into a tradition of a pre-holiday gathering among friends ahead of the mandatory time spent with family. The folk etymology, a backronym, has Tibb as being a corruption of tipple or to get tipsy but first appears as a character in print in the early sixteen-hundreds as a familiar though indeterminate saint of questionable reputation and not known for keeping promises.