First Sunday of Advent

Spera (Hope)

  

Advent
Christina Rossetti 

This Advent moon shines cold and clear,
  These Advent nights are long;
Our lamps have burned year after year
  And still their flame is strong.
'Watchman, what of the night?' we cry,
  Heart-sick with hope deferred:
'No speaking signs are in the sky,'
  Is still the watchman's word.

The Porter watches at the gate,
  The servants watch within;
The watch is long betimes and late,
  The prize is slow to win.
'Watchman, what of the night?' But still
  His answer sounds the same:
'No daybreak tops the utmost hill,
  Nor pale our lamps of flame.'

One to another hear them speak
  The patient virgins wise:
'Surely He is not far to seek'—
  'All night we watch and rise.'
'The days are evil looking back,
  The coming days are dim;
Yet count we not His promise slack,
  But watch and wait for Him.'

One with another, soul with soul,
  They kindle fire from fire:
'Friends watch us who have touched the goal.'
  'They urge us, come up higher.'
'With them shall rest our waysore feet,
  With them is built our home,
With Christ.'—'They sweet, but He most sweet,
  Sweeter than honeycomb.'

There no more parting, no more pain,
  The distant ones brought near,
The lost so long are found again,
  Long lost but longer dear:
Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard,
  Nor heart conceived that rest,
With them our good things long deferred,
  With Jesus Christ our Best.

We weep because the night is long,
  We laugh for day shall rise,
We sing a slow contented song
  And knock at Paradise.
Weeping we hold Him fast, Who wept
  For us, we hold Him fast;
And will not let Him go except
  He bless us first or last.

Weeping we hold Him fast to-night;
  We will not let Him go
Till daybreak smite our wearied sight
  And summer smite the snow:
Then figs shall bud, and dove with dove
  Shall coo the livelong day;
Then He shall say, 'Arise, My love,
  My fair one, come away.'

(Image: Kim's Cottage Art)

Stir-Up Sunday

"Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." (Collect for the Sunday before Advent.)

The traditional Christmas pudding so beloved by the English is mixed the week before Advent begins, so that the pudding can age by Christmas Day. This "pudding" is actually a rich fruitcake, and is steamed instead of baked. You should stir the pudding "east to west" (the same direction the Wise Men would have traveled) and recite the Sunday collect as you do.

This recipe is from James Beard:

•     2 pounds raisins
•     2 pounds sultana (golden) raisins
•     2 pounds dried currants
•     4 tart apples, finely chopped
•     3/4 pound mixed citron, lemon, and orange peel
•     1/2 pound chopped blanched almonds
•     2 pounds beef suet, chopped*
•     3 cups flour
•     3 to 4 cups fresh bread crumbs
•     2 teaspoons salt
•     1 teaspoon cinnamon
•     1 teaspoon mace
•     1 teaspoon nutmeg
•     1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
•     1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
•     1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
•     3 lemons
•     1 cup cognac
•     1 cup Grand Marnier or Cointreau
•     12 eggs, beaten

Combine raisins, sultana raisins, and currants in a large bowl. Add apples, mixed citron peel, blanched almonds, and beef suet. Combine all this with flour and bread crumbs. For spice add salt, cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, ground cloves, ground ginger, and ground allspice. Mix very thoroughly with your hands, then add the juice and grated rind from the lemons, cognac, Grand Marnier or Cointreau, and eggs. You will notice there is no sugar in this recipe—you don’t need it with the sweetness in the other ingredients.

Mix again with your hands, and if there is not enough liquid, add more cognac or Grand Marnier, or even beer. It must be well bound together and thoroughly mixed, but should not be a tight dough. Cover with foil and let stand to mellow for a day or two or even three, before cooking. Then taste and see if it lacks salt, spice, or spirits.

Fill your pudding basins or molds with the mixture, leaving some room for expansion. Put on the lids if you are using covered molds, or tie around the basins or bowls cloths that have been wrung out in hot water and dusted with flour. Tie foil over the cloths. Stand molds on a rack in a deep saucepan, add water to come halfway up the molds or basins, cover the pan, bring to a boil, and boil from 6 to 8 hours, depending on size, adding more water if it boils away.

Remove from the heat and let the puddings cool in the pans. Once they are cool, remove them from the basins and wrap in cheesecloth, then in foil. Keep the puddings in a cool place for several weeks or months (not necessarily in the refrigerator, although this is a good place to store them if you have room). While they are ripening you can unwrap them periodically and add more cognac or other spirits. Piercing the puddings with a fine skewer or needle makes this process easier.

Yield

3 to 4 puddings, depending on the size of the mold.

Feast of All Souls

Following Hallowe'en (All Hallow's [Saint's] Eve) and All Saints Day is All Souls Day, when you pray for the souls of those who are not quite ready for Heaven. This is related to the Hispanic holiday growing more popular in the current years, Day of the Dead, in which family members visit the graves of the dead, clean the gravesites, and pray for the souls of departed family members.

More about All Souls Day on Catholic Online.

 

Michaelmas

Otherwise known as the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel. This holiday was once an important festival on the calendar, relating to the harvest and the autumn. The traditional dish for the day was goose, ensuring a fruitful year.

St. Michael is the patron saint of police officers, soldiers, mariners, firefighters, EMTs, and others who put their lives in danger through their work. St. Michael medals are often popular in police departments and military barracks. He is known as one of the four angels who defended the Kingdom of God from Satan and the legions of the fallen. As in the icon to the right, he is usually portrayed as carrying a sword in order to accomplish his mission of defending the good. St. Michael also acts as guide to the souls of the deceased.

Purple asters with their yellow centers are also known as Michaelmas daisies as they grown around the date of Michaelmas.

In some British universities, the autumn term is known as the Michaelmas term.

The Abbot's Circle: The Story of Michaelmas 

National Trust for Scotland: Michaelmas Traditions

The Feast of St. Michael

Catholic Culture: Traditions of Michaelmas Day

Historic UK: Michaelmas 

Poetry and More

A West Country Christmas, edited by Chris Smith

This is another of Alan Sutton publishing's "Christmas Anthologies," which contain short excerpts of Christmas/Christmastide passages from various British novels, memoirs, and poetry books, with the action taking place in the shire or historical era denoted in the title.

Covering England's "West Country" (Cornwall and Somerset), known for their oft-parodied "z" accents, this particular volume is almost half-filled with poetry from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Herrick, Christina Rossetti, Charles Kingsley, and others. Contributors of prose include Conan Doyle with an excerpt from Hound of the Baskervilles (although it really had nothing to do with Christmas), Agatha Christie (Poirot celebrates the holidays), Daphne DuMaurier, Blackmore's Lorna Doone, and Thomas Hardy.

The Glastonbury Thorn, the legendary tree that supposedly blooms every year on "the real Christmas" (by the Julian calendar, now January 7), has its own chapter, as does the West Country tradition of mumming. Other memoirs tell of old-fashioned Christmases with simple toys and reveling, there is—of course—a ghost story or two, there's a long chapter with Christmas excerpts from West Country newspapers, and even the amazing story of a shepherd who saves 66 sheep from freezing on a snowy night by carrying them back two by two to a barn. Old engravings, photographs, and advertisements complete this interesting volume.

Everything That's Christmas: Memoirs, Memories, and Ghosts!

A Warwickshire Christmas, edited by David Green
This is another in Alan Sutton publishing's line of Christmas books, either from English shires (their equivalent of a county) or during a certain time or literary period. Having picked up one (Worcestershire Christmas) at a book sale, I've collected one or two at the time when I can find them inexpensively. I've collected all the regional ones now, and this is the third from the last.

The contents of these books are kind of a coin toss. Sometimes it's obvious that there aren't a lot of Christmas writings from the particular shire and they have tossed in winter observances like the weather or references to cold weather or they've included the "St. George and the Dragon" play in its entirety. This volume, however is crammed with memoirs of holiday celebrations from the POV from all walks in life, from Daisy England, a poor child whose father left the family and who eventually ended up in the workhouse, to the Christmases celebrated by Frances, Countess of Warwick. Three contributions are from Ursula Bloom, a prolific writer of 560 books, from childhood memories to ghost stories she was told by a family servant. Vivian Bird recalls a chill, cheerless Christmas in which he was serving in the Army during the Second World War. There are excerpts from Silas Marner, another George Eliot novel Brother Jacob, and two excerpts from Washington Irving's Old Christmas (a part of The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon), as well as a short account of Christmas at Aston Hall, the prototype for Irving's Bracebridge Hall. There are accounts of meager Christmases in poor homes and bountiful Yuletides at manor homes, and even a fascinating article talking about stagecoaches—you are used to seeing stagecoaches in Western movies with passengers riding inside and the driver and the person "riding shotgun" on the outside, but, on British stagecoaches at least, passengers who paid less actually rode outside.

Plus there are illustrations and many many nostalgic photos of snowy lanes and old-fashioned sights like poultry shops and horse-drawn vehicles. One of the best Sutton Christmas anthologies!