Historical Nibbles

The Twelve Days of Christmas

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by Sandra Merville Hart

The Twelve Days of Christmas isn’t just a song; it was a celebration of Jesus’s birth beginning on Christmas Day. This was the Day 1 or the first day of Christmas.

A saint was honored on each successive day. For instance, December 26th was Day 2. This is Boxing Day. St. Stephen was the one remembered on this day.

The Twelfth Night—or Epiphany Eve—is January 5th, the evening before the Twelfth Day when people celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany. January 6th is the final day of Christmas.

Folks hosted big parties on the Twelfth Night. They played music–usually bagpipes–and played games. Hostesses served Twelfth Night cake every year. It was a fun and festive event.

rock-partridge-50362_960_720Our beloved song, Twelve Days of Christmas, seems to have begun as a “memories—and—forfeits” game, as is printed in a children’s book in 1780, Mirth Without Mischief. The leader began the game by quoting a verse that the followers repeated. This continued until a player made a mistake, when that person paid a small forfeit or penalty—possibly a kiss.

This was one of the games played at Twelfth Night parties. When this and other games finished, guests sat down to enjoy a meal that included mince pies and Twelfth Night cake.

The Christmas season ended on January 6th, known as Epiphany. This day honors two events in Jesus’s life: the first event happened when the Magi traveled from the east to bring gifts to the newborn king, Jesus; and the second event took place when John the Baptist baptized Jesus.

the-three-magi-160632_960_720Many Christians across the world still celebrate Epiphany. Several countries including Austria, Italy, and Uruguay recognize this day as a public holiday.

Citizens of different countries celebrate Epiphany in various ways. For example, the children of Spain leave straw or grain for the horses of the three kings inside their shoes on Epiphany Eve, January 5th. They are delighted to find cookies or gifts has replaced the grain on Epiphany.

The three kings ride into many cities in Spain on Epiphany Eve. Drummers dressed in medieval costumes and military bands enter with the kings as part of the event.

Traditionally, the Twelve Days of Christmas has been much more than a fun song. Learning the history adds meaning to what we already love about the season.

Sources

“Epiphany,” Timeanddate.com, 2016/10/25  https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/common/epiphany.

“The Twelve Days of Christmas,” WhyChristmas.com, 2016/10/25  http://www.whychristmas.com/customs/12daysofchristmas.shtml.

“The Twelve Days of Christmas (Song,)” Wikipedia, 2016/10/25  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Days_of_Christmas_(song).

What was Wassailing?

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by Sandra Merville Hart

We often hear an old song at Christmas, “Here we come A-wassailing.” So what does this mean?

In Old English, the word wassail meant “be you healthy.”

Wassail were warm mulled drinks. The beverages became “mulled” when heated with spices and some type of sweetener. Early drinks were made with mead, where ale was sweetened with honey and then brewed. Crab apples were roasted and then added to the mead to create lambswool, a beverage. Folks drank lambswool to celebrate the wheat harvest on Lammas Day, an event observed by the English in August.

crabapple-193676_960_720Wassail later was made with mulled cider, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and sugar. Toasted bread topped the drinks served in a large bowl shared by everyone.

Wassailing referred to the tradition of caroling, with folks singing Christmas carols to neighbors. They brought greetings of the season as well as wishes for good health.

Generosity abounded at Christmas, at least in the hearts of some of the wealthier English citizens. Orphans and beggars often traveled snowy roads to knock on doors. They offered to sing of good cheer for a drink from the owner’s wassail bowl.

open-fire-885860_960_720They also hoped for a pork pie or an invitation to warm themselves around the fire.

The song also mentions their need of money: “We have got a little purse of stretching leather skin; We want a little of your money to line it well within.” The orphans hoped for pennies.

A hot drink on a cold winter’s night warmed the carolers’ spirits just as their songs cheered the listeners.

“Love and joy come to you”—Merry Christmas!

Sources

“Here We Come A-Wassailing,” Wikipedia, 2016/10/19 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_We_Come_A-wassailing.

“Wassail,” Wikipedia, 2016/10/19 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassail.

 

 

 

Silent Night

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by Sandra Merville Hart

Joseph Mohr, a young priest at St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, Austria, was asked to plan the music for that all-important service, Christmas Eve Mass.

1818 was an especially cold winter. Mohr strolled over snow-covered lanes to the village church hours before the service was to begin. The choir had practiced the songs. They were ready, even though snowy weather had prevented some from attending practices.

The church organ didn’t work. What could he do?

angel-8186_960_720He hurried to the home of Franz Gruber, a schoolteacher and musician friend. Whether he went there to talk about a poem he wrote or remembered while there is unclear. At some point in their conversation, Mohr showed a poem that he had written two years previously while he served at a church in Mariapfarr. He asked Gruber to compose music and guitar accompaniment for the Christmas poem.

That evening, Mohr and Gruber sang the song for the first time as the guitar played “Stille Nacht.” Singing four-part harmony, the choir repeated the last two lines of each stanza.

christmas-1010749_960_720Karl Mauracher, an organ repairman, came to St. Nicholas the following month. While Mauracher worked on the organ, Mohr told him of the new song sung on Christmas Eve, accompanied by guitar. Mohr sang “Stille Nacht” for Mauracher, who loved it so much that he taught the song to other churches.

Mohr died before his song became well-known throughout Europe. The problem was that folks assumed one of the famous composers, such as Mozart or Beethoven wrote the melody. Gruber’s claims that he wrote the tune didn’t dispel lingering doubts. It wasn’t until an original document by Mohr was found in 1995 that folks widely accepted Gruber’s claim. The manuscript showed that Mohr penned the poem in 1816 and the Gruber composed the music in 1818.

“Stille Nacht” has been translated into English as “Silent Night.” Two centuries later, the carol is still sung every Christmas season. The talents of these two men live on in this song.

Sources

Collins, Ace. Stories Behind the Greatest Hits of Christmas, Zondervan, 2010.

Egan, Bill. “Silent Night: The Song Heard ‘Round the World,” Silentnight.web.za, 2016/10/27 http://www.silentnight.web.za/history/index.htm.

“Silent Night,” Wikipedia, 2016/10/27  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Night.

Ten Christmas Songs that Mention Food

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by Sandra Merville Hart

It’s that time of year again. Shoppers hear Christmas tunes in malls and stores while selecting the perfect sweater for Grandpa. Radio stations play familiar carols as commuters rush from one store to the next searching for the video game that tops their teenager’s wish list.

pumpkin-pie-520655_960_720We hum the tunes and suddenly remember that lunch was hours ago. It’s funny to think that several of our favorites mention food.

Here’s a list of ten traditional Christmas songs that mention food or drink:

  • “The Christmas Song” – Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
  • “Let it Snow” – And I’ve brought some corn for popping 
  • “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas” – With candy canes and silver lanes aglow
  • “Over the River and Through the Woods” – Hurrah for fun; the pudding’s done, Hurrah for pumpkin pie.
  • “The Wassail Song” – Love and joy come to you, and to your wassail, too
  • “Sleigh Ride” – When they pass around the coffee and the pumpkin pie
  • “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree” – Later we’ll have some pumpkin pie
  • “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” – Marshmallows for toasting
  • “Home for the Holidays” – And some homemade pumpkin pie
  • “We wish you a Merry Christmas” – Oh, bring us a figgy pudding

 chestnuts-789518_960_720So if you find yourself a bit hungry while Christmas shopping, it may be the songs you are humming along to from the sound system!

Merry Christmas!

 

Sources

“Christmas Lyrics,” Mikeleal.com,  2016/10/19 http://www.mikeleal.com/christmas/songs.html.”

 

https://www.amazon.com/Sandra-Merville-Hart/e/B00OBSJ3PU/

Old-fashioned Plum Pudding

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by Sandra Merville Hart

In the spirit of traditional cooking and baking for Christmas, I searched for long-ago recipes made for the holiday feast. Plum pudding was often served at the meal. Though there were several recipes in an 1877 cookbook and one in an 1841 cookbook, they all had one thing in common—none of them used plums! No fresh plums, dried plums, or prunes were called for in any plum pudding. That surprised me.

img_2472I decided to try an 1840s recipe for plum pudding. Shopping for a few of the ingredients was challenging: currants, candied lemon, and candied citron were harder to find than raisins.

The pudding was to be boiled in a “fine, close linen cloth.” I intended to use cheesecloth, which advertised steaming as one of its culinary uses. The paper-thin weave on the cloth gave me second thoughts. Since I had baked One-two-three-four Pudding in the oven and then steamed it, I decided to do that instead with this plum pudding.

img_2473In a large bowl, cream together ½ pound of butter (2 sticks) and ½ cup of sugar. (The 1841 recipe called for a half-pound of chopped suet—the hard white fat found on kidneys and loins of sheep or cattle—but this can be substituted for butter.) Beat 4 eggs separately and add to creamed mixture. Then add one teaspoon each of nutmeg, cinnamon, and ground mace. Mix well.

Combine ½ cup flour, ½ cup bread crumbs, and 1 teaspoon of salt in a separate bowl. Add 1 cup of raisins to the dry mixture and coat them. (I used my hands instead of a spoon for this part.) Then add 1 cup of currants (these look like tiny raisins) and coat these as well.

Add a heaping tablespoon of candied lemon and a heaping tablespoon of candied citron to the dry mixture and stir to coat. (I forgot to add these until after baking, so I scattered them over the top before steaming. This worked fine, too.)

Use cooking spray on an 8×8 pan to bake the pudding at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Then I steamed the plum pudding over a kettle of boiling water for two hours. (I will use a glass baking dish next time and steam it in the oven. My goal is to learn how our early bakers prepared recipes.)

img_2479For pudding sauce, cream together 4 tablespoons of butter and ½ cup of sugar. Then stir in a teaspoon of vanilla extract or use a ½ teaspoon of nutmeg if you prefer. Cook in a saucepan over medium heat until gently bubbling. Pour over individual servings.

With the candied fruit, it looked—and tasted!—a whole lot like those fruit cakes my dad used to purchase at Christmas. If you like fruit cakes, you will probably enjoy this plum pudding.

The sauce tasted delicious but those who don’t love vanilla as much as I do may prefer to use only a ½ teaspoon.

I’d love to hear if you try this recipe!

Sources

Hale, Sarah Josepha. Early American Cookery, Dover Publications, Applewood Books,  1996.

 

 

 

Roasting a Turkey over the Fire – 1840s Recipe

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Roasted turkey appears to be as popular for Thanksgiving dinner in the 1840s as it is today, though hard-working cooks prepared their meat a bit differently back then.

butter-1449453_960_720Hale suggested making the stuffing using two cups of bread crumbs and one cup of butter. (Minced suet—the hard white fat found on kidneys and loins of sheep or cattle—could be substituted for the butter. Modern cooks will likely choose butter.) Beat three egg yolks well and then add about a teaspoon of finely chopped parsley, a fourth of a grated nutmeg, and one teaspoon of powdered lemon peel. Add teaspoon of allspice and salt. This mixture is then added to the bread and butter until thoroughly combined.

eggs-1278166_960_720She gave an alternate suggestion for stuffing: beat two egg yolks then combine with cup of sausage and a cup of bread crumbs.

Use either of these bread mixtures to stuff the turkey.

Dredge the turkey all over with flour then lay it in front of the fire with the stuffing side closest to the flame. The recipe does not mention a roasting pan though it seems likely they used something to protect the meat from scorching, possibly a cold gridiron as is used for broiling chicken in another recipe.

Hale mentioned that placing a strip of paper over the breast bone prevents scorching.

Until the turkey begins to produce drippings, baste with either butter or water with salt. Then use turkey drippings to baste the meat.

backdrop-22024_960_720When the meat is almost done, dredge it with flour once more and then baste it with butter.

Hale advises that large turkeys require three hours of roasting, though no mention was made of actual number of pounds.

Roasted turkey was often consumed with ham or tongue. Stewed cranberries were served as a side dish then as now.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Hale, Sarah Josepha. Early American Cookery, Dover Publications, 1996.

 

 

 

Almost an Author post – What Lincoln Teaches us about Effective Writing in the Gettysburg Address

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November 19, 1863: Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address

abraham-lincoln-60558_960_720President Abraham Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg for the dedication of a military cemetery. Edward Everett, the main speaker at the event, spoke for two hours. Then the President stepped to the front to deliver the “few appropriate remarks” requested of him.

The President spoke for about two minutes. Applause interrupted his speech at times. Some expressed disappointment over the length of his talk, which was probably highlighted all the more by Everett’s speech. Yet, history records every word spoken by Lincoln to commemorate this important event.

You are invited to read my post about Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address on Almost an Author.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Buckeye Christian Fiction Christmas Book Lovers Party

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How far should Carrie go to help one of the Yankees responsible for destroying nearby Chattanooga while her dear father fights for the Confederacy in far-off Virginia?

stranger-cover_-new-appleIf you like Civil War history or histfic, give this story a try! Available in ebook, Kindle Unlimited, and paperback.

A Stranger On My Land is the book that Sandra Merville Hart will be highlighting during her time at this Facebook Party. Join Michelle Levigne, Sandra Merville Hart, Saundra Staats McLemore, Tamera Lynn Kraft, Carole Brown, Sharon A. Lavy, and Teresa Hooley Slack at a Facebook Party on Thursday, November 17th, from 6 pm to 9:30 pm Eastern. We’d love to chat with you at the Buckeye Christian Fiction Christmas Book Lovers Party!

Stewed Carrots

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I know that a recipe for stewed carrots from an 1877 cookbook isn’t the most exciting dish, but this dish added a bit of flavor and interest to the vegetable.

img_2392The carrots I had on hand were the peeled baby carrots. I sliced a half pound of these once lengthwise. Though I usually steam this vegetable, I boiled them as directed by Mrs. C.T.C. on a medium high heat. They were tender and ready for the next step in about a half hour.

In another saucepan, melt two tablespoons of butter and add about a cup of milk. Salt and pepper to taste and then cook over medium low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring often.

img_2394Remove the carrots by the pan with a slotted spoon into a serving dish. Dissolve a tablespoon of flour in about twice as much water and add to the creamy sauce left in the pot. (Use less flour if you don’t want the sauce to be as thick. Next time I will try a teaspoon of flour for pourable consistency.)

Stirring constantly, allow the gravy to boil at least a minute. Then pour it over the carrots and serve.

Both my husband and I liked carrots prepared this way. If you want to jazz up carrots at supper one evening, consider trying this recipe. The preparations took about an hour.

Enjoy! I’d love to hear if you try this recipe.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Compiled from Original Recipes. Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping, Applewood Books, 1877.