Changing customs – 2022 Changing customs – let’s start with very recent times! Christmas this year seems to have started before Bonfire Night. Hallowe’en was a wash-out, with heavy r...Read More
May Day celebrations have been more lamented than practised since the killjoy Puritans came on the scene, even if the village of Temple Sowerby still has a maypole (main image). Origins of May Day cel...Read More
Easter in Carlisle Easter in Carlisle has previously been mentioned on Cumbrian Characters, in a post on the public space by Carlisle Castle known as the Sorceries. The post covered the old tradition ...Read More
A look into a Twelfth Night tradition, involving holly, in Westmorland leads to the story of a worthy Cumbrian Character. But in this post, it’s all about the holly! Holly, a Brough-under-Stainmore ...Read More
Charles Dickens’ arguably most-popular work, A Christmas Carol, was published in 1843. It was also the year of the first Christmas card. So, how did folk in Westmorland celebrate Christmas 1843?’ ...Read More
Hallowe’en is a subdued affair in 2020, due to Covid-19 and lockdowns. But then in the UK, it mostly always was. The short history is that it became a Big Thing in the US, due to Scottish and Irish ...Read More
Wedding invitations are a mixed blessing for the recipient (I am not alone in thinking this, right?!). You have to set aside a weekend and spend a fortune on accommodation, getting there and back, a n...Read More
Cumbrian custom, or Solway custom? The following Cumbrian custom may not be unique to Bowness-on-Solway – or indeed be a uniquely Cumbrian custom. But in 1974, one elderly Bowness-on-Solway resident...Read More
Twelfth Night these days just means ‘time to take down the Christmas decorations’ – and a Shakespeare play – right? Well perhaps, but it used to mean a lot more. Twelfth cakes It is st...Read More
‘Christmas in Penrith’ as an historical search left Cumbrian Characters rather spoiled for choice of material. The year 1853 is totally random – but as good as any other, perhaps. Charle...Read More