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Family history is so much more than names and dates

Category: customs and traditions

Easter 1890

Easter 1890

Posted on April 20, 2025April 20, 2025 by HarrietP
Easter 1890. Easter 2025 feels really late, even for this movable feast. Which I guess isn’t surprising, given last year it was March 31; and (this year’s) April 20 is almost the limit of when... Read More
Palm Sunday & carlings

Palm Sunday & carlings

Posted on March 24, 2024March 24, 2024 by HarrietP
Palm Sunday may be a ‘big day’ in the Christian calendar, but ‘only’ in church. As a child, I remember walking home from Sunday school clutching a palm cross – handed out after we were remin... Read More
Shrove Tuesday customs

Shrove Tuesday customs

Posted on February 11, 2024February 11, 2024 by HarrietP
Shrove Tuesday = Pancake Day. That is pancakes as in crêpes, not American-style. Served with sugar and lemon juice. Or maybe Nutella, if you have a sweet tooth. Or flambéed with alcohol, for the gro... Read More
New Year’s Eve 1859-1867

New Year’s Eve 1859-1867

Posted on December 31, 2023December 31, 2023 by HarrietP
New Year’s Eve is traditionally a time for Reviews of the Year. Partly because people do like to reflect back on the previous 12 months, as they prepare to welcome in the next. But mainly because it... Read More
Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve

Posted on December 24, 2023December 24, 2023 by HarrietP
After labour’s long turmoil, Sorry fare and frequent fast,  Two-and-fifty weeks of toil, Pudding-time is come at last… This post is set to appear on December 24. So, while it will remain ‘o... Read More
Changing customs

Changing customs

Posted on December 23, 2022December 23, 2022 by HarrietP
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 – ruined by the Puritans!

May Day – ruined by the Puritans!

Posted on May 1, 2022May 1, 2022 by HarrietP
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 1803

Easter in Carlisle 1803

Posted on April 17, 2022April 17, 2022 by HarrietP
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
Holly, a unique Westmorland tradition

Holly, a unique Westmorland tradition

Posted on January 3, 2021January 22, 2021 by HarrietP
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
Christmas 1843 in Cumbria

Christmas 1843 in Cumbria

Posted on December 20, 2020January 22, 2021 by HarrietP
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
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