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Family history is so much more than names and dates

Category: customs and traditions

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
Hallowe’en in the ‘pagan borderlands’

Hallowe’en in the ‘pagan borderlands’

Posted on October 31, 2020January 22, 2021 by HarrietP
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 with a Cumbrian twist

Wedding invitations with a Cumbrian twist

Posted on July 26, 2020October 31, 2020 by HarrietP
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
Invitation to a funeral: a Cumbrian custom

Invitation to a funeral: a Cumbrian custom

Posted on January 26, 2020January 21, 2022 by HarrietP
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 – and twelfth cakes

Twelfth Night – and twelfth cakes

Posted on January 5, 2019October 31, 2020 by HarrietP
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 – in 1853

Christmas in Penrith – in 1853

Posted on December 23, 2018October 31, 2020 by HarrietP
‘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

Port Carlisle – a history built on hope

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f41pHZq1Un8

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