Friday, December 29, 2017

Happy New Years -- Scottish Style




Ever heard of Hogmanay?  Well, it is Scotland's New Years celebration.  The celebrating runs longer and has many traditions that find their roots in ancient times.  They echo back to the Twelve Days of Christmas, where you held Christmas Eve, Christmas and Boxing Day, and celebrated through Twelfth Night.


My family kept Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for family only.  On Boxing Day, we would get out the sleighs (used to be more snow back then!) and go visiting.  We took gifts to neighbors and friends.  I thought this day more fun.  Riding in the old-fashioned sleighs, and being welcomed into homes for eggnog or warmed cider to shake off the chill, were such wonderful memories.  Sadly, the sleighs haven’t been used for years, as we see fewer and fewer White Christmases.  Also, the family has scattered and finds it harder to come together like we used to.


With the end of Christmas, the celebrations in America basically slow.  Decorations are taken down and stored for another year.  On the other side of the Pond, amazing Hogmanay parties in Scotland are just getting underway, and in some instances lasting over several days.



The Hogmanay name first showed in written records around the early 1600s, but many of the traditions come from a time much older.  Some suggest the name stems from be old Norman French of hoguinan (New Years gift).  Since the Auld Alliance saw France and Scotland sharing trade and cultures it seems reasonable.  A more likely explanation is it could be a variation of Scots Gaelic og maidne (young morning).  Still, the Flemish hoog min dag (great love day) might also be the source.  Whichever, it shows perhaps several cultures developed the holiday along the same lines, and that it wasn't just confined to Scotland.  One has no stronger provable claim to the name than another.
There are many celebrations or simple street festivals, but also you can discover the great, awe-inspiring fire-festivals—of interest to people who love history, but also eye-opening to those unfamiliar with the ancient traditions.  These festivals still practice rites and rituals that go back to Pagan times, maybe thousands of years.  It’s not hard to find concerts, parties, fireworks and balefires, as well offer a wide range of Scottish fare to satisfy your culinary tastes.



First Footing is one of the customs I always enjoyed.  It was considered very unlucky for a redheaded man or women to cross the threshold after the final stroke of midnight.  Not wanting to start the year off on the wrong foot, it was hoped a tall, black-haired, handsome man would arrive at the stroke of twelve.  This leads to a wee bit of mischief, such as picking a likely lad who fits the bill, handing him a bottle of Single Malt, and sticking him outside, to cross back over at the appointed time.  After all, who wouldn't want a tall, handsome, black-haired man to come a calling on the stroke of New Years?

Redding the House is a tradition of a “clean sweep”.  It is easy to understand where this one aims—sweeping the house clear of influence of the departing year, and giving you a fresh start.  You sweep out the house and clean the fireplaces.  Taking out the ashes can see the practice of a scrying skill of Reading the Ashes, foretelling the future much in the manner of reading tea leaves.  You are sweeping away all the negative influences that have held sway through the departing year.  Once that is done, all brooms and brushes are taken outside and burnt.  Keeping old ones invites the negative back in, so you start the year with new hair bushes, mops, small sweeps and brooms.  Once that is done, you use lavender, cedar and juniper branches to purify the house, dragging these over windows and doors to protect the house and seal it away from evil spirits.  Then, you burn them in the fireplace, the final step to purify the chimney.  Thus, you start the New Years all anew.



The bonfires and fire-festival are rooted in Pagan Pictish, Celtic or Norse origins.  As reflected in the burning of the lavender, cedar and juniper clearing the air of negative influences, these fire-festivals are a purifying of the land.  When the fires died and the ashes cooled, they were spread on farmland.  In truth, this potash a fertilizer that helps keep the land arable, promoting good root growth and higher crop production.  As with many ancient Pagan traditions, there is a rite, but also a logical purpose behind it.  A newer celebration, but gaining more and more attention worldwide—is Up Helly Aa in the Shetland Isles.  What an amazing festival!  There is nothing like it!  However, you can still find fire festivals at Stonehaven, Comrie and Biggar, and even Edinburgh has added this element in their Hogmanay celebrations.


Do you sing Auld Lang Syne at New Years without truly understanding the tradition is Scottish?  All over the world every year people sing Robert Burns’ version of the traditional Scottish Air In Edinburg’s Hogmanay, people join hands for what is reputed to be the world's biggest Auld Lang Syne singing.



Another odd tradition is the Saining of the House.  You find this mostly in rural areas, a tradition that involved blessing the house and livestock with holy water from a local stream.  After nearly dying out, you are seeing a revival in recent years.  Not surprising since Annis, the goddess of wells and streams is one of the oldest Pagan deities in Scotland.  You still see her Clootie Wells dotting the landscape, wells dedicated to her honor (where wishing wells come from).  After the house, land and stock are blessed, the females of the house, once more, perform a purifying ritual, of carrying burning juniper branches inside to fill the house with the cleansing smoke.  Notice, the commonality with the Redding the House?  Once the house was filled with smoke, driving out the evil influences, the windows were opened and whisky would be passed around.



These festivals grew in popularity after the banning of Christmas  in the 16th and 17th centuries. Under Oliver Cromwell, Parliament banned Christmas celebrations in 1647.  The ban was lifted after Cromwell's downfall in 1660.  However, in Scotland, the stricter Scottish Presbyterian Church had been discouraging Christmas celebrations  as having no basis in the Bible, from as early as 1583.  Thus, even after the Cromwellian ban was lifted elsewhere, Christmas festivities continued to be discouraged in Scotland.  In fact, Christmas remained a normal working day in Scotland until 1958 and Boxing Day did not become a National Holiday until much later.  Slowly, people began to go back to memories of olden days to find ways to make merry and celebrate.  Thus, Hogmanay became a mid-winter celebration to chase away the darkness and welcome the light.





Friday, December 22, 2017

Celebration of Tom Bowcock's Eve in Cornwall


Well, take Candy out tomorrow to celebrate this wonderfully quaint holiday
Bowcock's Eve in Cornwall, England

Tom Bawcock's Eve is an annual festival, held on 23 December, in Mousehole, Cornwall,  England.
The festival is held in celebration and memorial of the efforts of legendary Mousehole resident Tom Bawcock to lift a famine from the village by going out to fish in a severe storm. During this festival Stargazy pie (a mixed fish, egg and potato pie with protruding fish heads) is eaten and depending on the year of celebration a lantern procession takes place.




FOR THE CRUST:
2 1⁄4 cups flour, plus more for dusting
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. mustard powder
12 tbsp. unsalted butter
6 tbsp. ice-cold water

FOR THE FILLING:
6 slices bacon, cut into one inch pieces
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
1⁄2 cup chicken stock
1⁄3 cup crème fraîche
2 tbsp. English mustard
2 tbsp. finely chopped parsley
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 eggs, beaten
salt and pepper, to taste|
8 fresh sardines, cleaned, heads attached
3 eggs, hard-boiled, peeled, and sliced

Instructions
Crust: Whisk flour, mustard, and salt in a bowl. Using blend butter into flour mixture, forming pea-size crumbles. Add water.  Work dough until smooth but with visible flecks of butter. Divide dough in half and flatten into disks. Wrap disks in plastic wrap; chill 1 hour before using.
Filling: Heat bacon in a 4-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat.  Cook until slightly crisp, 5–7 minutes. Transfer bacon to paper towels to drain. Add butter and onion to pan.  Cook until golden, 5–7 minutes. Remove from heat; whisk in stock, crème fraîche, mustard, parsley, lemon juice, half the egg, and salt; set aside.

Heat oven to 400°. On a lightly floured surface, roll 1 disk of dough into a 12” round. Fit into a 9” pie plate; trim edges, leaving 1” dough overhanging edge of plate. Arrange sardines in a clocklike pattern with heads resting along edge of crust. Pour filling over sardines; top with reserved bacon, the hard-boiled eggs, salt, and pepper. Roll remaining disk of dough into a 12” round; cut eight 1” slits in dough about 2” from the edge. Place over top of pie and pull sardine heads through slits. Pinch top and bottom edges together and fold under; crimp edges. Brush with remaining egg and cut three 1”-long slits in top of pie; bake until crust is golden and filling is bubbling, 35–40 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.








Happy Bowcock's Eve!!!


Friday, December 15, 2017

Interview posted



http://www.cherylholloway.net/blog/2017/12/15/guest-author-interview-lindsay-townsend-and-deborah-macgillivray/


Saturday, December 9, 2017

Three Days of One Knight Stand - Sunday Edition



Deborah Macgillivray - A Marriage Made In Hell

  Essence of the game is deception...

When her half-sister refuses to marry the powerful earl of Hellborne, Greyson de Verre, Lesslyn de Sancerre sees the chance to have a life, a home and a husband of her own, so she agrees to take her sister's place.  Her sister, in turn, is off to elope with the man she has fallen in love with.  Everything appears fated in this pact the two women seal.  What seemed like a logical solution at the time soon becomes a battle to keep ahead of the lies.  Lesslyn quickly learns plots and schemes are easily concocted, but realities arising from the falsehoods are a different matter altogether.  Especially, when she is quickly falling in love with Greyson de Verre...her husband to be. 
Commanded to wed by royal decree...

When Edward Plantagenet demands you must marry, you have little options...or do you?  King Edward has commanded that the earl of Hellborne must marry the heiress of Sancerre.  After all a bargain is a bargain—even if the earl views the coming marriage with disdain.  Only, the enigmatic lord of Hellborne needs must wed on Yuletide. . .so wed he shall...no matter what.   
Even if it is a Marriage Made in Hell. . .




Lindsay Townsend - Sir Constantine and the Changeling
                                                                          
He had hurt and betrayed her in the worst way possible. Could Kari and Constantine save their marriage? In a medieval world that believed in God, saints, spirits and the fey, there were also darker forces to be feared. Malicious fairies could steal human babies away or substitue their own children—changelings. Kari and Constantine have been apart for two years, he on crusade in the Holy Land, she left behind in his lands to raise their unborn child alone. When her husband returns with his Templar brother Hadrian in tow, the separation she and Constantine have endured, plus Hadrian’s evil influence, leads to terrible accusations between them. Her husband thinks now that her beloved baby son Valentine might be a changeling. In the face of such a charge, and remembering an older tragedy, Kari feels she has no choice but to flee Constantine’s homeland and retreat to her own country of the high waterlands.   Constantine follows her. Realising what he has done, he begs his wife to return with him, but can Kari trust him again? And will he ever accept Valentine as his true son? At the time of Yule, many things are possible, and as Kari and Constantine strive to rebuild their relationship, the snows, an old hut and the Yule Goat will all play vital parts.

 


Cynthia Breeding – Twelfth Knight

Isobel De Lacy’s guardian, Baron Roger De Lacy, is set to join King Richard in Outremer directly after the winter Solstice.  Before he leaves he wants to make sure his niece is married. His groom of choice is Sir Guy of Gisborne, henchman to the Sheriff of Nottingham, and notorious for being heavy-fisted.
            Isobel would rather sacrifice herself to the Great Horned God before that happened.
            While gathering holly in the woods, she stumbles across an injured knight and takes him back to the castle to be looked after.  He turns out to be Sir William of Barnsdale, nephew to the Earl of Huntingdon. Isobel hatches a plan. The powerful earl can keep her safe from Gisborne and, when Sir William chivalrously agrees to help her escape, she decides perhaps the auld gods have sent her a Yuletide gift.
            But as they ride through Sherwood Forest, she finds that “gift” to be much more than she had anticipated.



Angela Raines - Gunvar’s Gift


The clashing of cultures, the memory of childhood, each pulled at Gerold and Annika as fate and a bit of magic conspired to bring them together. 

Gerold and his friends are among a group fighting the Northmen who have invaded their country, and for Gerold it is even more personal. 

Annika, a Shield Maiden in the army of Northmen is out for revenge with those who killed her beloved father, Gunvar.  Could love and understanding bring about miracles at such a special time of year? 

 

Keena Kincaid - Five Yules



The New One: Waleran de Marche promised not to marry her, but it was a vow he couldn’t keep. Cateline de Armiens possesses the land and coin he needs to distance himself from his father and the coming war in England.
Cate is tired of broken promises and betrayal. When Wal vows to keep her safe and secure, she ignores his promise and welcomes his departure on royal errands. In his absence, she creates a home without him, and finds his return each Yule an annoyance, not a joyful homecoming.

But when the king’s enemy takes her hostage, she will learn just how far her husband will go to keep his word to protect her—but will he reach her in time to save her life and their marriage or will this be their last Yule?





Patti Sherry-Crews - The Protector

 What can Juliana Basset, the daughter of an English merchant, have done to put her in the sights of the most powerful men in the country? It’s not what’s she’s done but what she knows. She harbors a secret that could topple the monarchy. A knight, Sir William, is sent to take her into protection until things settle down.

Stowing her away in a convent until things settle down seems like a good idea. Except Juliana stumbles upon yet another secret while there. Things are not adding up at the convent—literally. When she can't help but dig around, the place of sanctuary could be the death of her. Trying to keep the lovely lady out of harm's way turns out to be more of a challenge than Sir William anticipated.

 

Beverly Wells - The Gift

           
Sir Geoffrey Eton, captain of Sir Royce’s regiment is a hardened, gruff warrior. All his life he served England, protected others, and trained men. Tavern wenches satisfied his occasional needs. There simply was no necessity for a wife. Orphan, Heather Douglas grew up in an abbey in Scotland, loving life.

When she joins her best friend at the Scotland castle granted to Royce, she brings her smiles and laughter. She also brings her flawed leg, her stubbornness and determination. Will her bright smile and charm be the weapons to finally take down the mighty warrior Geoffrey’s resistance?  
     

 


 Dawn Thompson – A Wish Under a Yuletide Moon

It was under the cold Yuletide moon when Garlon Trivelyan, Knight of the Realm, heard the sirens keen—just before the ship hit Land’s End shoals.  As the galley broke apart, he felt something keeping him afloat in the icy waters, nudging him toward shore.  He suddenly found himself on the beach, his arm deeply wounded.  His blood black under the silver moonlight.  Garlon knew he was dying so he made a wish to live, never remotely believing that final request could be answered.  Too late he recalled the warning: be careful for what you wish.
Annalee, the goddess of the wishing well, heard the mortal’s plea—and answered it.  Now Garlon Trevilyan was trapped in the land of the Fae on the night of Yule, where magic could save a dying man’s life.  But at what price?


Answer today's question to win a beautiful Tradesize print copy of One Winter Knight



Sunday’s Question:

If you had to go back in time to the era of Knights and Ladies, and could only take three things from your modern world to make life easier, what would that be?

 
Sunday Win a copy of One Yuletide Knight

and

One Grand Prize Winner of all three books




Happy Holidays!!!

Three Days of One Knight Stands - Saturday Edition





Lindsay Townsend – Sir Thomas and the Snow Troll
 
Two lost souls, striving through long winter nights and days, find each other—but can they begin to truly live?

Sir Thomas no longer knows who he is, or even who his natural father is. Adrift, Thomas sets out on a winter journey to discover more, finding adventure and passion on the way that he ever expected. Fiery Ruth, a young woman who has escaped a terrible servitude to live alone in the northern forest, is proud of her independence from all others...but can Thomas protect her from the dreaded and terrible Snow Troll?



                                                                          
Deborah Macgillivray — ARROW TO THE HEART (a Dragons of Challon ™ novella)

In the season of Yuletide, when the Holly and Oak Kings battle, the magic of love can be an arrow to the heart.

Fletcher St. Giles had always felt alone.  But being a bastard rarely troubled his mind…until Lady Geljon Seacrest came to the mighty fortress of Coinnleir Wood.  Though Geljon was betrothed to another, she vexed him at every turn, following him like a shadow.  With little to offer a woman of her station, Fletcher kept his distance.  Only, denied love became an arrow to the heart.  In the season of Yuletide, all things are possible…and even wishes of the heart can be granted.





Patti Sherry-Crews  To Play With Cats

Will he give up his dreams to follow his heart?

Caterina Glanville is sent to live in the household of the earl in order to make a match. Life at the castle is not easy—and is complicated by the arrival of a handsome knight just before Christmas. Sir Hugh De Lacy is determined to make his own fortune. Rebuffed by a lady who can give him both wealth and title, he gets her attention by courting Cat. But Cat is a match that speaks to his heart. Will he choose wealth over love?  And when Cat finds she's been used, can she forgive Hugh?




Cynthia Breeding – Capture Her Heart

She had no idea her captor would capture her heart.

When Kaitlin Coltan is abducted, she assumes Adair MacDouglas is after a ransom.  Instead, her captor tells her he is after something far more important—revenge.  Kaitlin’s brother has taken Adair’s sister’s virginity—and returning Kate to her family ruined is the only just reward he can think of. But Adair is increasingly attracted to her and less willing to seek revenge, after all. Now, he must explain that to Kaitlin’s father and brother when they catch up to him—with a sword at his throat.



 Linda Carroll-Bradd – A Promise Kept

Will opposing political beliefs and family loyalty keep the lovers apart?

Thordia Ulfsdottir can’t wait for her brother to request payment for the sword he crafted—the money is needed for food. She demands an audience with the earl, but is thwarted by a knight. Rory MacGuignard flirts, thinking she’s come to provide entertainment. Realizing his mistake, Rory arranges a temporary job for this poor, but proud, woman. 

Time spent in his company softens Thordia’s heart, but political upheaval and family loyalty rip them apart. Can Thordia find a way back to Rory’s side?


 Beverly Wells — The Chalice 


Might the quest for the Chalice finally bring these two lonely, longing hearts together?

A brave, valiant knight he be, yet a foolish, vain man when faced with true love. She had loved him from afar, but could she now injure him to aid her mother? Might the quest for the chalice finally bring these two lonely, longing hearts together?


  
Cheryl Pierson My Forever Love

She only wants to marry her forever love…is that too much to ask?

Her mother’s plans for an arranged marriage send Noelle Breasal running into the woods to fend for herself at a nearby cabin. When a wounded soldier shows up in a snowstorm, she has no choice but to care for him—even when she realizes he may be the man she’s avoiding. Logan O’Malley swears to defend her from an evil rival for her hand, Dalon McTierney, when he finds them at the cottage

 An unavoidable fight to the death may see Noelle losing her forever love before she has a chance to claim him!




Keena Kincaid – Beyond All Else

His honor is the only reason she is alive, but his misplaced chivalry could get them both killed.

War. Murder. Alais of Roundtree hides amidst the chaos of civil war, stealing her daily bread and barely keeping ahead of pursuers. Grym, Earl of Warfield, finds the captured female thief an amusing break from the hunt for his brother’s murderer—until he realizes she has information he needs. Honor dictates his actions, but his interest in the thief takes a turn just as his brother’s killer targets him. 

Will he listen to Alais’s warnings or will he hold to honor and lose everything?



Answer today's question to win a beautiful Tradesize print copy of One Winter Knight




Saturday’s Question:  
Would you like to go back into Medieval Times?
Why yes or no?
 
Be sure to come back on Sunday 


Sunday Win a copy of One Yuletide Knight

and

One Grand Prize Winner of all three books