Category: Europe

Posted on

St Distaff’s Day & the Triple Goddesses, January 7th

Spinning
Spinning—showing the distaff in the left hand and the spindle or rock in the right hand

I’m not sure what the Three Kings were doing on the day after Epiphany. But, the shepherds, if they were like medieval English farmworkers, would still be on holiday. They went back to work, traditionally, next Monday, which is Plough Monday. By contrast, the women, according to folk customs, went back to work St. Distaff’s Day, the day after Epiphany. In an ideal world, St Distaff’s Day is the Sunday after Epiphany (January 6th), and Plough Monday is the next day. Of course, it doesn’t always work out that way. I am not sure the woman going back to work on the 7th January, would be happy with the men lounging about until Plough Monday,. This year on the 13th January.

A distaff is ‘a stick or spindle on to which wool or flax is wound for spinning’. Because of its importance in the medieval and early modern economy, it became a synecdoche for women. St Distaff is a ‘canonisation’ of this use of the word. So, a day to celebrate working women.

We know that medieval and early modern women were a vital part of the work force, despite the demands of childcare. Many women took on apprenticeships, even more continued their husband’s work after he died. Some professions like silk became a female speciality. Plus, London was full of female servants and nurses. Many women had several jobs. The exhibition at the British Library on Medieval Women. In Their Own Words, indicated that most of the sex workers had two or more other jobs. In the house, the wife was the mistress of a formidable range of technologies. Baking, Brewing, Cooking, Laundry, Gardening, Dairy, Medicine (including distillation), horticulture, spinning, sewing and embroidery. Even, aristocratic women did embroidery of the finest quality, and it often made an important financial contribution to the household.

St Distaff’s Day and Plough Monday

Robert Herrick (1591–1674), born in Cheapside, London, a Goldsmith, priest, Royalist and Poet wrote in ‘Hesperides’.

Partly work and partly play
You must on St. Distaff’s Day:
From the plough, soon free your team;
Then come home and fother them;
If the maids a-spinning go,
Burn the flax and fire the tow.
Bring in pails of water then,
Let the maids bewash the men.
Give St. Distaff all the right;
Then bid Christmas sport good night,
And next morrow every one
To his own vocation.

Here he links the plough team with St Distaff’s Day. This implies that the ploughs would be out on the next day. So as St Distaff’s Day is not always on a Sunday, perhaps Plough Monday is not always on a Monday? He certainly suggests everyone goes back to work on the day after St Distaff’s Day.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Screenshot-2022-01-07-18.53.35.png

Saints & Goddesses of the Distaff Side

In London, the Fraternity of St Anne and St Agnes met at the Church dedicated to the saints. It is by a corner of the Roman Wall on the junction of Gresham Street and Noble Street. St Agnes is the patron saint of young girls, abused women and Girl Scouts. St Anne is the mother of the mother of the Son of God. So, she represents the three generations of women: maidens, mothers, and grandmothers.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is romanmoreb0029.jpg
The Three Mother Goddesses (and someone else) “Limestone relief depicting four female figures sitting on a bench holding bread and fruit, a suckling baby, a dog and a basket of fruit’ the Museum of London

This trinity of women were worshipped by the Celts. Archaeologists discovered the sculpture above while investigating the Roman Wall a few hundred yards away at Blackfriars. Scholars believe it depicts the Celtic Three Mother Goddesses. The fourth person is a mystery, maybe the patron of a nearby temple. The relief sculpture was removed perhaps from a temple, or the temple was trashed at some point. Then the sculpture was used as rubble and became part of the defences of London.

The idea of triple goddesses is a common one. In Folklore and History they have been referred to as Maiden, Mother, and Crone, or even Maiden, Mother and Hag. They come in Roman, Greek, Celtic, Irish, and Germanic forms. Their names include the Norns, the Three Fates, the Weird Sisters, the Mórrígan and many more. The Three Fates, the Goddess Book of Days says, were celebrated during the Gamelia. This is the Greco/Roman January Festival to the marriage of Zeus and Juno. The Festival also gives its name to the Athenian month of January.

The use of the terms Hag and Crone for the third Goddess is rare now, but was common. It does a great disservice to the importance of the Grandmother figure. (Although the original meaning of the words were less pejorative. For example, Hag may have meant diviner, soothsayer.) The three phases of womanhood are equally as important to the continuation of the species. They provide love, support, and experience through the generations. Compare these three generations of supportive deities with Ouranos (Uranus), Cronus (Saturn) and Zeus (Jupiter). Saturn castrated and deposed his father, Uranus. Later, he tried to eat his son, Jupiter. But then, Jupiter is nobody’s idea of an ideal father. As one example, he eats his lover, Metis, to avoid her giving birth. (See my post on the birth of Athena.)

Recent work on human evolution has suggested that the role of the Grandmother is crucial to our species’ ability to live beyond the age of fertility. Because, in evolutionary terms, once an individual cannot procreate, their usefulness for the survival of the genes is finished. So what’s the point of putting resources into grandma’s survival? The theory is the Grandmother has such an impact on the survival of the next generation, that longevity. for the female, beyond fertility makes evolutionary sense.

Have a look at this site for more information.

Natural History Museum, Oxford, K Flude photo.

There was a theory widely held that the original Deities, dating before the spread of farming, were mother goddesses. The idea is that the hunter-gather goddesses (perhaps like the Venus of Willendorf) were overthrown by the coming of farmers. These patriarchal societies worshipped the male gods, which destroyed the ancient Matriarchy. Jane Ellen Harrison proposed an ancient matriarchal civilization. Robert Graves wrote some interesting, but no longer thought to be very scientific studies, on the idea. Neopaganism has taken these ideas forward.

More information on St Agnes in this post below:

St Agnes Eve January 20th

One This Day

1845. Today is the anniversary of the breaking of the fabulous Portland Vase by a drunken visitor to the British Museum. It looks immaculate despite being smashed into myriad pieces, a wonder of the conservator’s art. To see the vase and read its story, go to the BM web site here:

wedgwood catalogue of its copy of the portland vase

In the orthodox church, дед Мороз  (Ded Moroz= father of frost), accompanied by Cнегурочка (Snieguroshka= fairy of the snow) brings gifts on New year’s eve, (which is on January 7th). He travels with a horse drawn troika.

Today’s Interesting link

Medieval Sin and the Pointy Shoe — for details, read the BBC’s interesting article.

First Published in 2022, and revised in January 2024 and 2025

Posted on

A Radical Twelfth Night January 6th

Drawing for Twelfth Cake' at St. Annes Hill 'Twelfth Night Cruikshank, Isaac, Frances Burdett and Charles James Fox
‘Drawing for Twelfth Cake’ at St. Annes Hill
’12th Night Cruikshank, Isaac, 1756-1811 printmaker. Published Janr. 10, 1807 by Thomas Tegg, 111 Cheapside’

Twelfth Night

Yesterday was Twelfth Night for the modern Church of England, but today is Twelfth Night for the Catholic Church and in England in former times. It is also Epiphany or Three Kings Day and because of calendrical differences, Christmas Eve for the Orthodox Church. In Ireland, it is Nollaig na mBan. This is Women’s Little Christmas; when Women get to rest and let men do the work. This is a typical Saturnalia-style reversal of roles.

I used the print above, three years ago for my post on New’s Day, then moved it to Twelth Night. I also use it for lectures on Christmas and Jane Austen. But the focus of my presentation is explaining the Twelfth Night Cake and the game that was played. But in fact, this is a very political satirical cartoon. More of that, later, let’s begin with the more trivial aspect of the print above.

Twelfth Night and Christmas Cake

It used to be the big party night, featuring the famous Twelfth Night Cake and theatrical entertainments; mumming and wassailing. The cake has disappeared from current Christmas celebration, probably because it transmuted into our present Christmas Cake. This, I regret. I have had a lifetime when a very heavy Christmas Dinner is followed first, by Christmas Pudding. Then, overloading with food, the Christmas Cake is brought out. No one, in their right mind, wants a slice of heavy Christmas Cake at that time. Many of my American friends disparage fruit cake, but they are mistaken. Good Christmas Cake is something to be thoroughly enjoyed, but on the days following Christmas Day.

I gave a recipe for the Twelfth Night Cake in another post, (here it is). But the important point is that it had a bean and a pea in it. The one who got the bean was selected as King for night and the pea the Queen. Traditionally, the women draw a card from a ‘reticule’ (bag) and the men’s from a hat. But there are no women at this satirical party. The cards detailed a role they were to play for the rest of the night. The card began with an introductory speech, or rhyme, for the person to speak. The King and Queen led the way, and for the rest of the evening the party members adopted their persona. They might be an aristocrat, a soldier, a cook, a parson, a dairy maid etc. The French do something similar with their Galette des Rois. The bean is called the feve, and may be replaced by a porcelain model. Other places have a King’s Cake for epiphany.

Twelfth Night Satire

So, as I was rushing to get the original Twelfth Night post done, I failed to examine it in any detail. I assumed the cards gave them satirical occupations which would be funny to the contemporary audience in 1807. But then, I noticed the title mentioned St Anne’s Hill. I looked it up and discovered myself down a deep and very enjoyable research rabbit hole.

St Anne’s Hill & Charles James Fox

Now, let’s go down that rabbit hole and look a little deeper.

The caption mentions St Anne’s Hill. I believe this refers to St Anne’s Hill, near Chertsey (SW of London on the River Thames). Here, there was a grand house which was owed by Charles James Fox. He was the leader of the Whigs, a persistent opponent of King George III. He was a supporter of the American and French Revolutions. This explains the red bonnet used to pull out the cards in the illustration.

The central figure is then, Fox. But he died in September,. 1806. The print is dated January 1807. Just before he died, his Foreign Slave Trade Bill of 1806 began the dismantling of this pernicious trade in the British Empire. He was Foreign Minister who assumed a couple of civil chats with the French would end the long-standing war. But he soon discovered that Napoleon was not to be trusted in negotiations. The war went on for another 9 or so years.

Charles James Fox was a mercurial figure with many radical views. He was also a notorious gambler and loved the high life. One of his many lovers was Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. He eventually married, Elizabeth Armistead, an ex-mistress of the Prince of Wales. St Anne’s Hill was her house. I am pleased to report that she is credited with calming his life-style. He now spent more time at St Anne’s where they would ‘read, garden, explore the countryside and entertain friends’ (Wikipedia).

Isaac Cruikshank’s ‘Drawing for Twelfth Cake’ at St. Annes Hill

Cruikshank’s illustration is, of course, not designed to document quaint Twelfth Night customs but is a political satire and I discovered that the British Museum has the original version of this print, and. It is dated to 1799 which makes much more sense!

At the back right of the print is a notice which says:

‘Rules to be observed at this Meeting
1. That the Cake be decorated with appropriate insignia
2 That the tickets be deposited in a Bonnet Rouge and drawn in Rotation
3 That the Old Fashioned Game of King and Queen be exploded & Catch as Catch can Substituted in its stead.’

The bonnet rouge is defined by the Collins Dictionary as a ‘redcap worn by ardent supporters of the French Revolution’ or ‘an extremist or revolutionary’. The last point relates to Fox’s opposition to the King, and the expression Catch as Catch Can refers to a free form of wrestling without rules.

The characters in the scene (all men) are all political figures. They are associated with the opposition to the very right-wing Government of William Pitt. During the war with France, the opposition was led by a supporter of the French Revolution. For those on the right, which included Pitt’s government, supporting the French Revolution was tantamount to treason. Pitt suspended many civil liberties in ‘Pitt’s Reign of Terror’. He arrested and indeed executed leading members of those demanding political change. The Government even suspended Habeas Corpus to make it easier to arrest their opponents,

Fox is seen drawing a 12th Night Game ticket which is marked ‘Perpetual Dictator’. To his right is Frances Burdett. He was a radical politician, who supported universal male suffrage, equal electoral districts, vote by ballot, and annual parliaments. Note that this is well before these aims became the core of the Chartists campaign for electoral reform. (for other people in the illustration look at the British Museum notes on the print. )

Frances Burdett, Edward and Catherine Despard

Burdett is shown holding a ticket saying ‘Keeper of the Prison in Cold Bath Fields’. This is a satirical reference to a serious political crisis. The Cold Baths Fields was the site of a medical spring in Clerkenwell, London. This was where a prison was situated where radicals were imprisoned. They were held in poor conditions despite the recent rebuilding under the aegis of the prison reformer, John Howard. Burdett exposed the scandalous conditions in the House of Commons. He began a campaign against the magistrates involved in the arrests.

One of the prisoners was Edward Despard who had associations with many radical groups. These included the London Corresponding Society, the United Irishmen and United Britons. Despard was married to Catherine, the daughter of a free black woman from Jamaica. She, with Burdett, led the campaign against these arrests without trial. Catherine wrote a letter to the Attorney General who replied in a demeaning manner:

‘it was a well-written letter, and the fair sex would pardon him, if he said it was a little beyond their style in general’

He did not comment on her colour. She described the imprisonment of her husband as being :

“in a dark cell, not seven feet square, without fire, or candle, chair, table, knife, fork, a glazed window, or even a book”

Execution of Edward Despard

Despard was freed in 1802, went to Ireland. But returned to London, where he was arrested again. But this time he was accused of a being the ringleader of a plot to assassinate the King. There was little real evidence. Horatio Nelson was a character witness, and appealed to the King for clemency. It was given. But only in so far as Despard was not disembowelled but ‘only ‘Hanged and Drawn’ at Horsemonger Lane Gaol (1803). This was the last time someone was drawn through the streets at the tail of a horse before execution for treason. These are his last words:

Fellow Citizens, I come here, as you see, after having served my Country faithfully, honourably and usefully, for thirty years and upwards, to suffer death upon a scaffold for a crime which I protest I am not guilty. I solemnly declare that I am no more guilty of it than any of you who may be now hearing me. But though His Majesty’s Ministers know as well as I do that I am not guilty, yet they avail themselves of a legal pretext to destroy a man because he has been a friend to truth, to liberty, and to justice

(a considerable huzzah from the crowd)

and because he has been a friend to the poor and to the oppressed. But, Citizens, I hope and trust, notwithstanding my fate, and the fate of those who no doubt will soon follow me, that the principles of freedom, of humanity, and of justice, will finally triumph over falsehood, tyranny and delusion, and every principle inimical to the interests of the human race.

(a warning from the Sheriff)

I have little more to add, except to wish you all health, happiness and freedom, which I have endeavoured, as far as was in my power, to procure for you, and for mankind in general.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Despard

After his death, his family denied that Catherine was his wife but merely his ‘house-keeper.’ I assume, was because they wanted the inheritance rather than, or perhaps, as well as naked prejudice.

Francis Burdett married into the fabulously rich banking family the Coutts. His daughter was the famous Angela Burdett Coutts who was a philanthropist who collaborated extensively with Charles Dickens.

@Phew! This is what I love about what I do, you find things out that link disparate parts of your knowledge, creating an ever-interwining web of history.

On this Day

1412 Joan of Arc was born. (it is believed).

Written 2022, and revised 2024, and 2025

Posted on

Last chance to make the Twelfth Night Cake & the Night Skies, January 4th

Twelfth Night Cake at the Museum of the Home
Twelfth Night Cake at the Museum of the Home, photo Kevin Flude

Twelfth Night Cake

On the 11th day of Christmas
My true love sent to me
11 pipers piping; Ten lords a-leaping; Nine ladies dancing
Eight maids a-milking; Seven swans a-swimming
Six geese a-laying
Five golden rings (five golden rings)
Four calling birds; Three French hens; Two turtle-doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.

Now is your last chance to make your Twelfth Night cake, its the 11th hour after all! Of course, Stir Up Sunday would have been the best day. Here is a recipe from 1604 by Elinor Fettiplace:

Take a peck of flower, and fower pound of currance, one ounce of Cinamon, half an ounce of ginger, two nutmegs, of cloves and mace two peniworth, of butter one pound, mingle your spice and flower & fruit together, but as much barme [the yeasty froth from the top of fermenting beer barrels] as will make it light, then take good Ale, & put your butter in it, saving a little, which you must put in the milk, & let the milk boyle with the butter, then make a posset with it, & temper the Cakes with the posset drink, & curd & all together, & put some sugar in & so bake it.

I found this on the excellent www.britishfoodhistory.com, where you can find more cooking instructions for Twelfth Night Cake and much more. If you want a more modern recipe, here is one from the BBC.

Whichever you choose, you should add a pea, and a bean to the recipe. These will be useful once you have read my Twelfth Night post.

The Night Skies in January.

The Quadrantid meteor shower appears from the point of the Plough’s handle. It continues to January 12th but is peaking today, (January 4th). At the peak there may be 100 meteors an hour. But, it will be low in the north-eastern sky and best seen from low light pollution areas. Twinkling above the Southern Horizon will be Sirius and this month’s brightest star. In the NE, the Plough can easily be seen. The Orion nebula south of Orion’s belt will be seen as a hazy patch with the naked eye. (from the Night Sky. Month by Month by Gater and Sparrow).

On This Day

1642 Charles I marched on the House of Commons to arrest five Members of Parliament. It failed, the MPs fled to Guildhall in the City of London. Charles followed and was surrounded by citizens of the City of London shouting ‘Priviledge of Parliament. He fled London and the Civil began soon after.

Revised January 4th 2025

Posted on

St. Genevieve’s Day January 3rd

St Genevieve stained glass windown. réalisé au XIXe siècle par Alfred Gérente pour orner le corridor de la nouvelle sacristie de Notre-Dame de Paris.
Saint Geneviève praying for the end of the rain. 19th Century by Alfred Gérente Notre-Dame de Paris.

St Genevieve of Nanterre (c. 419/422 AD – 502/512 AD) has her feast day today. Nanterre is an ancient settlement swallowed up by modern Paris. Genevieve was a most remarkable woman who met St Germanus of Auxerre on his way to Britain. Geneviève was only 7 when she met Germanus. He encouraged her piety. She became a consecrated virgin (someone who made vows of chastity to be a ‘bride of Christ’). Thereby living an aesthetic life of fasting and prayer. Miracles soon became associated with her, (including changing the weather) and the ‘usual’ medical miracles. After moving to Paris, she encouraged the women of the City to stay in the City for prayer and fasting to prevent the Huns capturing the City in 451. Attila and the Huns abandoned the siege.

St Genevieve saved the City on other occasions too, helped build two large Church projects, including St Dennis. In the medieval period, she became the Patron Saint of Paris. She is patron to: Paris, shepherds, winemakers, wax-chandlers, hatmakers; against eye complaints, fever, plagues, drought, and war.

St Germanus

St Germanus played a significant role in Genevieve’s life, protecting her from slander and attack. He is one of the most significant figures in post Roman studies in Britain. Accounts of his visits to Britain in the early 5th Century are among the very few descriptions of post-Roman life. He was sent to Britain to counter the Pelagian Heresy, which was endangering the Catholic version of Christianity.

17th Century print of Pelagius

He took part in a public debate about heresy which took place in a disused Roman amphitheatre. For more about Germanus and his visit to Britain read my post here.

More on Nanterre

Incidently, Nanterre has an interesting prehistory. The name in Celtic means ‘enduring sacred site’. A large cemetery has been found, which helps support the possibility that it is the original site of Paris. Julius Caesar attended an assembly with local Gallic leaders in the area. The topography of Nanterre fits as well for the location of the assembly as the island in the Seine (Île de la Cité) which is an alternative location.

This is an excerpt from Julius’s Caesar book. (It is photographed from my book- details below).

‘In Their Own Words – A Literary Companion To The Origins Of London‘ D A Horizons,  Kevin Flude

To buy the Kindle (£2.40) or a paperback version (£5.99), click here.  

Cover of Kevin Flude's 'In their Own Words'

First written in January 2023, revised and republished January 2024, and 2025

Posted on

The French Revolutionary Calendar — January 2nd

French Revolutionary Calendar Pocket Watch

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me 
Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, 
Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, 
Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle-doves, 
And a partridge in a pear tree. 

Ripping up the Year

On this day in 1793 the National Convention in Revolutionary France decreed that Year II of the Republic had begun the day before. That is on New Year’s Day, January 1st. But, by October, they decided that the French Revolutionary Calendar should have begun on the Autumn Equinox. So they, retrospectively, made 22 September 1792 the first day of Year I.

By choosing a radical and rational reform of the Calendar the Revolutionaries were following Julius Caesar’s example. His Julian Calender tidied up the old Roman Calendar but kept many of the essentials in place. The French, by contrast, almost completely ripped up the calendrical rule book. For more on the Julian Calendar read my post here.

Wheezy, Sneezy and Freezy Months

Let’s start with the names of the months. The concept of the month they kept but got rid of the irrational Latin-based names. They replaced them with neologisms derived from seasonal indicators as you will see.

But it’s more fun to begin with the names as reported, satirically, by John Brady. He published these in England in 1811. The list starts with ‘October’ as the year began at the Winter Solstice. The seasons are separated by semicolons.

Wheezy, Sneezy and Freezy; Slippy, Drippy and Nippy; Showery, Flowery
and Bowery; Hoppy, Croppy and Poppy.

The historian Thomas Carlyle suggested somewhat more serious English names
in his 1837 work ‘The French Revolution: A History’ namely:

Vintagearious, Fogarious, Frostarious; Snowous, Rainous, Windous; Buddal,
Floweral, Meadowal; Reapidor, Heatidor, and Fruitidor.

The actual revolutionary names were: Vendémiaire, Brumaire, Frimaire; Nivôse, Pluviôse, Ventôse; Germinal, Floréal, Prairial; Messidor, Thermidor, Fructidor

Each month was a rational 30 days, leaving 5 days of the solar year to be sorted out. These were given to the Sans Culottes as holidays and called complimentary days. The leap year was similarly given to the Sans Culottes; an extra day, every 4 years. It was a copy of the Egyptian year, which had inspired Caesar to make the Roman year rational.

Working flat out 10/10

And like the Egyptians, the 7-day week went out the window. The month was divided into three décades of 10 days. The tenth day, the décadi, being a day of rest. By my calculations, the ‘lucky’ Sans Culottes gained 5 days at the end of the year. But lost 16 Sundays, a net lost of 11 days over the year. I’m guessing they would have been compensated somewhere in the year? By time off to celebrate various revolutionary festivals, such as the 14th July (celebrating the storming of the Bastille)? The days were called primidi (first day) duodi (second day) tridi (third day) etc.

The hours of the day were decimalised. So each day was divided into 10 hours, rather than the 24 hours we use. The hours into 100 decimal minutes, and the minute into 100 decimal seconds. This meant that an hour was 144 conventional minutes; a minute 86.4 conventional seconds, and a second 0.864 conventional seconds.

Thank you, Napoleon?

So, had we adopted the French Revolutionary Calendar as we did the metric system this would be Tridi 13th Nivôse, Year 233. (According to the calculator at French Calendar.)

The French Revolutionary Calendar did not survive Napoleon, who recalled the conventional calendar. Time keeping returned to the Gregorian standard on 1 January 1806.

I do like the idea of the 10-day week. But I would like it to be 6 days of work and 4 days of leisure, thank you. I do wish we could rename our months: Wheezy, Sneezy and Freezy; Slippy, Drippy and Nippy; Showery, Flowery and Bowery; Hoppy, Croppy and Poppy.

To find out more look at Wikipedia and consult John Brady (1812), Clavis Calendaria: Or, A Compendious Analysis of the Calendar; Illustrated with Ecclesiastical, Historical, and Classical Anecdotes, vol. 1, Rogerson and Tuxford

On this Day

Today, is special for the Cybele, Isis, Aphrodite and Ishtar, and is the Vigil for St Genevieve of Nanterre. Paris. (more tomorrow).

Sorry to post so many today, but had to catch up after New Year’s Eve. Where is that willow bark?

First Published Jan 2nd 2023, republished Jan 2024, and 2025

Posted on

Hangover Cures & Bacchus – January 1st

Marble statue of Bacchus from the Temple of Mithras London. The inscription reads ‘hominibus vagis vitam’ Translation … (give) life to men who wander.

On the eighth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
8 Maids a Milking; 7 Swans a Swimming; 6 Geese a Laying
5 Golden Rings
4 Calling Birds; 3 French Hens; 2 Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

Closing Time

The 8th day, New Years Day, is the day of the Throbbing Head. In ‘Closing Time’ Leonard Cohen wrote about drinking to excess. I like to think he refers to Christmas and New Year’s Day:

‘And the whole damn place goes crazy twice
And it’s once for the devil and it’s once for Christ
But the boss don’t like these dizzy heights
We’re busted in the blinding lights of closing time.

Trouble is the song mentions summer. Oh well. You can enjoy the official video on YouTube below:

Hangover Cure

So what you need is a hangover cure. Nature provides many plants that can soothe headaches. And in the midst of the season of excess, let’s start with a hangover cure.

Common ivy Photo by Zuriel Galindo from unsplash

Ivy and Bacchus

Ivy, ‘is a plant of Bacchus’…. ‘the berries taken before one be set to drink hard, preserve from drunkenness…. and if one hath got a surfeit by drinking of wine, the speediest cure is to drink a draft of the same wine, wherein a handful of ivy leaves (being first bruised) have been boiled.’

Culpeper Herbal 1653 quoted in ‘the Perpetual Almanac’ by Charles Kightly

The image of Bacchus, at the top of the post, is from a fascinating article by the Museum of London on wine making in Roman Britain. Bacchus is often shown with an ivy crown around his head as Romans were wont to wear them to fend of hangovers.

Skullache, and Willow,

Crack Willow Trees on the Oxford Canal, August 2021

One of the best documented folk hangover cure is willow bark. It could be used for headaches, earaches and toothaches. Here is a record of how simple it was to use:

‘I am nearly 70 years old and was born and bred in Norfolk… My father, if he had a ‘skullache’ as he called it, would often chew a new growth willow twig, like a cigarette in the mouth.’

‘A Dictionary of Plant Lore by Roy Vickery (Pg 401)

In the 19th Century, Willow was found to contain salicylic acid from which aspirin was derived. As a child I remember chewing liquorice sticks in a similar way. However, we chewed, supposedly for the pleasure and the sweetness not for the medicinal virtues of the plant.

Country Weather

January 1st’s weather on the 8th Day of Christmas was warm and wet all day. So, according to Gervase Markham, the 8th Month, August, will be similarly warm and drenched. (source: ‘The English Husbandman’ of 1635.)

On this Day

It was the Day of Nymphs in Greece dedicated to Artemis, Andromeda, Ariadne, Ceres. (according to the Goddess Book of Days by Diane Stein.)

First Published in 2024, republished in 2025

Posted on

New Year’s Day & Almanacs—January 1st

From the Kalendar of Shepherdes (illus. 1529)

January is named after the Roman God Janus. He faces both ways, to the old year and forward to the New Year.

This is a Roman Barrel from Scotland is shown on the Trimontium Web Site with the name Januarius on it.

Old Moore’s

Ebay advert screenshot for Old Moore’s Almanac 2025

Alcohol poisoning may mean this is not the day to think about the New Year and make our resolutions. But we might turn to an almanac to see what the year has ahead. Newspapers and the web have now taken over largely from almanacs. They print articles about the upcoming highlights of the Political, Sporting, Gardening or the Musical year. But almanacs are still produced. One of the most popular is Old Moore’s which has been in production since 1697. For more on Old Moore’s see my post. They have chosen Michael McIntyre, Taylor Swift, Elon Musk and Kate Windsor for their cover. As you can see, they promise to help with your gambling, gardening, fishing and help you through the year with predictions and horoscopes.

Arguably, they grew from medieval manuscript Books of Hours. The 1493 Kalendar of Shepherds, published in Paris, was particularly important. Each month has a succinct description of the activity. Moreover, there was important information for farmers and others. Eventually, a British version was made. The illustration below gives its description of what goes on in January in the 16th Century. It is well worth a read. It goes with the picture at the top of this post, which is borrowed from the original French version.

Growth of the market for Almanacs

By the 1600s almanacs were the most published form of book apart from the Bible. Lauren Kassell in ‘Almanacs and Prognostications’ reports estimates that by 1660 one third of every household had one.

Originally, they had a Calendar for each month, and information about the phases of the month, the tides. They gave predictions of the weather, and health issues likely to occur at that time of the year. Astrology was an important element. London Almanacs contained further information about the year, its ceremonies and elections of officials. As this informational side to the almanac grew, they included lists of monarchs, interesting stories, verse foretelling the weather, recipes and cures.

Cover page of the Illustrated london almanack for 1867

Here, is a verse about January from the Kalendar of Shepherds. You can read more about the Kalendar on my post here.

Verse about January from the Kalendar of Shepherde's (translated from the 1493 Paris edition)
January from the Kalendar of Shepherde’s (translated from the 1493 Paris edition)

The earliest almanacs were made of wood and were called ‘clog almanacs. You can read more about them on my post here:

Originally published in 2024, republished in 2025.

Posted on

Next Guided Walks

Here are listed the public guided walks and tours I have currently got in my diary. I will be adding others all the time.

A Virtual Tour of Jane Austen’s Bath 7.30pm 10th Feb 25 To book
Tudor London – The City of Wolf Hall 11.30am Sat 22nd Feb 25To book
Myths, Legends, Archaeology and the Origins of London 2.30pm Sat 22nd Feb 25 To book
Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk 11.30am Sat Mar 8th 25 To book
Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk 2.30pm Sat 8th Mar 25 To book
The Decline And Fall Of Roman London Walk 11.30 Sat 22nd March 2025 to Book
London. 1066 and All That Walk Sat 2.30pm 22nd March 2025 To Book
Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk 11.30am Sun 6th Apr 25 To book
Chaucer’s Medieval London Guided Walk 2:30pm Sun 6th Apr 25 To book
Chaucer’s London To Canterbury Virtual Pilgrimage 7.30pm Friday 18th April 25 To book
Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk 11.30am Sun 27th Apr 25 To book
Tudor London – The City of Wolf Hall 3:00pm Sun 27th Apr 25 To book
Myths, Legends, Archaeology and the Origins of London 11.30am Sun 25th May 25 To book
Charles I and the Civil War. Martyrdom Anniversary Walk Jan 30th 2026 To book
For a complete list of my guided walks for London Walks in 2025 look here

Posted on

Archive of Guided Walks/Events for 2025

Every year I keep a list of my guided walks, and tours on my blog the ‘Almanac of the Past’. Here are the walks I have so far done in 2025.

Here is my ‘Almost Complete List of Guided Walks, Study Tours, Lectures’

Ring in the New Year Virtual Guided Walk

Old New Year Card

Monday 1st January 2025 7.00 pm
On this Virtual Walk we look at how London has celebrated the New Year over the past 2000 years.

The New Year has been a time of review, renewal, and anticipation of the future from time immemorial. The Ancient Britons saw the Solstice as a symbol of a promise of renewal as the Sun was reborn. As the weather turns to bleak mid winter, a festival or reflection and renewal cheers everyone up. This idea of renewal was followed by the Romans, and presided over by a two headed God called Janus who looked both backwards and forwards. Dickens Christmas Carol was based on redemption and his second great Christmas Book ‘The Chimes’ on the renewal that the New Year encouraged.

We look at London’s past to see where and how the New Year was celebrated. We also explore the different New Years we use and their associated Calendars – the Pagan year, the Christian year, the Roman year, the Jewish year, the Financial year, the Academic year and we reveal how these began. We look at folk traditions, Medieval Christmas Festivals, Boy Bishops, Distaff Sunday and Plough Monday, and other Winter Festival and New Year London traditions and folklore.

At the end, we use ancient methods to divine what is in store for us in 2023.

The virtual walk finds interesting and historic places in the City of London to link to our stories of Past New Year’s Days. We begin, virtually, at the Barbican Underground and continue to the Museum of London, the Roman Fort; Noble Street, Goldsmiths Hall, Foster Lane, St Pauls, Doctors Commons, St. Nicholas Colechurch and on towards the River Thames.

The Civil War, Restoration and the Great Fire of London Virtual Tour

The Great Fire of London looking towards StPauls Cathedral from an old print
The Great Fire of London looking towards StPauls Cathedral from an old print


7:30pm Fri 30th January 2026


January 30th is the Anniversary of the execution of Charles I and to commemorate it we explore the events and the aftermath of the Civil War in London.

Along with the Norman Conquest of 1066 and winning the World Cup in 1966 the Great Fire in 1666 are the only dates the British can remember!

And we remember the Great Fire because it destroyed one of the great medieval Cities in an epic conflagration that shocked the world.

But it wasn’t just the Great Fire that made the 17th Century an epic period in English History. There was a Civil War, beheading of the King, a Republic, a peaceful Restoration of the Monarch, the last great plague outbreak in the UK, the Glorious Revolution and the Great Wind.

The Virtual Walk puts the Great Fire in the context of the time – Civil War, anti-catholicism, plague, and the commercial development of London.
The walk brings to life 17th Century London. It starts with the events that lead up to the Civil War concentrating on Westminster and ends with a vivid recreation of the drama of the Fire as experienced by eye-witnesses. Route includes: Westminster, Fish Street Hill, Pudding Lane, Monument, Royal Exchange, Guildhall, Cheapside, St Pauls, Amen Corner, Newgate Street, Smithfield.


Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk

11.30 am Sun 27th April 2025 Monument Underground Station

Roman Riverside Wall being built
London Roman Riverside Wall o



This is a walking tour features the amazing archaeological discoveries of Roman London, and looks at life in the provincial Roman capital of Londinium.

This is a walking tour that features the amazing archaeological discoveries of Roman London, and looks at life in the provincial Roman capital of Londinium.

Our Guides will be Publius Ovidius Naso and Marcus Valerius Martialis who will be helped by Kevin Flude, former Museum of London Archaeologist, Museum Curator and Lecturer.

We disembark at the Roman Waterfront by the Roman Bridge, and then explore the lives of the citizens as we walk up to the site of the Roman Town Hall, and discuss Roman politics. We proceed through the streets of Roman London, with its vivid and cosmopolitan street life via the Temple of Mithras to finish with Bread and Circus at the Roman Amphitheatre.

Zinger Read: Talk about a high-quality one-two punch. This walk investigates the groundbreaking archaeological discoveries of Roman London. And then it reconstructs life in a provincial Roman capital using archaeological and literary sources. Discoveries – insights – like flashes of lightning in a cloud. We begin at the site of the Roman bridge. We might be decent young Roman citizens in togas, having this and that bit of
explained to us as we make our way towards the Roman Town Hall. From there we head to the site of the excavation called ‘the Pompeii of the North.’ Followed by the Temple of Mithras. We finish with a walk along the Roman High Street in order to end at the site of the Roman Amphitheatre. So, yes, welcome to London as it was 2,000, 1,900, 1,800, 1,700 and 1,600 years ago. And, yes, the walk’s guided by a real expert, the distinguished emeritus Museum of London archaeologist Kevin Flude. That means you’ll see things other people don’t get to see, delve into London via fissures that aren’t visible, let alone accessible, to non-specialists.

REVIEWS
“Kevin, I just wanted to drop you a quick email to thank you ever so much for your archaeological tours of London! I am so thrilled to have stumbled upon your tours! I look forward to them more than you can imagine! They’re the best 2 hours of my week! 🙂 Best, Sue

To Book:
https://www.walks.com/our-walks/roman-london-a-literary-archaeological-walk/

Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Guided Walk

Georgian female engraving

2.30 pm Sunday 9th Feb 2025

Green Park underground station, Green Park exit, by the fountain To book

Also
9 February 2025Sunday2.30 pm4.30 pm
8 March 2025Saturday2.30 pm4.30 pm
6 April 2025Sunday11.30 am1.30 pm

2025 is the 250th Anniversary of Jane Austen’s Birth in Steventon, Hampshire. We celebrate her fictional and real life visits to Mayfair, the centre of the London section of Sense & Sensibility and where Jane came to visit her brother

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a Jane Austen devotee in possession of the good fortune of a couple of free hours today must be in want of this walk.”

People associate Jane Austen and her characters with a rural setting. But London is central to both Jane Austen’s real life and her literary life. So, this tour will explore Jane’s connections with London and give the background to Sense and Sensibility, a good part of which is based in this very area. We begin with the place Jane’s coach would arrive from Hampshire, and then walk the streets haunted by Willougby; past shops visited by the Palmers, the Ferrars; visit the location of Jane Austen’s brother’s bank and see the publisher of Jane’s Books. The area around Old Bond Street was the home of the Regency elite and many buildings and a surprising number of the shops remain as they were in Jane Austen’s day.


Jane Austen’s ‘A Picture of London’ in 1809 Virtual Walk

sam_syntax-cries-of-london-1820s_gentle-author_03-hot-plum-pudding-seller


7.30 27th January 2025

With the help of a contemporary Guide Book, Jane Austen’s letters, and works we explore London in 1809.

‘The Picture of London for 1809 Being a CORRECT GUIDE to all the Curiosities, Amusements, Exhibitions, Public Establishments, and Remarkable Objects in and near London.’

This Guide Book to London might have been on Henry Austen’s shelf when his sister, Jane, came to visit him in London. But it enables us to tour the London that Jane Austen knew in some detail. We will look at the Curiosities as well as the shopping, residential, theatres areas as well as the Port, the Parks and the Palaces.

The guided walk is a thank you to Alix Gronau, who, having been to one of my lectures in 1994, wanted the book to come to me. I have had the book restored and am using it to explore London in 1809.

Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk

Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk 2.30 pm Sunday 9th February 25 To book


A Virtual Tour of Jane Austen’s Bath

Poster for the most socereign restorative Bath Water

7.30pm 10th February 2025 To book


Here are previous archive of guided walks and events

Archive of Events/Walks 2024
Archive of events/Walks 2023
Archive of Events/Walks 2022
Archive of Recent Walks (2021)
Archive of Resent Walks (2019-2020)

Posted on

New Year’s Eve—The White Heather Club and Hootenanny December 31st

Happy new year card showing drunken wealthy young man slumped on the snow overlooked by a policeman

On the seventh day of Christmas
My true love sent to me:
7 Swans a Swimming; 6 Geese a Laying;
5 Golden Rings;
4 Calling Birds; 3 French Hens; 2 Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

When is Twelfth Night?

First an admission, there is a lot of confusion out there as to which is the First day of Christmas. According to my muse, Charles Kightly, the first day of Christmas is Boxing Day, the 26th of December. This makes Twelfth Night January 6th, which is Epiphany – when the three wise men rocked up with their fabulous presents.

But Epiphany is a Christian day of importance, while Twelfth Night is a bit of a knees up. So many authorities begin the counting on Christmas Day. So, Twelfth Night is, in that case, Epiphany Eve, i.e. January 5th. Have a look at Notes&Queries for different viewpoints.

One suggestion was that the Church had to accept that the Twelve Days of Christmas were taken up with pagan activities and allowed it to go on until the night before Epiphany. I think you will have to make your own mind up as to when is Twelfth Night.

New Year’s Eve

My post on New Year’s customs is here for you to see.

This is a day of preparation, and perhaps of anxiety. Have we got an invitation from anyone tonight? Is anyone going to come to our party? Can I take another blow out feast, a belly full of alcohol and a very late night? I’ve just lost my Christmas weight and you want me to come for a big feast?

For years in my life, New Year’s Eve was spent with the parents watching some inexplicable variety show hosted in Scotland. Google has helped me remember that it was the ‘White Heather Club’ hosted by Andy Stewart. Up to 10 million people watched this between 1960 and 1968. I never understood the pleasure of it, and it seemed a symbol of an old-fashioned world that was passing and irrelevant.

More recently, if not spent at a party, New Year’s Eve is spent with Jools’ Annual Hootenanny, which is a music show masquerading as a live New Year’s Eve party. It features really excellent bands and singers. It is, however, recorded earlier in December (15th, 20th are dates I have seen) and hence a New Year’s fake. Here is a 2007 excerpt staring Madness’s ‘House of Fun’. The fun of this is to spot the stars grooving along to the music.

New Year’s Day needs a lot of preparation. Folklore suggests that this should include finishing off any unfinished work or projects, as a task carried forward is ill-omened. Your accounts for the year should be reconciled. As Charles Dickens suggests in the Chimes, your moral account with the world should also be addressed so that you can come into the New Year with a clean slate, good conscience and plans for a better new year. And don’t we all need that for 2024!

To post mentioned above about the customs of New Years is below: k:

December 31st—New Year’s Eve
Tomorrow I am doing a New Year’s Walk and a New Year’s Virtual Tour