In my second book, Just Say Yes, the hero participates in a village festival in which all the able-bodied men move a large stone in the village center in order to bring the village continued good fortune.  This is something that actually took place annually in an English village.  I ran across this odd activity in a book of English festivals, but I’ll be darned if I can find it now to give you the reference.

I was reminded of this recently when the wonderful Loretta Chase mentioned Hone’s Every-Day Book on her Two Nerdy History Girls Blog.  This book describes itself as an “Everlasting Calendar of Popular Amusements, sports, pastimes, ceremonies, manners, customs, and events, incident to each of the three hundred and sixty five days in past and present times.”  In short, it’s the ideal place to look for an interesting tidbit to spice up your story.  The 1827 edition comes in two volumes of which I only have the first (but remain hopeful for obtaining the second half of the year).

It’s a delight to just page through the book and pick out an event.  For example, on September 5, there is a long description of a visit to Bartholomew Fair in Stowe (or Smithfield as they appear to be interchangeable in this account) in 1825.  The description encompassed many shows including the Largest Child in the Kingdom when young, the Handsomest Child in the World, The Persian Giant, The Fair Circassian with Silver Hair, The Female Dwarf, Two Feet Eleven Inches High, Two Wild Indians from the Malay Islands in the East… I could go on (and on).

You might learn that March 5 is St. Piran’s day (there are a lot of saints in this book, most described as “Romish”). St. Piran is, apparently, an Irish hermit who moved to Cornwall, had a grave made and then died in it.  His day is reported to be a favorite with tinners as tradition has it that some secrets regarding the manufacture of tin was given by St. Piran.

The Every-Day Book covers everything from the laying of the first stone of London Bridge to Bastille Day.  I can hardly wait to get my hands on volume 2.

More concise and focusing more on festivals, but less forthcoming about actual years in which they were celebrated is Yearbook of English Festivals.  This might be where I got the stone moving ceremony, but I can’t find it right now.  My copy of this one was published in 1954 and features some of the more esoteric festivals celebrated in England.

According to the Yearbook, well-dressing, or well-flowering, is observed in many English villages in the summer, particularly in Derbyshire and Staffordshire.  This event involves decorating wells or springs with flower petals, allegedly to give thanks for its purity.  No one seems really sure where it originated. I love it nonetheless.  And, it’s still going on today. Welldressing.com has an extensive calendar.

I heartily recommend these fascinating compendia of yearly events and festivals.  Not only are they great sources for settings and scenes, they’re a lot of fun just to browse.

Today the dh and I are celebrating our wedding anniversary and we want to take a little break to do something fun. So I’m recycling a 2008 blog I did on Regency Weddings.

We were married a gazillion years ago, before a bride would even DREAM of a wearing a  strapless gown. Before I married, I’d never read Georgette Heyer or Regency Romances and it had been a few years since I’d read Jane Austen.

But take a look at my wedding dress.

It’s a little hard to tell here, but it has an empire waist, leg o’mutton sleeves, and ribbon trim. It’s a Regency Dress!

I’d never heard of the Regency, but somehow I picked a Regency dress.

Like me, Regency brides did wear white, but they didn’t have to. In the Regency, white gowns were popular for many occasions. Other colors like pale pink and blue were also worn at weddings. The older the bride, the darker the color. Wedding dresses were worn after the wedding, too. By the time Queen Victoria became a bride and wore white, the white wedding dress was well on its way to becoming a tradition.

Princess Charlotte, who wed Prince Leopold in 1816, wore a dress of silver lamé, embroidered in silver. 

Sites that tell more about Regency Weddings:

Jessamyn’s Regency Costume Companion

Regency Weddings

Quick facts about Regency Weddings:

1. Weddings could take place after reading of the Banns, a license, or a special license. Banns must be read for three consecutive Sundays in the parishes of both the prospective bride and groom. A license, purchased from the bishop of the diocese, did away with the banns but the couple still had to be married in the parish church. A special license, purchased from the Archbishop of Canterbury, allowed the couple to be married in a location other than a church and without banns. Licenses were never blank; different names could not be substituted.

2. Scottish weddings went by different rules. In Scotland couples could be married by declaring themselves married in front of witnesses, by making a promise to marry followed by intercourse, or by living together and calling themselves married.

3. Weddings could not be performed by proxy. Both the bride and groom had to be present.

4. Ship captains could not perform marriages. Couples could be married aboard ship, but only by clergy. (How many times have you read that plot?)

5. Brides had wedding rings; grooms did not. The bride could give the groom a ring as a wedding gift, but it was not part of the ceremony and didn’t symbolize he was married.

Do you want a Regency Wedding? There are many sites on the internet offering custom made Regency wedding dresses:

Jane Austen Centre Giftshop
Fashions in Time

Or if you are handy, you could make your Regency gown:

Do you have any questions about Regency weddings?

Did anyone else have a Regency wedding dress?

A Reputation for Notoriety is now available as an ebook, if you are like me and prefer ebooks.

 

Hey everyone!

Thanks to Myretta for always stepping in when I flake over here–which has been happening far too often (rhetorical question: Does life EVER slow down?).
I’d like to share the cover and the blurb for my novella, Baring It All, which comes out June 24th.

Megan Frampton turns up the heat on one bride-to-be and her oblivious bridegroom in this steamy and scandalous eBook original novella of Regency romance.

It is with great discretion that this columnist discusses the sensitive topic of undergarments. Some ladies, it seems, do not pay strict attention to what they wear under their gowns. A crucial error, my ladies.

Lady Violet knows Lord Christian Jepstow is interested in women. The problem is, he hasn’t seemed to realize that Violet is a living, breathing woman—a woman with needs. Which is a huge problem, considering the fact that Violet and Christian are betrothed. Violet has no intention of saying her vows without knowing if her husband has the capacity to love her properly, so she does what anyone would do in her situation—she steps into his study and offers to take off her clothes. What happens next could be an utter disaster . . . or it could be surprising, seductive, and sizzlingly sexy.

I’ve just gotten the edits back for my October full-length, What Not to Bare, and so will be immersed in that world for the next week or so (the edits are minimal, yay!).

And now back to writing, and battling ear infections (ugh!), and trying to convince a recalcitrant 13 year-old to brush his very long hair, and such.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Megan