Category: customs and traditions
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Regency Childbirth
Forceps, anesthesia, and hot, spiced wine: What was it like to give birth in Regency England?
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Unexpected Moments of Reaching Out
One scene has kept me coming back to George Eliot’s Middlemarch for fifty years. Dorothea, a young and engaging woman, has married an older man, clergyman Mr. Casaubon, out of an intellectual and religious ardor for his scholarship. After just eighteen months, she realizes that she is trapped in a loveless marriage with a third-rate…
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When Was a Birthday, Not Really the Day One Was Born? Or Another Meaning for “Double Dating”
Recently, I was attempting to explain this concept to my grandchildren, who were anticipating no school for President’s Day. However, they did you know that George Washington was actually born on February 11, 1731, and NOT on February 22, 1732, as we in the United States celebrate. How is that possible? First, let us look…
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A Visit I Will Forever Remember Taking: Part 2
This past September, my husband, aka the Marine, and I went to England for a day to see Stonehenge, then we traveled the next day to Romania. I shared of my visit to the lovely England countryside, and the busy Romanian Old Port in the first post. Here I continue my adventure. Our first two…
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Getting Away With Murder: All About Regency Duels
Why did Colonel Brandon and Willoughby fire one shot and then walk away? This post explores the ins and outs of Regency duels.
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Valentine’s Day in Regency England
Valentine’s Day, associated with love since the late Middle Ages, became popular during the Regency era as a time for expressing romantic interest within societal norms. Common practices included exchanging handwritten Valentine cards with poems, small tokens, and light-hearted customs. It provided a unique opportunity for flirtation amidst strict social codes, despite some skepticism from…
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Just What Does That Mean?
Wonder about some British slang and what it means? Try to figure out what these ones are.
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New Year’s Celebration in the Regency Era
Celebrating New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day in the Regency was not as we picture the celebrations today. Those were two days of what was (and still is to a lesser extent) Twelfthnight. Twelfth Night is a Christian festival on the last night of the Twelve Days of Christmas, marking the coming of Epiphany on…
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“First Footing” It into the New Year with Hogmanay Traditions
I come very proud Scots. I am from a direct line of Clan MacThomas from the seventh chief of the clan, John Mccomie (Iain Mòr), who has passed into the folklore of Perthshire. Therefore, in my family, New Year’s (or Hogmanay as it was once called) played a popular part of my childhood. Although I admit to overspending…
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On this day…1700-the Regency, England
Did you know some significant historical events happened before Christmas and the day after the holiday? On December 24, 1716: 24 December (4 January 1717 New Style) – Britain, France, and the Dutch Republic signed the Triple Alliance[3] in an attempt to maintain the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), Britain having signed a preliminary alliance with…