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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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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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…
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The Christmas Jane Austen Didn’t Write
Christmas is barely mentioned in any of Austen’s novels. (Quick—can you think of two places where it is mentioned? Post your answers below!) At first glance, it seems strange that a clergyman’s daughter—one who wrote memorable prayers and was notably pious—would ignore such a major religious holiday in her fiction. A closer examination, however, sheds…
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An Early Christmas Gift
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! And I’ve been going back through some older writings. Five years ago, I put together a collection of scenes called 12 Months of Darcy to give away to readers who signed up for my newsletter. I thought I would share December with you today. December A weak…
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Miss Austen—No Politician, She
On the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, she remains a touchstone for politics for many people. We find that white supremacists are co-opting the English author in support of a racial dictatorship, shocked opponents are claiming that true readers are “rational, compassionate, liberal-minded people,” and conservatives are chiding Janeites for assuming that great literature…