Category: Holiday festivities
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Holiday Musings
Though the posting cycle shoots me past Austen’s birthday and Christmas, it is still a time of holiday reflections. Let us begin with the seemingly Grinch-like rejection of the following “Pride and Prejudice” holiday wishes, which we occasionally see on Austen-themed cards and knickknacks: “I sincerely hope your Christmas … may abound in the gaieties…
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Haud Hogmanay! Lang May Yer Lum Reek!
The celebration of the New Year is one of humanity’s oldest and most universal traditions, rooted in ancient customs and cultural practices. But everyone does it a little bit differently. Here’s a short overview of the unique and lovely Scottish new years tradition of Hogmanay.
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Have Yourself a Madeiran (Not-so-little) Christmas
Good morrow, dear readers. I hope everyone had a wonderful day with friends and family, no matter what day you might celebrate. As an American, another Christmas has passed for the Boardman clan. My dear granddaughter (and my only grandchild) has a fascination with Nativity scenes this year, reminding me of when I wish to…
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Christmas Parlour Games in Jane Austen’s Day
There is no shortage for amusements available to us when it comes to Christmas nowadays. While Jane Austen’s contemporaries loved the holidays just as much as we do, their choice of entertainments was rather more circumscribed. One of such entertainments, especially suitable for a houseful of young people who wanted to have some fun, were…
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Christmas Memories
Hi everyone. Hope you all are enjoying the festive time of year. Christmas has wonderful memories for me. As a child, I swear my grandmothers were elves. If we weren’t at my Schertz grandparents by 6am, Grandma was on the phone demanding we get going. She was always excited for us to arrive. My Grandpa…
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Giving Thanks with Austen
With Thanksgiving just past–and passed with family–I revisit the holiday and examine the extent of the formal giving of thanks in Jane Austen’s work. The November U.S. holiday has spread to most of the Americas. The English have a more general harvest-related tradition of providing bread and other food to the poor, often through the…
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Fireworks and Food for Jane Austen
It is a national holiday here in the U.S.A., and there will ben many cookouts and fireworks. Most states have laws about buying or using fireworks, but in the three states I have now lived in: Texas, California, and West Virginia, these laws are all merrily ignored. Do you live in a law-abiding state? I’m…
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The many faces of alcohol
Hi everyone. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. We are now being bombarded with storm front after storm front over the next couple of weeks, so it is a real joyous time. To all of you in the path of all the winter storms, stay safe, stock up on provisions, and keep LOTS…
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Short Story from Christmas Anthology
Happy New Year!! I am very excited to celebrate another year with the amazing friends and writers here at the Always Austen Blog. This community is such a boon to me, I love it here! Thank you to everyone who has supported my writing in 2023 and there’s more to come in 2024. For this,…
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…Let social cheer/ Invest the dawnin’ o’ the year
My post on the first of December explained how the Kirk of Scotland frowned upon (our outright outlawed for a time) celebrations at Christmas – deeming them as too frivolous for a Christian holy day; thus today, I wish to share how the average Scotsman found a way to bring warmth, light, and fun to…