Advent calendar December 13th - We're gonna party like it's 1799
Dear members of perfect_duet,
my day is the third Sunday in Advent - it is a busy time for preparations already, but not too late to try and include some things in your christmas festivities that Jack and Stephen might have done for christmas.
Since I love to "ferret for info" as esteven puts it, I will present you not only with fic, but also with links and media.
So, let me share with you two Christmas traditions that were already popular in Georgian Britain and that sparked my interest. I have included a drabble with each one to let you see how I imagine the Aubreyad characters to be involved.
An interesting tradition I found is "wassailing" - which at first only sparked my interest because it has sailing in it, lol.
Wassail is derived from the term wes hàl which means "be whole" - so basically it means "to wish good health". Wassailing is a form of christmas carolling, where you go from door to door and sing your good wishes to your neighbour, expecting maybe something to eat or a few coins in return. Usually it took place January 17th or later, when the Gegorian Calendar was introduced, January 6th.
Listen to a popular wassailing song here and read the lyrics here.
You would of course, take something to drink with you on your round or at least take a cup with you to receive a drink as a gift - and that would be the wassail punch, a hot cider drink.
You can find lots of wassail punch recipes online, but I'll link you to the one of the nice people of BBC 2, who also made a video of brewing it. (Not viewable in all countries). They do count wassailing as a victorian tradition, but it is older than that.
To be accurate, there are two different traditiond called wassailing: In cider regions, people would also wassail their apple trees in their orchard to wish them good health for the next year.
***
Title: "Wassailing"
Author: nightkate
Wordcount: 178
Characters: lovesick Stephen
There is another loud knock on the door of The Grapes and although Stephen has his window board shut, he can hear the bustling downstairs, where both Mrs Broad and Lucy excel in giving the wassailers a hearty welcome. Tonight, The Grapes overflows with hospitality and laughter, the rush of visitors never seems to end and the carols have been repeated so often that Stephen cringes as a very common one can be heard from donwnstairs yet again.
He had denied all invitations to join the party, ostentatiously reading a paper on rare birds of the Mediterranean. Lucy had finally stopped begging and arguing and went downstairs, only to return minutes later to bring him a cup of wassailing punch which is now growing cold on the table. Stephen sighs. All he wants is to sleep, to not hear anything and then to wake up and perhaps be able to actually concentrate on the rare birds of the Mediterranean. Frowning, he counts drops from his brown bottle into the punch, then downs the mixture in a few gulps.
***
As we're already involved with drinking, I'd like to present a party game that involves picking raisins from a bowl filled with burning liquor: snap-dragon. It has mostly vanished from christmas parties nowadays, because it is, admittedly, not suitable for minors. But since we're all reasonably grown up, I'd like to present it here.
(Image: snap-dragon-fly from Lewis Carrol's "Through the looking glass")
Cluster round the burning dish !
See how brave you be !
Dodge the dragon’s tongue of fire
Roaring lustily ! They who are afraid to dip
Or over timid, linger -
Sore punishment will surely sip
And burn their little finger !
But think how sweet the fruit will be
When rescued from a fiery Sea !
So, how is it done? This page gives quite a good instruction. What do you make of it? It does sound a little adventurous and fun, don't you think?
***
Title:"Snap-dragon"
Author: nightkate
Wordcount:264
Characters: Tom + William
„What's the point of Christmas if we can't have a game of snap-dragon?!“ William insists and shakes his head very much like a rebellious ten-year-old. „William, I'm in no mood to argue with you about this!“ Tom sighs and tries to melt his remaining tiny stub of sealing wax into a proper seal. „If you're not at home, Christmas is not the same anyway.“
William pouts. „I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, just go on and finish your letter.“ He slams the door to the tiny mess behind him and stomps off, God knows where to. In that blasted rain which has been flooding them for the past few days, there are even less places to go to than there are normally.
Tom puts his pen and paper away. He really does not want to fight with his old mate, but they've not been in England for ten months. Now where is he supposed to find raisins and brandy?
When Willian returns, a large, cracked soup bowl is sitting in the middle of the table and the midshipmen are gathered round it, expectation in their eyes. Tom smiles. „We're just waiting for you to light it.“ he says. William suddenly feels his chest tighten. „How did you?“ he starts, but Tom interrupts him. „Let's not talk about it. Merry Christmas.“
***
Love and a merry christmas to you all,
nightkate
my day is the third Sunday in Advent - it is a busy time for preparations already, but not too late to try and include some things in your christmas festivities that Jack and Stephen might have done for christmas.
Since I love to "ferret for info" as esteven puts it, I will present you not only with fic, but also with links and media.
So, let me share with you two Christmas traditions that were already popular in Georgian Britain and that sparked my interest. I have included a drabble with each one to let you see how I imagine the Aubreyad characters to be involved.
An interesting tradition I found is "wassailing" - which at first only sparked my interest because it has sailing in it, lol.
Wassail is derived from the term wes hàl which means "be whole" - so basically it means "to wish good health". Wassailing is a form of christmas carolling, where you go from door to door and sing your good wishes to your neighbour, expecting maybe something to eat or a few coins in return. Usually it took place January 17th or later, when the Gegorian Calendar was introduced, January 6th.
Listen to a popular wassailing song here and read the lyrics here.
You would of course, take something to drink with you on your round or at least take a cup with you to receive a drink as a gift - and that would be the wassail punch, a hot cider drink.
You can find lots of wassail punch recipes online, but I'll link you to the one of the nice people of BBC 2, who also made a video of brewing it. (Not viewable in all countries). They do count wassailing as a victorian tradition, but it is older than that.
To be accurate, there are two different traditiond called wassailing: In cider regions, people would also wassail their apple trees in their orchard to wish them good health for the next year.
***
Title: "Wassailing"
Author: nightkate
Wordcount: 178
Characters: lovesick Stephen
There is another loud knock on the door of The Grapes and although Stephen has his window board shut, he can hear the bustling downstairs, where both Mrs Broad and Lucy excel in giving the wassailers a hearty welcome. Tonight, The Grapes overflows with hospitality and laughter, the rush of visitors never seems to end and the carols have been repeated so often that Stephen cringes as a very common one can be heard from donwnstairs yet again.
He had denied all invitations to join the party, ostentatiously reading a paper on rare birds of the Mediterranean. Lucy had finally stopped begging and arguing and went downstairs, only to return minutes later to bring him a cup of wassailing punch which is now growing cold on the table. Stephen sighs. All he wants is to sleep, to not hear anything and then to wake up and perhaps be able to actually concentrate on the rare birds of the Mediterranean. Frowning, he counts drops from his brown bottle into the punch, then downs the mixture in a few gulps.
***
As we're already involved with drinking, I'd like to present a party game that involves picking raisins from a bowl filled with burning liquor: snap-dragon. It has mostly vanished from christmas parties nowadays, because it is, admittedly, not suitable for minors. But since we're all reasonably grown up, I'd like to present it here.
(Image: snap-dragon-fly from Lewis Carrol's "Through the looking glass")
Cluster round the burning dish !
See how brave you be !
Dodge the dragon’s tongue of fire
Roaring lustily ! They who are afraid to dip
Or over timid, linger -
Sore punishment will surely sip
And burn their little finger !
But think how sweet the fruit will be
When rescued from a fiery Sea !
So, how is it done? This page gives quite a good instruction. What do you make of it? It does sound a little adventurous and fun, don't you think?
***
Title:"Snap-dragon"
Author: nightkate
Wordcount:264
Characters: Tom + William
„What's the point of Christmas if we can't have a game of snap-dragon?!“ William insists and shakes his head very much like a rebellious ten-year-old. „William, I'm in no mood to argue with you about this!“ Tom sighs and tries to melt his remaining tiny stub of sealing wax into a proper seal. „If you're not at home, Christmas is not the same anyway.“
William pouts. „I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, just go on and finish your letter.“ He slams the door to the tiny mess behind him and stomps off, God knows where to. In that blasted rain which has been flooding them for the past few days, there are even less places to go to than there are normally.
Tom puts his pen and paper away. He really does not want to fight with his old mate, but they've not been in England for ten months. Now where is he supposed to find raisins and brandy?
When Willian returns, a large, cracked soup bowl is sitting in the middle of the table and the midshipmen are gathered round it, expectation in their eyes. Tom smiles. „We're just waiting for you to light it.“ he says. William suddenly feels his chest tighten. „How did you?“ he starts, but Tom interrupts him. „Let's not talk about it. Merry Christmas.“
***
Love and a merry christmas to you all,
nightkate