On St Thomas’s Eve in Austria, unmarried ladies would slice an apple in two to foresee their wedding. If there was an even number of pips, she would marry soon, an odd number meant a wait, if she’d cut through one of the pips she would have a more troubled life and end up a widow.
I was planning to do this tomorrow but I've got to go to the post office, the Polish deli & Aldi in the morning so I'll start now. Are you planning a special meal to celebrate the Solstice? If so would you like to share your menu? I thought it might be a little light in the darkness, & a little balm to our souls, to bond over delicious food. In case you are interested we are having a dumpling of three nations extravaganza with dips to match. What about you?
In previous times in the Tyrol, on St. Thomas's Day, an elaborate pie was baked & marked with the sign of the cross & sprinkled with holy water before it was baked. It was not eaten until St. Stephen's Day, when it was cut by the head of the household with considerable ceremony. Each maidservant was also given a pie, to take home to her family. If a lover offered to carry her pie, that was considered a marriage proposal.
Some believe that celebrating with a boar’s head is a holdover from a pagan tradition to honour Freyr, a Norse god of the harvest and fertility who was associated with boars. The Victorians used to make them out of cake which wasn’t quite the same.
The long and complicated recipe can be found in Charles Elmé Francatelli's The Royal English and Foreign Confectionery Book. (London: 1862), together with a fabulous picture of the finished result
It was believed that the weather for the 21st December to 21st March, could be foretold from the breast-bone of a Christmas goose. The more discolouration present when the bone has been revealed after cooking indicates an in increase in storms & bad weather in those months.
Christmas Eve is another big marriage divination date: you can make a dough-cake in silence, place it on the hearth, & prick your initials on the surface. At midnight, your future spouse will enter the room, go to the hearth, & prick their initials beside yours. You can also conjure the image of your future spouse by picking 12 sage leaves in the garden at midnight of Christmas Eve. Presumably also useful for the stuffing later in the day.
The kallikantzaros were either vampire or werewolf. They were red-eyed, covered in black hair, with a long tongue & club-feet & were said to climb down the chimney to devour festive foods on the 12 days of Christmas. Solutions ranged from hanging pork based snacks & sweets in the chimney to stop them coming in further, to throwing a honey-soaked doughnut onto the roof to distract them. Throwing salt onto the fire was said to discourage them. #Folklore@folklore
At the winter solstice, the Yule bannock was made between noon and six o’clock before being baked over the Cailleach Nollaig (the Scottish Yule log). Its edges were indented to depict the rays of the sun, and each person in the house was expected to turn the bannock sunwise as it cooked to ensure that bad luck would not befall the family. It was also common for divination charms to be dropped into the batter.
This is the day to make or indulge in saffron buns for St Lucia Day as enjoyed in several Scandinavian countries. These buns - (Lussekatter) are supposed to resemble cats tails wrapped around each other. St Lucia is celebrated as a symbol of light in the dark of the year, with processions of girls in white dresses, the leader with a candle headdress.
@FairytalesFood@folklore@folklorethursday I think the buns are intended to resemble St Lucia's eyes. She lost her eyes as punishment for helping Christians. But the whole of the thirteenth is a glorious mess of old and new folklore, with Lussi and Lucia trasitions all mixed together.
Lutzelfrau, a German folkloric figure who could appear at your door and check your household for cleanliness on 13 December. If your house met inspection and the children appeared to be well behaved she would not abduct any children but instead before she went, gave her skirts a shake, letting fall sweets, fruits, and nuts interspersed with turnips and potatoes which may or may not contain coins inside. #Folklore@folklore@folklorethursday#festive
In some European Christmas traditions the spirits of ancestors are remembered during the Christmas Eve meal, vacant places are set, a candle/light is kept burning all night, and the leftover food remains on the table overnight for visiting spirits. In the 8thC St Bede also wrote that the early Medieval English left food on tables overnight during the Christmas season so that visiting spirits could partake of the feast.
@FairytalesFood@folklore A Norwegian tradition I grew up with, riffing off Day 9, was that on the farms you had to leave part of the risgrøt (rice porrige) out for creatures known as nisser to keep them happy. They were mythic beings believed to either help with or sabotage farmwork depending on their mood, and what I heard from farm relatives was that they would turn the milk still in the cows sour if they didn't get their julegrøt (xmas porridge).
@FairytalesFood@folklore The folk tradition of nisser have increasingly been merged with the global Xmas traditions in later years, and the nisser themselves with Santa Claus, so I think in a hybrid tradition the Xmas porridge that used to be left out for the nisse creatures are now left out for this single being known as the Xmas Nisse (Julenisse, Norwegian name for Santa).
Have you seen a pickle ornament hanging on a Christmas tree? It has amazing circular folklore, originally believed by Americans to be a German tradition to hang the pickle as the last ornament & hidden in the branches. The first child to spot it would have good luck. Apparently few German’s have ever heard this and these are now sold in Germany with the suggestion that this is an American tradition!
My latest letter is out! If you would like to hear about building festive traditions and rituals with food, the importance of celebrating at midwinter in your own way without detracting from the beliefs of those that celebrate differently, and for those that are not celebrating: a recipe for a completely none festive food which can still lift your spirit on a bad day. Link in bio & completely free to read or even subscribe for your convenience. https://bit.ly/3GzXdrZ
Wassailing- for a good harvest, cake soaked in cider is put at the foot of a tree or pushed into crevices in the branches & cider is poured round. Toasts are made to the tree & shotguns fired. This is intended to drive away evil spirits & wake the spirit of the tree into life for a new year.
As well as being naturally dressed in festive colours, it is believed to bring good luck if you eat an apple on Christmas Eve. Also If you slice an apple in 1/2 on Xmas day and it reveals a star, you will have health & happiness for the year ahead. Some also believe you can use the pips on St Thomas Eve to foretell a wedding.