Stir up Sunday

This Sunday , the last before Advent is  known as Stir up Sunday and is traditionally the day to make the Christmas pudding.The name comes from the collect for day in the Common Book of Prayer -

Stir up, O Lord, the wills of your faithful people, that they bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by you be richly rewarded: through Jesus Christ Our Lord. 

Amen

I did a bit of reading and found out that:

•  your pudding should be stirred from east to west to remember the journey taken by the wise men 
•  should  have 13 ingredients to remember Christ and the disciples.

And , of course, it  should contain a sixpence bringing good luck to the finder!  My grandmother always put a sixpence in her's, I think nowadays it's a fifty pence piece!

I was surprised to see how many newspapers and food blogs, including my favourite one were running articles with plenty of pudding and cake recipes in time for this weekend. It seems that this tradition is still popular. We make a home made pudding in our family - my sister has made it this year but I thought I would put a non traditional one in the freezer for a another occasion. This weekend I will make my Christmas cake , the fruit is ready soaking and today I made homemade mincemeat.

Preparing for Advent with Soap and Water.

Advent is my favourite season and I have begun to plan how we will celebrate - mostly with familiar rituals that we have celebrated every year since the children were little. However, it is always a joy to discover new ideas. Over the last few days I have been reading about the tradition of cleaning ones house over Advent. In Scandinavian, Polish and Irish homes it is part of the preparation for Christmas to have a big clear up in readiness for visitors and the hospitality of the season. It mirrors  the internal clearing out and spiritual preparation of Advent which is a penitential season - albeit  also one of quiet joy and suppressed excitement. The idea reminded me of the Benedictine attitude to work - ora et labora - that work and prayer, contemplation and action  are essentially linked. The quiet , repetitive nature of  quotidian tasks can aid prayer and meditation.

Our house is in need of a thorough clean right now and as I think ahead to the busy Christmas season it seems like a good idea to use this time of preparation to do a few timely domestics. Cleaning out cupboards in the kitchen, the fridge, the freezer and stocking up on baking essentials ready for Advent baking are some of the jobs I'm tackling.  It feels good when the job is done and I can practice the presence of God in an act of service to those who will visit our home!

All Saints Day.

 November 1st is All Saints Day. I enjoy celebrating it because it has given us the opportunity to learn about and appreciate the many Christians who have set us an example of faith over the years. We have told stories around the fire, hosted dressed up parties and  played traditional games like apple bobbing. Last year we watched the film Chariots of Fire. This year I think it will be a quiet evening together at home - a film, home made doughnuts and toffee apples and lots of silly games.

Here are a few links to celebration ideas;

 Pumpkin decorating ideas

Saint O Lanterns

Garden lanterns or try these

Film suggestions
Amazing Grace
The Hiding Place
Molokai
Chariots of Fire

Story sites
 Storynory
Christian Heroes

Autumn thoughts.

Here are the links to a few autumnal posts I have enjoyed reading.

Autumn store cupboard essentials by the BBC Good Food site.

And  a couple of links to some interesting thoughts on Michaelmas the feast of Michael the Archangel - I found these thought provoking.

Malcolm Guite's sonnets are always reflective.

Michaelmas Dragons and Delight   this post pushed  me a little deeper into the symbolism of the feast.

Some lovely prayers for Autumn

The sacrament of the table.

I have just bought my self a new cook book .

Sacred Feasts from a Monastery Kitchen. by Brother Victor Antoine d'Avila- Latourette

I am fascinated by the link between food and spirituality. Food plays such an important part in celebration and hospitality. I also enjoy cooking  and providing my family and friends with good food. In his introduction brother  Victor -Antoine says:

  ' It  ( the book) is  imbued with the innumerable joys and ways of praising God daily through the practice of food spirituality in the humble sanctuary of the kitchen'

That link between prayer, worship, food and hospitality is what I have been and continue to learn about. Appreciating the seasonal produce that come into my kitchen and what is served from it are one way of demonstrating thankfulness to God from whom every gift is good and perfect.

Another cookbook I have enjoyed using is The Times Cookbook for Feasts and Festivals by C.J. Jackson

Since today is Michaelmas Day here are a few links to recipes for today's feast.

lots of lovely blackberry, apple and other seasonal  recipes at  BBC Good Food  - I tried blackberry and coconut squares

Catholic Cuisine as usual has plenty of ideas

I am roasting a duck ( they were half price at Sainsburys a while ago and this one has been in the freezer!) and also a chicken. Goose being out of our pocket range! I am going to try roasting some apples along side the chicken. I have also made an apple and blackberry pie - wondering if there is too much of an apple theme?

Celebrating Autumn

Next Saturday - September 29th is Michaelmas Day, a feast in honor Michael the archangel and, in English tradition, the last day of harvest. The hard work is over, the abundance of the land is gathered and stored and it is time to celebrate and give thanks.

 For most of us the significance of harvest is lost today since we gather our supplies from Sainsburys or Tescos and can usually find a variety what ever the season - no need to store, preserve, dry and put by for later. Autumn is my favourite season and despite the reliability of my local supermarket I both enjoy and feel an urge to gather and preserve at this time of year. We have been collecting wild apples and blackberries across our local common. So far I have made: apple sauce , blackberry jam, blackberry compote and for the first time blackberry gin (very easy to do - the recipe is the same as for sloe gin). And I have bought myself a proper old fashioned pie dish . Autumn seems the time of year to make pies.

The traditional  way to celebrate Michaelmas is to eat goose. Last year we had a family lunch with roast chicken followed by baked apples and blackberry compote. There is an old folk tale that tells of the devil being cast out of heaven and falling to earth to land in a bramble bush. Enraged he curses the bush and spits on it! Since then it is supposed to be unlucky to gather blackberry's after Michaelmas.

Ordinary Summer Time

'Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time.'  ~John Lubbock

So far this summer there has not been much opportunity or enough sunshine to lie in the grass. I remain absorbed in my return to practise course , on sunny days I take my books  and my lunch outside.

We celebrated Pentecost two weeks ago with friends and a large fruit filled,  flower strewn, candle blazing sponge cake representing the fruit, the gifts and the fire of the Holy Spirit. Now we are in ordinary time, when I wind down and take a deep breathe with God. It is good to be reminded that ( in the words of Michael Quoist)

'If only we knew how to look at life as God sees it we should realise that nothing is secular in the world, but that everything contributes to the building of the Kingdom of God'

Even ordinary summer things. Ordinary time is about taking time to learn to see life as God sees it.