Crowded Jumble Sale and Rye Flour

 The jumble sale last Saturday, a fundraiser for a village hall in a nearby village, was absolutely packed with people. I just picked up a three things for £1

Something for Granddaughter to do when she's here, another freezer storage box and lid, the right size for putting small cakes in the freezer and a solid clipboard for the check-in charts for Keep Moving group, I've been using a cardboard one for the last three years and it's falling apart.

BUT while looking round I lost my woolly hat, which I'd shoved in my pocket as everyone went in, so annoying as I'd had it ages. It probably fell out of my pocket and got added to the jumble! I can't go out in winter without something over my ears as getting cold can make me dizzy. When I got home I searched high and low for two other pull on beanie type hats that I had and they've vanished, I do still have two but one is a very thin knit and the other is an old fleece hat that lives by the back door for going in the garden. 

So that jumble sale has ended up costing  me more money than I wanted as I've sent for two different new hats - one home knitted from the Oxfam online shop  and a cheapie from ebay. (just occasionally I wish I'd had the patience to learn to knit!)

Then even more annoying, when I put my other coat on on Tuesday I found one of the vanished hats in my pocket ................duh!

After the jumble I went on to the next village for their monthly craft/farmers market and got a bag of rye flour to try (I've been wanting to try to make medieval maslin bread for ages)

 BUT what I'd not realised was that rye flour needs a different mixer blade for my bread machine as it makes a very sticky dough. I could make by hand but find kneading dough very hard on the wrists now. New blades for the bread machine are cheap enough so I sent for a pack containing one of each - normal and rye -  handy to have a spare anyway while it's still available.

So even though the sun was shining for the first time for many days it didn't feel as if I'd had a successful day.

Ho Hum

17th February Chinese New Year

 I don't really know much about Chinese New Year or Spring Festival except that it's  very important  for the Chinese, where ever they are, but it gets a mention in the Almanac for today.

The date of the Chinese New Year is calculated by the date of the Lunar New Year, which falls at some point between 21st January and 20th February. Celebrations start on the New Year's Eve and finish with a Lantern Festival on the 15th day and include dragon dances, lion dances and fireworks.

Customs and traditions include thoroughly  cleaning your house before New Year but not sweeping on New Years Day in case luck is swept away. Windows and doors are decorated with red paper cut-outs and money given in red envelopes.

The Chinese zodiac is a twelve year cycle with each year being represented by an animal. This year is the year of the Horse (it says Fire Horse in the Almanac book)

• Rat 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020 

• Ox  1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021 

• Tiger 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022 

• Rabbit 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023 

• Dragon 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024 

• Snake 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025 

• Horse 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014, 2026

• Goat 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015, 2027

• Monkey 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016, 2028

• Rooster 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017, 2029

• Dog 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018, 2030

• Pig 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019, 2031

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I was born in 1955, the Year of the Goat - which I reckon explains a lot!.

This Week

 We know about Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday but  each day of this week has a name..................

Collop Monday had other names in different parts of the country - Carnival Monday, Rose Monday, Hall Monday, Peasen Monday and Nickernan Night.

Nicky, nicky nan,

Give me a pancake and then I'll be gone,

But if you give me none

I'll throw a great stone

And down your door shall come.

This was the last day for eating meat and  for eating up collops of bacon and meat. Any fresh meat still available would be sliced and salted to preserve it until after Lent . A Collop - a Scandinavian word, means a slice of meat.  

 

Shrove Tuesday also had other names -Bannock Night, Brose Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras.

Shrove Tuesday is the last day of Shrovetide and can fall anytime between 3rd February and 9th March.  And since medieval times  the last day for rich foods before Lent fasting starting the next day -and it really was fasting back then - no eggs, no fats, no meat. It was customary to make confession on this day too. But it was also a day for merrymaking and fun and feasting on the last of the eggs and butter.

Pancake Tuesday is a very happy day,

If we don't have a holiday we'll all run away,

Where shall we run, up High Lane,

And here comes the teacher with a great big cane.

Mix a pancake, stir a pancake, pop it in the pan,

Fry the pancake, toss the pancake -

Catch it if you can.

( children's rhymes from the past )

Lacemakers had to stop using candles on this day, no matter the date or the weather conditions.

Ash Wednesday 
The first of the 40 days of  abstinence. The word Lent comes from old English lencten  and Germanic langatin  meaning spring or lengthening of the days. Originally only 1 meal a day was eaten during Lent. It's thought the origins  of fasting might date back as far as 325CE to the Council of Nicaea.

Fritter Thursday
Maybe because of the dough fritters that were often eaten in meatless Lent or perhaps using the last of the stored apples dipped in a flour and water batter?

Kissing Friday or in some places Nippy-Hug day
Once this was the day when boys had the right to kiss girls without being told off,  if the kiss was refused they could nip the girls bottom!

(Information from some of my folklore books)

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And meanwhile .......how about GB at the Winter Olympics.........3 Gold Medals - Never been done before! Well done to them all.

Back Tomorrow