Category Archives: Stir-Up Sunday

Nov 26 2023
14 Comments
Advent, Stir-Up Sunday

Stir Up, We Beseech Thee, the Pudding in the Pot, Stir Up, We Beseech Thee, and Keep It All Hot

Today’s Convivio Book of Days chapter takes the prize for Longest Title Ever, but I wanted all the words there: they make me smile. These are the words of the day for Stir-Up Sunday, which is today: the last Sunday before Advent begins, and the traditional day to bake fruitcakes and get puddings started so they have time to properly age before Christmas.

The timing is just right and it just happens to coincide with the collect––the prayer after Communion in the Anglican Church, which goes like this:

Stir up, we beseech thee, o Lord, the wills of thy faithful people;
that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works,
may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Those traditional fruitcakes and steamed Christmas puddings that the Anglicans love so much require a good four weeks to age and become sufficiently brandy-soaked to reach their best depth of flavor. Some of us would argue that it requires the four weeks of Advent for our Christmas celebration to be the best that it can be, too: four weeks to prepare and to make our houses as fair as are able. This is a concept we here at Convivio Bookworks are all for: We call it the Slow Christmas Movement. It focuses on the idea of taking time to savor each season as it comes: the four weeks of Advent being a time of preparation for the joy of Christmas that follows… and then allowing Christmastime itself to last its full season: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and all the Twelve Days of Christmas that follow, and if you really love Christmas, you might celebrate the ancient tradition we follow each year, keeping Christmas all the way to Candlemas Eve at the start of February.

Ah, but I am getting ahead of myself. For now, let’s focus on today: Stir-Up Sunday. It is said that a good British Christmas pudding should contain thirteen ingredients––one for Jesus and each of his disciples––no more and no less. And when it is prepared on Stir-Up Sunday, each member of the family should give the pudding a stir, making a wish as they do. The stirring must be from east to west: the same direction the Magi traveled to visit the newborn child. If Christmas puddings and fruitcakes are not in your repertoire, it’s also a good day to make any Christmas spice cookies that require time for flavors to develop: German Pfeffernüsse, for instance.

But maybe this is the year you should try your hand at one of these steamy puddings! To that end, here is Nigella Lawson’s recipe for her Ultimate Christmas Pudding. You’ll find two versions presented there: one in metric measures and one in imperial measures. The two versions have more differences than just ways of measuring ingredients: The metric includes the British name for raisins (the lovely word sultanas), but it also lists suet as an ingredient, where in the American version, the suet is replaced by vegetable shortening. I’ll be making this using the shortening. l will also soon be dusting off music for the Advent season, which I think I love as much as Christmastime itself. I am, at heart, a guy who loves anticipation. Stir-Up Sunday and Advent? These things are right up my alley.

 

Speaking of prayers and collects: Would you please offer a prayer for my mom, Millie? She’s been in the hospital since Friday as a result of a UTI that came without symptoms, and severe dehydration. She is doing much better. We’re mainly trying to get her appetite back again and get her back home again as soon as possible. Thank you.

 

ONLINE SPECIAL in the SHOP
When it comes to small businesses, Convivio Bookworks is about as small as it gets and so the appreciation is genuine. Your purchases support real people, many of whom we know personally. In that spirit of appreciation, we’ve got a weekend of special markdowns on many items at the website, plus you can use our SLOWCHRISTMAS discount code for an additional $10 off your $85 purchase, which also gets you free domestic shipping. Basically: If there are items in our shop that you’ve been keeping an eye on, this weekend brings the best deal we’ll offer all year. You’ll find the markdowns in our Advent, Christmas, and Specialty Foods departments, and the discount code is good on everything in the shop. And if you’ve not visited in a long while, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at all you’ll find that is new. CLICK HERE to shop! The special sale was meant to end once Sunday night passed, but we’ll go ahead and keep it going for one more day, through the end of Monday, November 27.

 

COME SEE US!
We’ve got several pop-up markets planned these next few weeks and we’d love to see you if you’re local!

Tuesday November 28, Delray Beach
DELRAY BEACH 100′ CHRISTMAS TREE LIGHTING & YULETIDE STREET FAIR
We’ll be there on the grounds of Old School Square near the 100′ tree in our 10′ tent with a nice little shop of Advent candles and calendars and Christmas goods from Germany, Sweden, and Mexico. Tuesday November 28 from 6 to 9 PM at Old School Square, Downtown Delray Beach.

Saturday December 2, Miami
CHRISTMAS MARKET MIAMI
We’ll have a huge pop-up shop (one of our biggest ever) filled with handmade artisan goods from Germany & Sweden plus specialty foods, too, and our Advent candles and calendars. Saturday December 2 from 11 AM to 8 PM, indoors and outdoors (we’ll be indoors) at the German American Social Club in Miami, which is where we spent Oktoberfest this year. 11919 SW 56th Street, Miami.

Saturday December 2, Boca Raton
SANKTA LUCIA FESTIVAL & JULMARKNAD
This lovely festival is a fundraiser hosted by SWEA, the Swedish Women’s Educational Association. It will be held at the First United Methodist Church of Boca Raton at 625 NE Mizner Boulevard on Saturday December 2 from 11 AM to 3 PM. Our pop-up shop will feature traditional and contemporary Swedish Christmas items plus Advent candles and calendars, and some delicious German Christmas cookies and candies, too. (Same day as the Christmas Market in Miami, but don’t worry, we’ll be at both!)

Sunday December 3, Coral Gables
DEUTSCHER WEIHNACHTSMARKT (GERMAN CHRISTMAS MARKET)
It’s the 19th Annual Deutscher Weihnachtsmarkt (or German Christmas Market) at the beautiful historic Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ, 3010 De Soto Boulevard in Coral Gables, in view of the Biltmore Hotel. We’ll have a tent outdoors on the grounds with an assortment of German handicrafts for Christmas plus specialty foods. Noon to 5 PM.

Friday December 8, Lake Worth
KRAMPUSNACHT
On the Eve of St. Nicholas’ Day, it is Krampus who accompanies the good saint to scare girls and boys into good behavior, and he gets his own celebration at the American German Club in suburban Lake Worth on Friday evening, December 8, from 7 to 11 PM. We’ll be there with our biggest pop-up shop ever as this night ushers in the weekend’s Christkindlmarkt. Tickets required and must be purchased in advance. 5111 Lantana Road, Lake Worth.

Saturday & Sunday, December 9 & 10, Lake Worth
CHRISTKINDLMARKT
It’s our favorite event of the year! The annual Christkindlmarkt at the American German Club in suburban Lake Worth is just wonderful, and we’ll be there with our biggest pop-up shop ever, filled with German Christmas artisan goods plus more from Sweden and Mexico, as well as specialty foods and who knows what else! Tickets are required and must be purchased in advance. Usually sells out! Saturday December 9 from 2 to 10 PM and Sunday December 10 from 12 to 8 PM. 5111 Lantana Road, Lake Worth.

 

Click on the pictures to make them larger! Top Image: An illustration page from a book with an even longer-winded title than today’s blog post: The Everyday Cook and Recipe Book: Containing More than Two Thousand Practical Recipes for Cooking Every Kind of Meat, Fish, Poultry, Game, Soups, Broths, Vegetables and Salads: Also for Making All Kinds of Plain and Fancy Breads, Pastries, Puddings, Cakes, Creams, Ices, Jellies, Preserves, Marmalades, Etc., Together with Various Miscellaneous Recipes for Preparation of Food and Attentions to Invalids, All Carefully Prepared and Practically Tested. Phew! That’s a mouthful. The book is by E. Neil and was published in New York by J.S. Ogilvie, 1891 [Public Domain] via Wikimedia Commons.

Nov 19 2021
6 Comments
Advent, Stir-Up Sunday

Stirring Up a Slow Christmas

This Sunday brings a day known as Stir-Up Sunday: it’s the final Sunday of the year in Ordinary Time as we shift into the Advent season with the First Sunday of Advent on the 28th of November. It is, in my view, a good time to slow down and refocus on the approach to Christmas. I know people who have had full on Christmas decorations up for two weeks already, and while folks can do what they want, of course, well… that’s not happening in this house. We only put the Indian corn on the front door after Halloween ended, and there are still pumpkins on the porch. We’ll be taking each day this season as it comes (as we always do): Thanksgiving, then Advent, and a gradual easing into Christmas––so we’re not tired of it before the Christmas season has had its proper Twelve Days.

If you, too, are on board with this idea, then welcome! I call it the Slow Christmas Movement. It’s not for everyone, I know, but it’s the way we like to do things, and it heightens the Christmas experience by building on anticipation, which is such a wonderful thing.

Speaking of anticipation: it is a good time right now to order Advent candles and calendars from our Convivio Book of Days Catalog! A simple thing like an Advent candle that you light each night or an Advent calendar that you open a door on each day can really help bring some perspective to things, especially if you feel rushed. Ours are the traditional kinds, made in Europe, where these traditions began, and it’s all part of this Slow Christmas Movement. We always offer free domestic shipping when you spend $60, and this year, we are once again offering our big Christmas Stock-Up Sale: spend $75 on anything and everything in our catalog, and save $10 plus get free domestic shipping: a total savings of $19.50. Just use discount code STREETFAIR at checkout. Click here to shop!

Here’s another way to slow things down: this Sunday, prepare a traditional English fruitcake or steamed pudding. Not that you’ll be rushing the season by eating it this Sunday. No, the best of these desserts need time to age and time, if you are making them boozy, to soak up the booze. And this is what Stir-Up Sunday is all about. It begins with a prayer, and here it is:

Stir up, we beseech thee, o Lord, the wills of thy faithful people;
that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works,
may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Or something to that effect. The language is often updated nowadays, replacing the thees and the plenteouslies with more contemporary words, but I think you get the general idea. It is the collect––the prayer––after communion in the Anglican Church this last Sunday in ordinary time before we shift to those Four Sundays of Advent, the time when we make our houses as fair as we are able. There is the prayer, and there is also the fact that traditional steamed puddings and fruitcakes require a good four weeks to age and become sufficiently brandy-soaked to reach their best depth of flavor. Ask folks in the congregation and they may very well have their own version of the collect, which goes more along these lines:

Stir up, we beseech thee, the pudding in the pot,
Stir up, we beseech thee, and keep it all hot.

This is not something we are particularly aware of in my family, Catholics as we are, and Italians, no less. But my sister does make a good fruitcake most Christmases, brandy-soaked like the best of them, and she does make it early, long before Christmas’s arrival. Same goes for her delicious Pfeffernüsse, the spicy German cookie that requires weeks to develop its flavors. They say a proper British Christmas pudding should contain thirteen ingredients––one for Jesus and each of his disciples––no more and no less. And when it is prepared on Stir-Up Sunday, each member of the family should give the pudding a stir, making a wish as they do. The stirring must be from east to west: the same direction the Magi traveled to visit the newborn child.

By the way, here is Nigella Lawson’s recipe for her Ultimate Christmas Pudding. I think we may give this a try in our home this year. You’ll find two versions presented there: one in metric measures and one in imperial measures. The two versions have more differences than just ways of measuring ingredients: The metric includes the British name for raisins (the lovely word sultanas), but it also lists suet as an ingredient, where in the American version, the suet is replaced by vegetable shortening. I’ll be making this using the shortening.

COME SEE US!
If you’re far away, don’t forget our Christmas Stock-Up Sale. But we’ll be popping up at a few nearby pop-up markets this season, and if you’re local, we’d love to see you. We’ll be outdoors at all these markets.

HOLIDAY MARKET at MATTHEWS BREWING CO.
Sunday November 28 from 2 to 8 PM at 130 South H Street in Lake Worth Beach. We’ll have a table in the outdoor courtyard, focused on Advent candles, Advent calendars, and a selection of Christmas artisan goods from Germany, Sweden, and Mexico.

HOLIDAY NIGHT MARKET & FESTIVAL at SOCIAL HOUSE
Saturday December 4 starting at 6 PM at 512 Lucerne Avenue in Downtown Lake Worth Beach. Inspired by traditional European Christmas markets. We’ll have a tent in the outdoor courtyard with a large selection of our Advent and Christmas artisan goods from Germany, Sweden, and Mexico, Shaker culinary herbs and herbal teas, and some of our textiles from Kei & Molly Designs and Millie’s Tea Towels.

CHRISTKINDLMARKT at the AMERICAN GERMAN CLUB
Saturday December 11 from 2 to 10 PM and Sunday December 12 from Noon to 8 PM at 5111 Lantana Road in suburban Lake Worth. A traditional German Christmas market. Tickets required. Our largest pop-up shop ever will include Advent candles and calendars, Christmas artisan goods from Germany, Sweden, and Mexico, Shaker culinary herbs and herbal teas and soaps, Millie’s Tea Towels, our new line of tea towels and reusable bags from Kei & Molly Designs, market bags from Mexico, and more.

One last thing before I sign off: Won’t you join me, virtually, at the Jaffe Center for Book Arts’ next virtual Real Mail Fridays social? It’s today! Friday November 19 from 2 to 5 Eastern. We’re calling this one the ABBA Voyage Social Redux, because yes, we did it last week and it was SUCH a blast, we’re doing it one more time. Three hours of ABBA music––classics and new music from ABBA’s just released new album: their first in nearly 40 years. Click here for the Zoom link to join in the social. Come and go as you please. Supremely heartwarming. And you know I’d love to see you.

Image at top: “The Christmas Pudding” by Robert Seymour. Etching for The Book of Christmas by Thomas K. Hervey, 1836.

 

Tagged
Nov 22 2020
1 Comment
Advent, Old Clem's Night, St. Cecilia's Day, St. Clement's Day, Stir-Up Sunday

Stir Up, We Beseech Thee, the Pudding in the Pot

I love a bit of perfect timing, and today, we get just that. It begins with a prayer, and here it is:

Stir up, we beseech thee, o Lord, the wills of thy faithful people;
that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works,
may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Or something to that effect. The language is often updated nowadays, replacing the thees and the plenteouslies with more contemporary words, but I think you get the general idea. It is the collect––the prayer––after communion in the Anglican Church this last Sunday in ordinary time before we shift to the Four Sundays of Advent, our annual time of preparation for Christmas: the time when we make our houses as fair as we are able. The timing of this prayer each year happens to coincide nicely with the ideal timing for the preparation of some traditional English yuletide desserts: in particular, steamed puddings and fruitcakes, which require a good four weeks to age and become sufficiently brandy-soaked to reach their best depth of flavor.

And so, since at least the 1830s, this day has been known as Stir-Up Sunday, both for the collect and also for the celebratory kitchen tasks. Ask folks in the congregation and they may very well have their own version of the collect, which goes more along these lines:

Stir up, we beseech thee, the pudding in the pot,
Stir up, we beseech thee, and keep it all hot.

This is not something we are particularly aware of in my family, Catholics as we are, and Italians, too. But my sister does make a good fruitcake most Christmases, brandy-soaked like the best of them, and she does make it early, long before Christmas’s arrival. Same goes for her delicious Pfeffernüsse, the spicy German cookie that requires weeks to develop its flavors. It is said, though, that a good British Christmas pudding should contain thirteen ingredients––one for Jesus and each of his disciples––no more and no less. And when it is prepared on Stir-Up Sunday, each member of the family should give the pudding a stir, making a wish as they do. The stirring must be from east to west: the same direction the Magi traveled to visit the newborn child.

It is, as well, this 22nd of November, St. Cecilia’s Day. Cecilia, patron saint of musicians. It is traditional to attend a concert on her day, a custom since at least the 16th century in France. This year, though, we know that is not in our best collective interest, and so we wait for perhaps next St. Cecilia’s Day for this particular tradition. Tomorrow, the 23rd, brings my grandfather Arturo’s birthday––at least we think so. His birthday may possibly have been on the 21st. Nonetheless, we always celebrated on the 23rd, which also happens to be St. Clement’s Day, and another rhyme comes to mind:

Oranges and lemons,
Say the bells of St. Clement’s.
You owe me five farthings,
Say the bells of St. Martin’s.

St. Clement’s Day in times past was a time to go “Clementing”–– kind of like trick or treating, only on the 23rd of November. Kids would knock on doors, hoping for treats in exchange for singing rhymes like the one above. Old Clem is a patron saint of blacksmiths and metal workers, though, and they had their own mysterious song for Old Clem’s Night, which certainly involved ale:

Come, all you Vulcans, strong and stout,
Unto St Clem I pray turn out;
For now St Clem’s going round the town:
His coach and six goes merrily round.

I am reminded, too, each year on this approach to Thanksgiving, that there is an old, mostly forgotten begging tradition of New York in which kids would go door to door on Thanksgiving Day. My mom, who never went trick-or-treating at Hallowe’en, does remember doing this when she was a little girl in Brooklyn. I often wonder if there is some connexion between this and the Clementing of November 23, especially since, some years, Thanksgiving falls on St. Clement’s Day.

Here in our home, we’ll soon be dusting off music for the Advent season, the time of preparation before Christmas that I love perhaps as much as Christmastime itself. I am, at heart, a guy who loves anticipation. I think of St. Cecilia each year as the figure who reminds us that it is time to do this, to bring in the music that was put away once Christmas Eve arrived last year.

Speaking of anticipation: it is, by the way, a good time to order Advent candles and calendars from our Convivio Book of Days Catalog! Especially if you feel a bit rushed by Christmas, even before Thanksgiving has come. A simple thing like an Advent candle that you light each night or an Advent calendar that you open a door on each day can really help bring some perspective to things. Ours are the traditional kinds, made in Europe, where these traditions began, and it’s all part of what we call the Slow Christmas Movement. We always offer free domestic shipping when you spend $50, and this year, since we won’t be showing in all the local Christmas markets, we’re running a bigger sale: It’s our Christmas Stock-Up Sale: spend $75 on anything and everything in our catalog, and save $10 plus get free domestic shipping: a savings of $18.50. Just use discount code STREETFAIR at checkout. We’ve got lots of wonderful things to choose from, and more to come: lots of your favorite German artisan goods for Christmas are on their way and should be restocked this week.

Image at top: “The Christmas Pudding” by Robert Seymour. Etching for The Book of Christmas by Thomas K. Hervey, 1836.

Join me this Wednesday (November 25) at 11 AM EST on Instagram Live: my friend Manal Aman of Hello Holy Days! will be chatting with me about the things we do at Convivio Bookworks and some of the great things we offer at our catalog (including Manal’s beautiful cards for Ramadan). Manal is the creator of #purpleramadan and the fictional #ramadandrummer and an all-around fine person. Find Manal on Instagram @helloholydays and us, of course, @conviviobookworks.

3 PM EST that same day, join me for Book Arts 101: Thanksgiving. It’s a live Zoom session featuring some pretty amazing artists’ books from the Jaffe Center for Book Arts. You’ll be able to register for it come Monday by visiting the EVENTS page at www.jaffecollection.org. You may also view a simulcast on Facebook Live at the Facebook page of the Jaffe Center for Book Arts, or catch the video later at the Jaffe Center’s Vimeo Channel.