A friend contacted me yesterday to ask if I would consider digging into the traditions of the garter-toss and bouquet toss at weddings for one of my posts. Well, ask and ye shall receive!

The garter-toss is a remnant from days of old. Back in the medieval and Elizabethan eras, no one just assumed that the bride and groom would retire to their room and consummate the marriage. No, no, they wanted proof–or at least a semblance of it. Back in those days, the wedding guests would accompany the bridal couple to the bed chamber. Taking the garter was considered “proof.” It was also considered luck. So things sometimes got out of hand with guests trying to derobe the bride so they could get at those lucky undergarments . . . 

Yeah, that’s when the “toss” came in, LOL. Brides and grooms understandably wanted to distract those over-eager guests, so the groom would remove the garter and toss it to get people away from his poor bride. Kinda like tossing a steak at the snarling guard dogs… 😉

Over the centuries, that tradition has held on, though it’s been moved to the reception when seeing the couple to their bedroom went out of style. Funny the things that stick, isn’t it?

The bouquet-toss is rooted in a similar idea. Brides in Merry Old England (by which I mean OLD England), would carry bunches of aromatic herbs (think garlic) to fend off evil spirits (a common thread in many Celtic and Anglo traditions). These were eventually replaced with flowers as a symbol of happiness. And if the bride was so stinkin’ happy, well the guests wanted a piece of it too! They would try to snatch a piece of the bride’s gown or flowers for luck.

Go figure, the women weren’t too crazy about having their wedding dress torn to shreds (I don’t understand it…), so the bouquet-toss came about, much like the garter-toss did–to get people away from her, LOL.

So these two tossing traditions are both ways of sharing the good luck of the bridal couple with the guests without offending modesty or ruining the gown, and both have since come to the mean that the lucky recipient would be the next to wed. (Which is, of course, the best fortune anyone could have. *grins*)

And hey, if anyone else has questions about words or history that you’d like me to research for you, it saves me some brainstorming, so I’m all ears!

This past week my family took a road trip to Texas. And while I’ve flown to Texas before (and will again for the ACFW conference in September–woot!), I’ve never before driven through many of the states. From Maryland, the path to Dallas takes us first through the entire diagonal of West Virginia, then through Kentucky, then Tennessee, Arkansas, and finally Texas.

As we drove, I couldn’t help but think of the beloved books I’ve read that take place in these areas. Laura Frantz’s amazing colonials, for example, that are set in Kentucky. Many of the books I grew up on that were set in early Texas. I noticed the names that I knew from my own research, like Pulaski, who was apparently well revered by states other than Georgia. 😉

And as I saw this 1200-mile cross-section of our country, I was hit again and again with how big it is. How diverse. How mysterious those territories must have been for the early settlers. We started our trip in the beautiful rolling mountains of the Appalachians, spending hours and hours driving up and down, around turns, dodging wildlife. When those mountains tapered into hills, we entered the beautiful horse country of Kentucky–where there is, of all things, a castle. Talk about a fun thing for the kids to see! Though the castle was built only 30-40 years ago, renovators today are apparently shocked by the detail given to medieval authenticity. Pretty cool, eh?

From the Lexington area we continued into Cave Country, with beautiful rock ledges and hidden wonders that I obviously couldn’t see from the road, but which my imagination knew waited in those caves. Driving through that area we saw all the evidence of the dinosaur discoveries in the area, including Dinosaur World and the life-size model of a T-Rex perched along the interstate, inviting you to come discover something new. Archaeology was a dream of mine before I decided I’d better just focus on writing, so when my hubby said that maybe we should come back to Cave Country sometime to explore, I was pretty excited. =)

The land began to flatten out as we drove through Tennessee, and was particularly lovely around the Mississippi. No wonder, then, that civilization sprang up there! It was quite an experience to drive over that massive river and into Arkansas, where the straight, flat countryside was largely fields with trees along the border. We got to see a crop-duster at work, which was also a new experience.

This mountain-girl started yawning at all the flat, straight lines in Arkansas and Texas (sorry, natives!), but there was definitely something about the sheer vastness that made me able to see the allure. I could just imagine that the first travelers from the east, after navigating those treacherous mountains, finally reaching this and thinking, “Oh my. Just look at all that land!”

We had a great trip, and tomorrow I’ll wrap my mind around some of the reflections I had while there. But today seemed like a good time to focus on the trip itself, and this amazing land that drew so many amazing people to it.

I’m up to my eyeballs in the War of 1812 right now, and since a huge part of it was the naval portion, I thought I’d chat a bit about our wonderful privateer fleet. =)

When the British fleet arrived in America, their first act was to close off the major harbors. (Shocker, right?) In the Chesapeake, that meant Norfolk, Annapolis, Baltimore etc., all supposedly sealed. Annapolis was referred to an open harbor, which means that the British let ships in and out so long as they had an innocent purpose, or if they were about diplomatic business. But Baltimore, which the area’s leading merchant port, was closed. 

Naturally, this is where my story takes place. =) My hero is a merchant captain and did some privateering in the first couple years of the war, but is now on land in Baltimore for the remainder. How, you wonder, did he get his vessel back in the harbor?

Well, that was one of the fun things I discovered. While some of the so-dubbed privateer fleet were making a beautiful nuisance of themselves to the British in the Atlantic, Caribbean, Gulf, and even in British waters off the coast of England (how much fun is THAT??), some took it upon themselves to do blockade running in the Chesapeake. They would simply slip into an unguarded waterway miles and miles away from the Bay and then follow a maze of winding tributaries back to their home river or harbor. The British had no clue they were doing this, which left them largely unchecked and limited only by the knowledge of their pilots.

The Chesapeake area baffled (and over-heated) the British military in many ways, and this was but one of them. While it certainly wasn’t business as usual in Baltimore, sealing off the harbor in many ways resulted in more privateers for them to worry with. Outraged (and bored) merchant captains more or less shrugged and said, “You’re going to keep me here? Fine. See what it gets you.” They they’d take their craft up the rivers to harass the British fleet there.

Oh, such fun, such fun. =)

Hope everyone’s having a lovely Wednesday!

In case y’all haven’t seen this already . . . 

I have an official title for my second Culper Ring book! Wooooot! 

For any of you non-writer folk out there who might be scratching your heads going, “Okay… um… what’s so exciting about that?” allow me to explain a bit. =) An author’s titles aren’t always approved by the publishing committee, so they’ll then ask for a list of other possible titles and will go from there, sometimes picking from that list but more often using it as a springboard to come up with a title their marketing experts say will sell. I was kinda surprised when there was no discussion on either my first title or series name–they loved both Culper Ring Series and Ring of Secrets. I was warned, however, that the second two books would be talked about. 😉

So. I’d originally called this book I’m writing now Mask of Truth. The experts at Harvest House didn’t think “truth” sounded romantic enough, so asked for other suggestions. I sent them a list of probably two dozen alternatives, LOL, and they took the words I’d listed as appropriate to the story and feel and came up with–drumroll please……

Whispers from the Shadows

Yay!! It’s a beautiful title that I totally love, and I’m now having fun weaving its imagery into the story as I write. =)

And of course, one of the first things I changed was the name of my Pinterest board for the book. Which, I might add, is now full to bursting with Regency style clothing that my characters would be wearing, so if you have an intense love for those Jane Austen-esque fashions, you might want to hop over there. 😉

http://pinterest.com/roseannamwhite/whispers-from-the-shadows/

And while you’re browsing through beautiful empire gowns, I will be back in Baltimore of 1814, where poor Gwyneth is even now sitting at a borrowed desk in a rumpled gown with pencil smudges flawing her ivory skin and bizarre drawings before her . . . 😉

Happy Independence Day!

Liberty Tea

In the 1770’s Colonists forsook the partaking of tea imported from
the British, and thus American women looked to their own gardens and the
world around them to create their own teas.  Ribwort, sassafras, willow
bark, birch, strawberry leaf, lemon balm, verbena, and currant bush
were used as substitutes, as well as raspberry leaves which were used to
make “Hyperion Tea.”  Spearmint, peppermint, wintergreen, orange
bergamot, catnip and pennyroyal were used to create mint teas.  Flowers
such as red rose petals, blossoms of linden, elder, red clover,
chamomile, violet, red rose petals, rosehips, linden blossoms, elder,
red clover, chamomile, violet and goldenrod were also brewed into tea. 
Teas were also made from sweet fern, spicebush, ambrosia, twigs of sweet
gum, fennel and dill seed, parsley, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, and
sage.

Wanna know more? Hie thee over to Colonial Quills, ask for a cup, and settle in with the ladies for an Independence Day celebration Colonial style! We’re going to have a blast!!

https://www.roseannamwhite.com/2012/07/independence-day-liberty-tea-party.html

 

Two weeks ago I shared some of the rules on how servants were to behave in the Edwardian days around their masters. So I figured this week, I’d share the other side–how masters and mistresses are to act with their domestics.

Children of the family are the only members of the household given free rein both above and below stairs–adult members of the family ought to provide notice to the servants before inspecting the kitchens or other servant areas.

For the most part, the family deals primarily with the upper servants–the butler, the housekeeper, the cook or chef, the lady’s maid and valet. A trusting and professional relationship is to be cultivated and maintained. The butler is always to be addressed as “Surname” (the Mr. is optional), the housekeeper is always “Mrs. Surname” whether married or not. The lady’s maid is usually “Miss Surname,” though if a mistress is especially fond of her, she may occasionally use her given name. The valet is always “Mr. Surname” as well. (Sometimes the title is dropped for these upper servants, and they will be called only by their last name, but never by their first.) If a house employs a cook, they are “Mrs. Surname” but if a chef de cuisine, then one would call him “chef” or “Monsieur Surname.” 

All other servants are addressed by their given name when one is giving them orders but are otherwise not to be addressed at all. The family ought to limit their dealings to the upper servants whenever possible.

Footmen are a sign of a family’s prestige, something only the very wealthy can afford–and if they have more than one, then oh la la! They must be somebody! But they are lower servants and do not expect to be addressed other than to receive orders.

Other than cleaning, the primary task of the housemaid is to be invisible. For the most part, they will clean a room when no member of the family is expected to be in it. But when they must clean the foyer or entryway or Great Hall, masters are to do them the courtesy of ignoring them–this spares them the embarrassment of having to explain their presence. 

If a family employs a tutor for the children, he is to be addressed as “Mr. Surname,” likewise a governess would be “Miss Surname.” These individuals may be invited to join the family on occasion at meals, but they do not expect it.

Apparently (and I found this shocking!) it was a tradition for lower servants to be given new names upon joining a household. In part because the lower staff was in an almost constant state of flux as they sought better positions elsewhere, and masters couldn’t keep up with them all, LOL.