by Roseanna White | Aug 8, 2012 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
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!
by Roseanna White | Aug 2, 2012 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
When I came up with the idea of the Culper Ring Series, I didn’t have any great themes in mind. I just liked the premise, and soon got hooked on the characters. The plots were dictated largely by history. And I was rather surprised to release the themes ended up coming from history too.
Themes I had the pleasure of hearing echoed to a crowd of 60,000 people over the weekend. =)
Last week we drove to Texas for the Restoring Love rally, bringing the kids with us. Now, to be perfectly honest, I never listen to Glenn Beck, and I haven’t much watched him since he left Fox. Now, the reason for these “not”s is that if someone else doesn’t turn it on, I don’t bother with the TV or radio. And if someone else turns it on, they pick what we watch. So most of my watching/listening ends up being My Little Ponies or Chuck the Truck, LOL.
So yeah, I’d kinda wondered why my hubby kept saying, “You should send a press release to the Glenn Beck folks. Your new stuff is right up their alley.” I believed him, but didn’t fully grasp why. Not until I sat in the Cowboys stadium and heard that crowd roaring in response to the speakers giving voice to… to…
My themes! =) Themes that aren’t just for the pages of a book, but for my own life too. My family’s life. My church’s life. Themes about standing up, no matter what, and doing what’s right. More, doing what’s needed for others.
If you asked the audience what Restoring Love was about, you probably would have heard things like “service” and “charity.” We took our kids with us for our “day of service,” as they called it, a day when 30,000 volunteers flooded Dallas to do everything from fix roofs to cut up downed trees. We ended up in a nursing home, supposedly to plant flowers, but they hadn’t been delivered–so we ended up playing Bingo with the residents. =)
And my day was pretty much made when Xoe looked up at me on the bus ride there, after we’d explained what “volunteering” meant, and asked, “Can we volunteer all the time?”
See, that’s the lesson we all need to learn, and that I know I need to teach my kids. That they can reach out. That they should reach out. Not necessarily to do big things, but to do whatever needs done. That’s the message I got from the event, from the speakers, and that’s the message I’ve been contemplating for a year now as I develop each of my Culper books.
Sometimes the Lord calls us to a hard place. A place where obeying means risking everything we love. So what do we do?
Sometimes the Lord calls us to a dark place. A place where obeying means being kept forever in the shadows, where no one will see us. So what do we do?
Sometimes the Lord calls us to a towering place. A place where millions can see us…but where a single misstep can send us tumbling down. So what do we do?
The answer ought to be obvious–we do what we need to do, what He asks us to do–but is it? It certainly isn’t easy to. Which is why it feels like so often these days, things are left undone. Because it’s so much easier not to do them.
But history has already shown us these themes. Shown us the stories of people who weren’t so extraordinary, until they did what they had to do. Until they fought the hard fight, until they went where no one else dared to go. Until they risked hatred and reviling and even punishment to stand up–just stand up–for a cause.
That made them extraordinary, wrote their names in our history books. Not because of anything they tried to do for themselves, for their own glory–but for the things they did for others. For freedom. For faith.
Maybe I don’t see a cause before me quite so clear-cut as fighting for independence or rallying a nation to fend off invaders. But I see one just as daunting–raising my children to have the heart, to have the courage, to serve others above themselves. It’s a task that won’t be finished any time in the near future, but you know . . . I think I’m doing okay.
by Roseanna White | Aug 1, 2012 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
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.
by Roseanna White | Jul 26, 2012 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
My sister recently talked me into joining her zumba class, something I’ve resisted when she mentioned it months ago. Why? Because I prefer my humiliation to be private, and exercising and I have a love-hate relationship that’s heavier on hate than love, LOL. But I finally gave in and have gone with her twice now. So, yes, you’re about to get life lessons from zumba class. 😉
My exercising habit tends to look like this: for a few months, I’ll exercise five to six days a week, half an hour a day. Then I’ll get a cold/sinus infection/flu/other malady that forces me to stop for a few days. And then I’ll just never start again, because not doing it is just so much nicer, ha ha. And that’ll last until I pause to think, “Oh, man, I’m turning 30 in August, and I look like it!” Then I’ll start again.
When I’ve exercised on my own in recent years, I’ve done the dance-based programs. So going to zumba wasn’t quite as humiliating as I expected, since I knew most of the moves, they were just in new arrangements. And being in a class with a dozen other woman of varying ages and sizes and levels of expertise has really hammered home one of things I discovered while going it alone.
You only get out what you put in.
When I first started doing these DVDs, I went through the motions. I did all the steps. But not with the abandon of the instructors. And frankly, I didn’t see much by way of results. But after a while, that became not-hard enough that I could ramp it up a bit. And that is when I started seeing a difference. Looking around at my new class, I’ve noticed much the same thing. The ones working the hardest, sweating the most, with the reddest faces, are the ones in better shape.
Now, there are certainly days I’m not up for that in a workout class. But what about life? How often do we just go through the motions, doing the right steps, but are unwilling to break a proverbial sweat? If you’re like me, you have those days too. Some days, that’s all you can manage, and that’s fine. Doing what you have to do without any umph is better, now and then, than just taking a day off.
The problem is when it becomes habit. When, day after all, you bounce instead of jump. You walk instead of run. You sigh instead of sing.
I’ve been there. And you know what the problem with it is? You never see results. You never get better. You’re putting in the bare minimum, so that’s what you’re getting out. And you know the only way to break free of that? Ramp it up. Put in more. Push yourself, make yourself keep going through the side-stitches, through the sore muscles, through the breathlessness. Work harder. Give it your all.
Sometimes I’ve been so caught up in the blahs, so exhausted by life, so in need of rejuvenation that it feels like I can’t possibly do more. But you know what? I was wrong. I could, once I opened my spirit to the Spirit and let Him whisper His wind into me. Who needs their own breath, after all, when you can have His?
I’m by no means perfect at this (in either life or working out), but it’s a truth that’s hit home these past two weeks as I push myself to give more than I thought I could in zumba. Makes me wonder what more I could do in life, too, if I just pushed past the blahs…
by Roseanna White | Jul 25, 2012 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
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!
by Roseanna White | Jul 19, 2012 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
It’s a saying pretty much everyone understands, I’d think. “Keep your eyes on the prize.” Keep your focus on the thing you’re aiming at. The finish line. The trophy. The certificate of achievement. The check-off of your Bucket List.
Keep going. Keep reaching. Keep your aim true.
But what if you’re aiming at the wrong prize?
A couple months ago I blogged about
those Twisty Paths, and how finaling and winning or not in a contest was all part of God’s plan. Well, with more finalists announced on Monday for another big fiction contest, the topic is weighing on me again.
I’m a competitive person. I hate losing and always have. And frankly, I was always one of the best in anything I really put my mind to. I was smart, I was good at art, I could master any subject in school, any instrument. You know the one thing I stank at? Sports. I just wasn’t any good at them, but I wanted to run Cross Country to get in shape. So I joined the team. I did my best. And I never, not once, even came close to winning.
Thank heavens I had an awesome coach, one who understood that keeping your eyes on the prize didn’t always mean winning. He told me that I was competing with myself, with my previous times. That my prize was knowing I was kicking my own rear end. And that when I did that, God was so very proud of me.
So here I am in my career. Faced, again, with the reality of not making the cut in a contest. Am I in tears? Um, no. A little bummed? Sure. But as I sat here contemplating these wins, I heard that whisper again. The one that says, “Is winning your prize? Is a best-seller your prize? Or am I? Is touching hearts for Me?”
So here I sit. Praying with a soul laid bare that He helps me always keep my eyes firmly where they belong. On the prize. The real prize, and the only prize. The one that I can’t put on a shelf or list in my bio. The one that lifts me up on those down days.
Him.
I want to thank each and every one of you who has ever taken the time to send me an email or leave me a comment letting me know my work has had some effect on you. Those, my friends, are how God often speaks to me to say, “See? This is your prize, my daughter. This is your proof that you’re doing well, doing what you ought to be doing.”
And I want to offer sincere congratulations to all the wonderful, gifted authors who are up for these prestigious awards. You have all earned this, and I know God has special plans for using it and you for His glory.
Man-made prizes have their place and I cheer loud as I can when a book I love wins an award. Especially when I know the author and know that their ultimate prize, too, is that “Well done, good and faithful servant” from the Lord.
But for some of us, the ones of us who might get a little too hung up on the glitter and glam of an earthly win, keeping our focus is tough–and necessary. And proof that the Lord knows what’s best for us, even when it brings a little bit of a bummer.
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.