Why Celebrate One Regency Holiday When You Can Celebrate Six?

We’ve talked about a number of Regency holidays over the years such as Christmas and Easter. I’m delighted to report that I have a Regency steampunk story, in the Regent’s Devices universe, out this Thursday. Like the other stories, which are more-traditional Regencies, it centers around a Regency holidays. We cover from May Day to Twelfth Night, featuring some of your favorite tropes—enemies-to-lovers, second-chance romance, forbidden love, friends-to-lovers, and more! The collection includes the following stories:

May Day Mayhem by Ann Chaney—Intrigue, death, and love come to Horsham-Upon-the-Thames as the small English village anticipates their May Day celebration. Home Office agents the Duke of Doncaster and governess Helen Stokes join forces to uncover a missing list of French agents before an enemy discovers it. Mired in May Day preparations while chasing hoodlums and gentry, Helen and Doncaster try to fight their mutual attraction in a romantic farce worthy of Covent Garden.

My Favorite Mistake by Courtney McCaskill—Sixteen years ago, lady’s maid Fanny Price was swept off her feet by a handsome horse trainer named Nick Cradduck. The very next day, he shattered her heart. But now, at the Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake, who should Fanny encounter but the man she crossed all of England to avoid… A second-chance love story featuring Fanny, the scene-stealing lady’s maid from How to Train Your Viscount!

His Damsel by Charlotte Russell—During her annual visit to Bartholomew Fair, Eliza Cranstoun is mistaken for a lady in distress when in fact she was attempting to avenge the honor of her cousin. Now, she insists Anthony Ripley, her savior, help her bring down a lordly scoundrel. Amidst the scheming however, the independent Eliza and the confirmed bachelor Anthony, discover that love finds even those who choose not to seek it.

When I Fall In Love by Cora Lee—The Harvest Festival is a chance for reunions and love, but perhaps not for childhood friends Sylvie Devereaux and Kit Mathison. When Kit returns to renovate the home he inherited, Sylvie’s financial burdens prompt Kit to propose a marriage of convenience. But Sylvie has always wanted to marry for love, and they don't love each other…do they?

Remember by Shannon Donnelly—Over the years, Beatrice Foxton keeps meeting up with Andrew Cliffs on Guy Fawkes Night, but these two friends are separated by her family’s expectations for her to marry a well-born lord and his family’s background in trade. And, yet, they can’t stay away from each other...

The Aeronaut’s Heart by Regina Scott—Josephine Aventure was on her way to earning a place in England’s Aeronautical Corps until the dashing smuggler she’d once loved showed up. Etienne Delaguard risked much to help England win the war against France. Over a Twelfth Night masquerade, can a gentleman of the sea win the heart of a lady of the air?

You can find all the links to your favorite online retailers here.

Time to celebrate!

Harvesting at Assemblies

Have you brought in your harvest yet? It is officially autumn, and September 22 marked the traditional time of Harvest Home in nineteenth century England. Harvest Home celebrated the end of hay-making, when all the hay and other crops had been gathered for the winter. If your dear Papa owned lands, he probably offered his tenants and farm laborers a gift of money in thanks for a good season. If your dear Papa was one of those laborers, you’d have probably spent Harvest Home celebrating with him at a big dinner with all the workers, followed by jokes, stories, and songs. Here’s how a gentleman from Dorset remembered it in 1832:

“The conversation commonly turned on the incidents of the summer: how the hay-makers overtook the mowers, or how the rain kept the labor back; how they all crept in a heap under the wagon in a thunderstorm; how nearly some of them were crushed under the load that was upset; who was the best mower or reaper in the village; which field yielded the best crop; and which stack was most likely to heat.”

Either way, the harvest time was a jolly good time for a ball.

We’ve talked about public and private balls before. Public balls were generally held in assembly rooms and so might be called assemblies. Jane Austen talks about going to assemblies in her letters to her sister Cassandra. Take this one from Lyme Regis in September 1804:

“The ball last night was pleasant, but not full for Thursday. . . Nobody asked me to dance the two first dances – the next two I danced with Mr. Crawford – and had I chosen to stay longer might have danced with Mr. Granville, Mrs. Granville’s son – whom my dear friend Miss Armstrong introduced me to – or a new, odd-looking man, who had been eyeing me for some time, and at last without introduction asked me if I meant to dance again.”

You see, the primary “harvest” of an assembly was acquaintance. You went to meet old friends and make new ones. At the assembly, you danced, you promenaded about the room on a gentleman’s or a girl friend’s arm and whispered confidences, you partook of light refreshment and strong gossip. If you were on the lookout for a husband, you flirted and visited and preened to catch the right fellow’s eye.

In the mood for dancing yourself? A group recently introduced themselves to us, and so we pass along the introduction. Mostly Waltz RI is just beginning its season this Sunday with beautiful live music. In addition to the waltzes, the program includes a basic waltz lesson and waltz mixers along with occasional other couple dances. If, like me, you don't live anywhere near Rhode Island, look for other contra dance or English Country Dance groups in your area.

Who knows what you might harvest?

And speaking of harvesting, return next week to reap of bounty. I hear someone will be giving away books.

September is for Celebration!

(Note: I'm posting this for Regina, who is hopefully on her way home out of Texas and Hurricane Ike's path. To our readers on the Gulf Coast, please take care!)

In the United States, the fall ushers in a series of celebrations, from Halloween to New Year's. Nineteenth century lads and lasses had their own celebrations, starting with Harvest Home in September.

Harvest Home, or Ingathering, traditionally was a dinner to celebrate the last of the grain coming in from the fields. In the 1700s, it was celebrated on September 22 in England, but the date and the amount of celebration gradually waned through the 1800s. The final harvest was generally commemorated by each farmer with a huge outdoor supper for those who had labored in the fields (men, women, and children). The last sheaves of grain were often brought in by cart and tied in such a way as to resemble a human, dubbed “John Barleycorn.” (Thanks to Jack London, the name is synonymous with alcohol, but that wasn’t the original intent!)

Supper might be a round of beef and rasher of bacon or perhaps a chicken, goose, or turkey. Laborers ate off wooden trenchers and drank from horns filled with beer or cider.

According to William Hone’s Year Book (1832), men would offer the farmer the following toast:

“Here’s to the health of our master
The founder of the feast,
And I hope to God wi’ all my heart
His soul in heaven mid rest
That every thing mid prosper
That ever he take in hand
For we be all his servants
And all at his command.”

During and after the supper, participants would treat each other to jokes, stories, and songs. The local gentry or aristocracy would provide some token of appreciation, often money, called “largesse.” After all, some portion of that harvest would trickle back into their coffers as rent, seeing them through the year as well.

And speaking of celebrations and years, next week marks the one year anniversary of Nineteen Teen! Marissa and I thank you all for spending time with us this past year and hope you’ll continue to grace us with your presence in the coming year. And to celebrate (and share some of our largesse), we’ll be offering chances to win prizes and provide input on where we go from here. Please join us!