Hi there!
Welcome back to The History Edit after a long break. I’ve loved writing the newsletter and bringing interesting morsels to you, but there has been something missing that I couldn’t quite pinpoint.
So I decided to have a break, a long think, and a bit of an overhaul of the newsletter. I’ve enjoyed the layout with the feature piece followed by The Edit, so will largely be sticking to this formula. After all why fix what isn’t broken? The biggest changes will be coming in size and content.
From now on you can expect a bigger newsletter once a month, crammed with even more interesting stuff. Content wise I will still be sticking with history but will be covering more murder and mystery within the subject too.
So without further ado I bring you this month’s newsletter with a loosely spooky theme…
As ever, you can find me here or on Instagram!
Samhain and Yule
As the mellowness of autumn slowly turns to winter I always note how this is my absolute favourite time of the year.
While I love the hedgerows of the countryside bursting into life in spring and marvel at the industrious creatures that make their home in them, there is something magical about the turning of the seasons into winter and coming full circle.
I wouldn’t say I was religious or follow any particular teachings but I guess you would say I was spiritual in a sense. I get the same sense of history and calm from an ancient church as I do in a place of epic nature.
Wheel of the year
I’ve recently been reading about the Wheel of the Year, which is a seasonal calendar followed by Pagans. Paganism has a long and multi-stranded history and was, and still is, observed by many different people over the centuries. I wont even begin to write about it here.
But we will explore the Wheel of the Year with a focus on the periods we are moving into: Samhain and Yule.
The Wheel of the Year follows the cycle of the sun, with its festivals marking important parts of this rotation. Nature and the seasons play such an important role in this calendar and it is no wonder that it feels so natural to the soul.
Samhain
Samhain (pronounced Sow-in) is celebrated on 1st November, the same day that Christians observe All Saints Day. In simple terms Samhain is a feast celebrating the dead and is a time when the veil between the living world and the spirit world is believed to be at its thinnest. Samhain is a time to celebrate those who have passed on, their wisdom, and the fact that death is not to be feared and is part of living. The festival was traditionally celebrated with sacred bonfires, feasting from the bounty of the recent harvest, and games, which their ancestors were invited to join in with.
Yule
Following on from Samhain, the Wheel of the Year moves onto Midwinter or Yule at the winter Solstice. This is an incredibly important part of the sun cycle and has been celebrated since the Stone Age. Stone Henge anyone?
The winter solstice is the point where the days of the year stop getting shorter and turn towards the longer days and birth of new life in the coming Spring. Yule was celebrated in ancient times with feasting, the giving of gifts or offerings, bringing greenery such as ivy and holly indoors, and storytelling.
The ancient Celtic Druids are said to have introduced the traditions of the Yule log and mistletoe. The log was burnt to banish darkness and evil and the mistletoe was cut from sacred oak trees as a reminder of the fact there is still life amongst the barren darkness of winter.
Even after the introduction of Christianity, the celebration of Christmas and Yule was still a time of enjoyment filled with many of the pagan and ancient Roman aspects of the centuries gone before. The Tudor court appointed a Lord of Misrule and the order of things were turned on their heads for the 12 days of Christmas. There was still Twelfth Night Cake to be enjoyed up until the Victorian period, where it morphed into the better-known Christmas Cake.
Today, Christmas still has echoes of these ancient traditions in the form of the gaudily decorated Christmas trees, gift giving, and feasting. Although it may have become a weird, commercialised celebration of the Baby Jesus’s birth in modern times, the sentiments of the nature-ruled pagan traditions are still with us in our DNA.
Don't get me wrong, I love a bit of tinsel and some champagne as much as the next person, but I will also be bringing in some mistletoe and ivy from the woods and be sending out a silent thanks for the turning of the earth around the sun and the incredible luck that I get to spend the season with my little family.
The monthly edit
Place to visit
Years ago I was on holiday in Cornwall and was visiting a little village called Boscastle. On my ramblings around the village I discovered the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic.
Being very young and a bit ignorant I thought it would be a laugh and a good way to spend the next hour or so, and kind of scoffed a bit at the sign on the entrance that warned against people not taking the museum seriously.
So in I went and I was absolutely blown away by the exhibits. Everything to do with the history of witchcraft was there to see, including monkey paws, shrunken heads, wax voodoo-type dolls, collections of ritual objects, information on the history of witchcraft lore, information on local legends and folklore… the list is endless.
The museum has said of their aims: “The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic (MWM) explores British magical practice, making comparisons with other systems of belief, from ancient times to the present day. We aim to represent the diversity and vigour of magical practice respectfully, accurately and impartially through unique, entertaining, and educational exhibitions, drawing upon cutting-edge scholarship along with the insights of magical practitioners.”
Shop frozen in time
This shop in Saltash, Cornwall has been frozen in time since 1971. Its owner Frank Elliot decided to close his doors when decimalisation came into force in Britain, and turned it into a museum. He lived above his shop still and ate and drank his way through his remaining stock, but carefully preserved the packaging for future generations to enjoy.
I love it when this sort of thing pops up from time to time. There’s something a bit eerie but oh-so-cool about this shop. It’s a such time capsule with everything as it would have been even though it is now a museum.
True life horror
A non-fiction book about a family of serial killers in America by Susan Jonusas is to be turned in to a TV show.
The book Hell’s Half-Acre looks at the Bender family who lived in Kansas in the late 1800s. The Benders apparently loved nothing more than murdering lonely travellers at their inn by cutting their throats or by a hammer to the skull.
Emma Broughton at New Regency Television International has said of the new show: “We're so excited about the possibilities for a visceral drama that interweaves western, horror and thriller, and can't wait to start developing it.”
Read more about the murderous family here.
Abandoned house going cheap
This house in Wales has been left as it was for 40 years and can be yours for £17,000!
Although in poor condition, the eerie property has some beautiful tiles and other period features to save.
Interesting quote
From the diaries of diaries of MP Sir Henry 'Chips' Channon:
Sunday, April 26, 1942
“I managed to have my coffee and toast in bed — toast made from the new national loaf, which immensely increases one's energy and is an aphrodisiac.”
Everything I have ever read about the national loaf makes me doubt this very much. 😆
Want to read more?
If this fest of strange tales and interesting snippets hasn’t sated your curious mind then check out my writing on Medium…
Eerie origins of the Resusci Annie CPR dolls
Deadly Victorian fashion
A cursed diamond
Bizarre deaths of historical figures
Thank you for joining me this month, and I hope you have a great time reading all the interesting snippets. I hope you enjoy all this season brings, and I will see you again next month.
If you have any questions or want to know a bit more about me then don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Jade x
Ps. One more terrifying thing to lull you off to sleep…