Mothering Sunday and removing the ‘social media noise’ from your life …

Life altered suddenly, with us all needing time to adjust, I could have done with another week before the curtain came down …

I'm sure many of you know -
my mother's favourite flowers

… but I’m lucky I am self-sufficient and have plenty of self-plans … friends to talk to, and I believe some blog posts to write about … exhibitions and places I’ve visited …

South Downs to the west of
Eastbourne, East Sussex

Mothering Sunday – I see I wrote what I think is rather a good post 8 years ago – the last year my mother was alive … which I’ll link at the end of this one … (nothing like blowing my own trumpet!) …

Down here at the coast in Eastbourne we have woken up to at least some sun – but boy is it cold – an easterly wind. 

Anticyclone Hartmut - satellite view of Europe, incl
Great Britain and Ireland, under the lines of the strong
cold wave - 27 Feb 2018

When I was in Canada for that year (late 2017 – late 2018) … two ‘Beasts from the East’ occurred … so glad I wasn’t here – the Canadian winter was relatively mild that year!

Narcissus

A couple of things came to mind today … one was time – most of us self-isolating are going to have more time on our hands – so take longer to do things and adjust your daily routine … the day will pass more easily …

Beautiful crocii (c/o Thompson and
Morgan - plant merchants)

 Second was ‘noise’ … ie social media … I’m lucky I don’t get distracted by it – and won’t look most of the time … unless I’m in quizzy mode. 

Social Media Noise
 - c/o RxView Blog

But if you can stay away from it and not listen to others – thus not getting involved or making yourself anxious, unless it’s a government directive, or more importantly a scientific expert, then so much the better …

I do hope everyone is as safe and as well as they can be … while as my blog says … stay positive – so many others are much worse off than we are.

With thoughts and peace for this Mothering Sunday …

My post of eight years ago:  Mothering Sunday – the Hilaria festivals ofthe Vernal Equinox to honour Cybele …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

September Festival – St John’s Church, Cobble Hill, British Columbia …

I’d been asked to help with the book stall … and despite the drizzly day the hoards were there to garner up many bargains …

... the September Festival seems to be a great place for bargain hunters to snap up any number of interesting items …

The vicar would be attending!

… including offering a venue – where ‘The Vicar is IN’ - for 5c: seems that a donation might be suitable too – actually from what I could see the whole Festival was very well organised and happily run by the many volunteers … who were taking care with their stalls …

St John's Church when the sun deigned to appear briefly
right at the end of the afternoon, before the rain came down

Clothing, Yard Sale, Best Buys: Jewellery – spelt correctly here!!

Bake Sale, Divine Desserts – spelt correctly here too!

Food at the Church, the desserts and drinks, a wood-fired burger bar

Silent Auction, Children’s Fun Area

St John’s Church, Pastoral Centre, the Ministry;

Country store … and outside the entrance or exit – the book stall …

The book stall ...

… people on their way out were piling past our book-stall loaded with goodies – then the books caught their eye, and they had to come back … ‘we’ (the books) made over $1,200 … a goodly sum …

The back courtyard - very early

On the Friday, 24 hours before the Festival – the awnings were put up, the books were out, then the extra sorting carried on til late pm … we were given lunch – I had leek and potato soup – which happily filled my cockles! 

Chilli - mine looked as good ... this is c/o Wiki

A lunch voucher was available on festival day: I had chilli-con-carne – food for my soul as it was cool and damp … after that I was able to wander round the stalls for a quick look – but my corner was with the books …

  

The crowds had gathered ... 

There were a lot of books … and mostly all was well – but a few books almost become uncategorisable … as I would put one there, then another volunteer would think – oh no … that should be there … and so it went – until everything was in its place.  Then the trestle tables were covered overnight with tarpaulins against (this year) the weather …

The banners ... someone's spelling isn't very good!

An example:  Near the end a chap came up and asked for a book about England by an author under ‘L’ – luckily I’d spotted what I was fairly certain he was looking for … except it had got moved to history (but that was understandable) …

… it was London by Edward Rutherford and earlier on he’d have found it under ‘R’: he was happy it was still available.

The piper got us under way - and
piped us out ... lovely to hear

I’d been seconded to ‘sell’ bags for books … ie fill your bag for $15 – I quite enjoy doing that sort of thing … so I spent a few hours using my English stentorian voice to broadcast our wares! 

We did sell a lot of books, and I can be quite pressing in situations like that – always happily smiling, with a joke to hand … but the remainder of the books – well there’s always another story to tell … see Friday’s We Are The World Blogfest … InDarkness, Be Light …

The graveyard at St John's

Please join us in this blogfest - link is above ... where we seek to promote positive news across the world ... 

Congratulations to St John's Anglican Church, Cobble Hill where they do so much to help others and those in need ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Shrovetide …

At the moment we have an exhibition at the Royal Academy entitled “Revolution: Russian Art 1917 – 1932” which is being widely marketed.

Shrovetide (1916) by Boris Kustodiev

So seeing Wikipedia’s picture of the day 12^th February 2017 caused me to take note more intently and look further than I might otherwise have done.

This quick search gave me the content for this post … with a few creative additions … who could not resist Boris Kustodiev’s (1878 – 1927) “Shrovetide” painting and want to know more … ?

Maslenitsa (1878) by
Leonid Solomatkin

… I had never heard of ‘Maslenitsa’ or the last week of Shrovetide … an Eastern Slavic (particularly Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian) religious and folk holiday celebrated during the last week before Great Lent, also known as Butter Week, Crepe Week, or Cheesefare Week … of as you might expect pagan tradition.

Then the next link on Kustodiev’s art work is to Shrovetide – hence the title of the post … here we learn more of the Christian pre-Lenten Season. 

Shrove Tuesday: Pieter Brueghel the Elder,
"The Fight Between Carnival and Lent" (1559)

To many of us this means pancake day … the last day before Lent and Ash Wednesday (tomorrow) when we keep to a fast … in today’s age we are meant to eat frugally … but in earlier times the extras were meant to be used up: so having lots of pancakes helped the extra milk, butter, flour, sugar, eggs to go down … the larder is now sparse … until Easter – six weeks hence.

Kustodiev- a self-portrait (1912)

So this one Wiki picture of the day introduced me to a Russian artist – Kustodiev, who has a fascinating history (do read – positivity here for all his challenges) … while his paintings totally enamour me, and I hope you.

Gave me and you a post on folk traditions of Maslenitsa (Butter Week) … also very well worth reading, with some other amazing artists being shown.

A Polish priest sprinkling ashes
on the heads of worshippers

Then Shrovetide is our last day of feasting before Ash Wednesday tomorrow … when fasting, abstinence from meat, and repentance are followed at the beginning of Lent.

Many are not so disciplined now-a-days … but it is good to remember the days of the past and the reasons for these religious seasonal occasions.

English pancakes with sugar and lemon

So if you are having pancakes – do enjoy them, remember our ancestors with their practices, and perhaps learn a little more about some artists, Ukrainian and Russian folklore …

… and if you are living in medieval times … then this is the required day for confessing our sins … or if you live in the Netherlands it is the Dutch tradition to eat salted herring on Ash Wednesday to conclude the Carnival …

English scones with Cornish Cream
and Strawberry Jam

It is also a time to make us think … as well as to enjoy our English pancakes, English scones, Scottish drop scones, latkes or boxty (in famine times made very simply with raw grated potato) … different names for ‘similar’ items … per my previous post on Boxty ... 

Happy Pancake Day and take time to appreciate Kustodiev's paintings ...  this page will take you to the others mentioned.

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Bayeux Tapestry and Opus Anglicanum ...

Having just written a couple of posts about St Nicolas Church, celebrating its 800^th year, arising from two talks at the Church on William the Conqueror and Pevensey … it seems, per the comments, a brief note on the Bayeux Tapestry would add to the story.

A full size copy of the Bayeux Tapestry
was given to Reading Museum in 1895:
it is well travelled, but now has its own
gallery; see the Museum site

The Bayeux Tapestry depicting the events leading up to and telling the story of the Norman conquest of England in 1066 AD … is an extraordinary piece of art showing life at that time.

iphone photo out of window - across Eastbourne,
slightly inland is Pevensey and in the far distance
across the bay is Hastings

It is an embroidered cloth nearly 70 metres (230 feet) long and 50 centimetres (20 inches) high … containing 50 scenes with Latin tituli (text), embroidered on linen with coloured woollen yarns. 

Hastings, not taken by me, looking back across the bay to
the South Downs and Eastbourne/Pevensey in the distance

It is thus not technically a tapestry … but has always been called one.  It is exceptionally large and appears to be not quite finished … thankfully not much is missing …

Embroidered bookbinding - English Work
of the 12th C

Anglo-Saxon needlework of the more detailed type known as Opus Anglicanum (English Work) was famous across Europe from the late 12^th to mid 14^th centuries.

It is believed that William Odo, William’s half-brother, probably commissioned the tapestry … the reasoning for this is that: 

three of Bishop Odo’s followers mentioned in the Domesday Book appear on the tapestry; 

it was found in Bayeux Cathedral, built by Odo; and 

it may have been ordered when the Cathedral was constructed during the 1070s in time for display at the Cathedral’s Dedication.

Detail of stem stitching and laid work

The tapestry has two types of stitching: 

outline or stem-stitch for lettering and the outlines of figures, and

couching or laid-work for filling in the figures.

Detail of  Tituli and stem-stitch, as
too laid work

There are nine linen panels, which once sewn together (after being embroidered) had the joins disguised with subsequent embroidery.

The main yarn colours are terracotta or russet, blue-green, dull gold, olive green, and blue, with small amounts of dark blue or black and sage green.

The vegetable dyes are those found in traditionally woven cloth in England, and particularly the south, at that time.

The earliest known reference to the tapestry is a 1476 AD inventory of Bayeux Cathedral … now having been carefully preserved - it is on permanent display in the Bayeux Museum.

Odo, Bishop of Bayeux

Tituli are included in many scenes to point out names of people or places or to explain briefly the event being depicted.  The text is in Medieval Latin but at times the style of words and spelling show an English influence.

A stylised tree

Stylised trees usually separate the scenes … this one here shows some messengers with Guy, and then below the border various medieval agricultural practices.  (Guy was the Count of Ponthieu who supported Duke William.)

Normandy and Brittany - the red box outlines
the whereabouts of Bayeux, while Caen is
the main town to the south east

The Bayeux Museum is near the Normandy coast and a few miles from Caen – the preferred building material by the Dukes of Normandy … the stone had been used in England in previous centuries, for example in Canterbury Cathedral.

The Tapestry is so widely recognised and is so distinctive in its artistic style, it has been frequently been used or reimagined in a variety of different popular culture contexts: being cited by Scott McCloud in Understanding Comics as an example of early narrative art, and Bryan Talbot, a British comic book artist, has called it “the first known British comic strip”.

Pevensey Castle - as it is today - it is possible
to walk from the west to the east at the top of the picture,
within the walls of the castle,
where we will find St Nicolas Church

It has also inspired many replicas, or creations of a similar ilk to celebrate anniversary events …

An illustration of St Nicolas church in the 19thC

So the Kings and Dukes may not have been able to write, yet their achievements or defeats can be recorded through embroidery … which is why we know so much about the events surrounding the Battle of Hastings, but why some things will be known, but never fully explained.

The Butler-Bowden Cope - 1330 - 1350 AD
it is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum

The Opus Anglicanum (English Work) is worth a note … it was usually embroidered on linen, or later, velvet, in split stitch and couching with silver and gold or silver-gilt thread. 

Gold-wound threads, pearls and jewels are all mentioned in inventory descriptions.  Examples can be found in the Cloisters Museum in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and in the Treasure of Sens Cathedral, Burgundy …

An early 1920s photo of the lane to the Church

The links to the two talks I mentioned can be found here …

St Nicolas Church, Pevensey and William the Conqueror - archaeology and history

St Nicolas Church, Pevensey and William the Conqueror - fund raising event

That Law of Unintended Consequence reared its wonderful head again … I had written this post ready to schedule – when the English Historical Fiction Authors put up a post by Mark Patton – “Opus Anglicanum: Embroidery inMedieval England” … giving us a much better idea of Embroidery in Medieval England …

… and reminding us that there is an exhibition in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London open until mid-February 2017. 

Elizabeth Chadwick of The History Girls has written about a research project she made to the V&A to see the above exhibition ... and some of the glass galleries ... please take a look ... 

Well those are both great additions to this post, and tie in many of the loose threads to give us comprehensive coverage …  of the Bayeux Tapestry together with the English embroiderers of Medieval days …



Novel Writing Month - congratulations to all completing NaNo in 2016 - may your stories be successful ...

Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

St Nicolas Church, Pevensey and William the Conqueror ... covering a fund-raising evening ...

I went back for another fund-raising event talk on William the Conqueror (1028 – 1087) – on 14^th October – 950 years to the day when he landed on our shores … to conquer this land and then ...

St Nicolas Church

... to inherit the English crown of a relatively ordered and settled country … 1066 has become probably the best known date in our historical record.

Halley's Comet in 1066 -
a positive omen

However the law of unintended consequences occurred just over 500 years later, in 1582, when the switch to the Gregorian calendar we use today was started (this was not entirely finished until 1929 – Great Britain and the British colonies (including Ireland) changed in 1752) … so actually William landed at Pevensey on 27^th October.

Showing where the sea levels were in 1066 and today, as well as some of the village and town names
If William had been able to walk to Senlac Hill ... it is about 12 miles; but it is about 30 miles to
walk round via Hailsham;  he could have sent some ships into the Bulverhyth.e
(my photo - which is not brilliant ... but I've left it large - so place names can be checked etc.)

This is how the talk was ‘advertised’ to us via email:

To mark the historic 950^th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, Peter Harrison, Curator of Pevensey Museum and Goal will give a 45 minute talk with this intriguing title: ‘Unintended Consequences of the Battle of Hastings’. The story of the Battle of Hastings is well known, but not some of its the consequences.

The 'Mora' - the ship Matilda had built for William
to use for his journey across the English Channel

The arrival of King William (‘the Bastard’) inspired, as we know, the Norman period of history in much of mainland Britain.

The subsequent prolific building of castles and churches of which a great number survive in whole or in part, and the giving of land to Barons the length and breadth of the land, are recorded in the Domesday Day Book (completed in 1086).

Matilda of Flanders: A Victorian artist's
romantic impression (1894)

He changed what had hitherto been the Anglo-Saxon country, to the one which carries with it today, apart from our form of government, much what can be directly attributed to the Normans and their arrival 950 years ago, from France at Pevensey.

William - as portrayed in the
Bayeux Tapestry

At this stage in our history most people were known by their Christian or first names taken from the kings and saints … Egbert, Alfred, Ethelred (the Unready {ill-advised}) Arthur, Cnut … or Cuthbert, Aidan, Wilfrid and Edward (the Confessor was canonised in about 1161) …

… the name ‘William’ became very popular after the Norman conquest … originally of old Germanic origin: ‘Wilhelm’ – it was another of our great kings, Henry VIII, who ordered that marital births be recorded under the surname of the father, when that became the norm to distinguish members of the population.

William and Matilda's marks -
neither of them could read or write

William had what appears to be a very happy marriage for over 30 years to Matilda of Flanders, a powerful ally in Normandy.

Recording that the Mora led about 1,400 vessels
of varying sort across the English Channel ...
note her square sail and graceful hull in the image
above. The ship was designed and constructed
 like a Viking ship.

She had a long-ship built for William ... it was called the Mora … and was the fastest ship in the invasion fleet …  so fast did it speed that William had time to stop mid-channel, take a repast – where he dined well with spiced wine waiting for his fleet to catch up!

A record of the Mora is to be found in the Normans’ Ships List of 1070 AD … while being shown in the Bayeux Tapestry ... no record of the Mora has ever been found in southern England or in France/Normandy …

The fleet consisted of  (it is thought) 700 fighting ships, with
another 700 vessels bringing supplies, soldiers etc

… William left his ships in Pevensey Bay in case of need for a retreat … some may have been used to travel across the Bay to Hastings … but little archaeological evidence has come to light.  

(It costs a great deal of money to have a serious archaeological dig … so for now it hasn’t been done – however if any disturbance occurs … new roads, housing – then historians and archaeologists are on hand in case something noteworthy is recorded and needs detailed future analysis).

Normandy, France

He secured his tenure in England, when he was back in Normandy, through governance by his Norman barons in the twenty years that followed the famous battle of 1066; he and Matilda often crossed the Channel, before settling for the last time in 1087 in Normandy.

As Peter Harrison explains in his introductory note above … the country was for ever changed … we, and many of you, have arrived in the 21^st century experiencing the continued effects of William’s reign.

St Nicolas’ Church where the talk was held … is believed to have been built on earlier churches from Saxon days and then from Norman times before the Church we know today was started to be built in its present form 800 years ago … (1205 – 1216). 

Rose wine 1066  from the
Carr Taylor Estate 

Carr Taylor, local wine producers, put on a reception for us … we had their 1066 wine (white or rosé) with some snacks provided by the churchgoers … excellent wine, elderflower pressé and delicious tasty bites …

It made for a very convivial and happy time for all attendees … we had experts on hand to answer questions re William, or Pevensey, the Battle, or the Church itself …

Look away now if you're hungry!

… friends old and new to talk to … while we munched snacks, or mulled ideas over crisp, light and refreshing 1066 wine …

As you can see a delicious spread

The church is fundraising to repair the tower, east and south walls, which are in serious need of some attention … so concerts are put on, talks are organised – it is a hive of industriousness  encouraging donations.

Harley-Davidson Sportster model (2002)

The Bishop of Lewes attended … he is long and lanky and a delight to chat to … I was reliably informed he’d arrived on his Harley Davidson!  Just the sort of Bishop we need … he is the area bishop within the Diocese of Chichester, under which we fall.

The 15th C Caen stone Font - the intricately
carved wooden Victorian lantern hood
is about 1890

Oh and I have to tell you an anecdote about the wine … I thought they had some of the Carr Taylor wine for sale … and asked if I could have a bottle … at that stage there was demand for a refill of glasses … so I wandered off to converse …

… upon returning and asking about the wine – I was told of course I could have a bottle … whereupon he reached down and brought up an empty! 

We both looked at each … amusement and amazement in our eyes – as we’d realised we were at different ends of the wine bottle … one full, one empty … I laughed and said I’d completely misunderstood – and didn’t really want an empty bottle!

Pevensey village 'main road': the Castle is behind me as I
took the photo ... the Court House is up ahead, while
the Church is down a parallel lane 

I did thoroughly enjoy the evening, and I’d been around earlier in the day visiting the Court House, Museum as it is now and the Gaol … to check them out for future posts.  I’d had another look around the church …

… then the talk gave us further information, enlightened by being with other interested parties, and we learnt about the Pageant that was performed in 1908 … this deserves a full post of its own.

Eastern curtilage of Pevensey Castle - some of
the Pageant will be re-enacted within its boundaries

History is amazing … I wonder what parishioners and visitors will be using the Church for in a few centuries … I’m certain those medieval parishioners would never have thought about a Pageant in the ruined Castle grounds or a Reception provided by the local wine estate.

Feasting - shown on Bayeux Tapestry

I’ve put in a few extra photos from around or in the Church … with some extra descriptions …

This once again is long … but there’s a lot to cover, to make the post entertaining and generally encourage visitors to our part of the world.  Happy Reading! 

Carr Taylor Wine Estate – its vineyard is close enough to the Battle of Hastings site … so their 1066 wine is very appropriate.

St Nicolas Church, Pevensey – Wikipedia site

St Nicolas 800 – this is the fund raising site for the Church … helped with Lottery funding.  There’s a little about the history of Virginia, USA here … near the gravestone pictured.

My earlier post:  St Nicolas Church, Pevensey - archaeology and William the Conqueror (with an anecdote about some American students from Herstmonceux).

Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters Inspirational Stories