 ~ MRS. SHARP'S TRADITIONS ~  NOTE: The entire text below is taken directly from the book Mrs. Sharp’s Traditions. I cannot take credit in any form for the ideas and creativity on this page unless so noted. The book is written by Sarah Ban Breathnach and is currently out of print. If you can find a copy (the softcover version is called Victorian Family Celebrations), definitely grab it and run…and DON’T lend it to a friend because you’ll probably never get it back! "The merriest month of the year arrives bringing with it sunshine, birds singing, apple blossoms, budding lilacs, and longer days to enjoy life as spring’s promise is finally fulfilled. Our family’s festivities start the month off on a high note with homegrown celebrations of May Day, as the children deliver baskets of flowers in the morning and dance around their Maypole in the afternoon. Mother is remembered on her special day ~ Mother’s Day, and finally, an old-fashioned summer begins with a Decoration Day picnic." assorted flowers (either wildflowers or from the florist) ferns moss dry green Styrofoam ribbons containers (baskets): tiny craft baskets, berry-carton baskets or paper cornucopias ~ using tiny craft baskets (3 to 4 inches in diameter): Fill the center with a small pieced of the green Styrofoam, cutting it to size so that it fits snugly in the basket bottom. This is what you will push the stems of the flowers into. If you are making many baskets, these small versions work best as they do not require many flowers. Add a pretty bow to each basket handle. ~ using plastic, green berry baskets: First weave a bright ribbon through the top row of the basket and tie in a bow with long tails. Line the berry basket with sphagnum moss, then place in a piece of Styrofoam cut to size. Add your flowers, filling out the bouquet with ferns. Now tie a long (about 12 inches) ribbon handle to the top sides. ~ paper cornucopia baskets: These were the Victorian child’s choice. Cut an 8½ inch square of heavyweight colored paper; patterned wrapping paper or wallpaper is also a pretty choice. With the paper facing you so that it forms a diamond, wrap the two points of the diamond together, overlapping them to form a tight cone shape. Spread glue underneath the overlapping edge to secure the cone; clip together with a clothespin until the glue dries. Now glue some lace trim around the top edge of the cornucopia. With a hole puncher, punch out one hold on each side of the cornucopia to tie your long ribbon handle. Fill the cornucopia with flowers and ferns. Very early on the first of May, certainly before breakfast, let the children secretly deliver their May Day baskets, hanging them on doorknobs. Should the children be seen delivering their surprise, custom dictates they must scamper back for a kiss and thanks! If yours is the only family in your neighborhood celebrating May Day, secretly hang a basket from your front door while the children are gone, to surprise them on return. Our family always concludes that it was brought by the May Fairy. Should you be city dwellers, help the children prepare a May basket for their teachers, let them wear a fresh flower in their hair or buttonhole, take an afternoon excursion to a park if you can, and serve a MAY DAY CAKE after dinner. Ice your cake with white frosting, then decorate it with a tiny Maypole made by inserting a straw into the center of the cake. Glue thin, multicolored pastel silk ribbons to the top of the straw. Pull the ribbons out to the side of the cake and add marzipan flowers to hold them to the top of the cake. Disappointment looms when Mother Day rolls around because most of us forget we are not our husband’s mother. We are hurt because our husband did not remember us. Dear reader, the day a husband annually remembers his wife with special, loving gestures is called the "wedding anniversary." Yes, it is lovely when a husband expresses his appreciation for our efforts as mothers. However, Mrs. Sharp believes it is a far, far better gesture for husbands to remember their own mothers rather than expecting daughters-in-law to do it every year. Of course, in a young family Father must take on the responsibility of helping little children prepare or obtain a small gift for Mother. But Father’s encouragement should only be necessary until a child is ten years old. After that, the fledgling celebrant is on his or her own. Long before Anna Jarvis was responsible for America’s honoring Mother in May, the English were remembering their mother on Simnel Sunday, or Mothering Sunday, which was also the fourth Sunday in Lent. This observance began during the Middle ages and was the day that young apprentices and servants were permitted an annual holiday to return to their home villages to visit their mothers. On this festive day, Lenten fast was allowed to be broken, and the children, usually the eldest son, took their mothers a special spiced confectionary known as simnel cake : MRS. SHARP’S SIMNEL CAKE ¼ cup (1 ½ sticks) sweet butter at room temperature 1 ½ cups sugar 4 large eggs 2 cups unbleached flour ½ teaspoon salt ¾ cup currants ¾ cup candied fruit peel, ground fine in a food processor (see recipe for making candied fruit peel below) 8 oz almond paste confectioners’ sugar candied violets or marzipan fruits for garnish (optional) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Sift theflour with the salt and separate into three parts, blending each portion into the egg-butter-sugar mixture thoroughly. Fold in currants and candied fruit peel and mix lightly. Grease an 8 x 10-inch round cake pan and line with waxed paper or greased parchment. Pour half the butter into the pan. Roll out half the almond paste into a circle between two sheets of waxed paper. Remove the top sheet of waxed paper and place the exposed side of almond paste on top of the batter; peel off the remaining waxed paper. Add remaining batter to pan. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until cake pulls away slightly from the side of the pan. Roll out remaining almond paste into another circle. Place on cake and return to over for 10 minutes. Let cake cool on a rack for about a half hour. To remove from the pan, run a knife along the edges and turn out carefully. Sprinkle the top of the cake with confectioners’ sugar and decorate with candied violets or marzipan fruit around the outer edges, if desired. This cake also looks pretty decorated with a few fresh flowers around the sides of the cake plate. CANDIED FRUIT PEEL Peel oranges, lemons, and limes into long strips and place on a cookie sheet. Prepare a sugar glaze by dissolving 2 cups sugar in ½ cup water in a heavy saucepan. Swirl over medium heat until clear. Raise the heat, cover, and bring to a rapid boil, then uncover and boil 3 additional minutes. Brush the fruit peel with the glaze. After it dries, chop the fruit peel in a food processor. Today, Memorial Day is recognized as a day honoring all of those who have fought America’s wars and is legally observed on the last Monday in May. Now it’s time to dust off the grill, as Mrs. Sharp’s tradition for Memorial Day includes the family’s first "official" backyard cookout of the season. While the chicken is barbecuing and potato salad chilling, the family engages in a discussion of what our vacation plans will include this summer. Our family enjoys annual visits to living history reenactments or outdoor historical museums. Usually these living history "time machines" take place at an outdoor living history site, such as Williamsburg, Virginia, Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan, Thomas Edison’s home in Fort Myers, Florida, or Massachusetts’ Plimoth Plantation. ~ The Living History Sourcebook by Jay Anderson, published by the American Association for State and Local History in Nashville, Tennessee. Here you will find an excellent selection of American and Canadian living history resources including museums, events, magazines, books, organizations, games and films.
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