Whittlesea Staw Bear Ekspo From Great Britain!!!

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Origins of the Straw Bear

    In Whittlesea, from when no one quite knows, it was the custom on the Tuesday following Plough Monday (the 1st Monday after Twelfth Night) to dress one of the confraternity of the plough in straw and call him a "Straw Bear". A newspaper of 1882 reports that ..."he was then taken around the town to entertain by his frantic and clumsy gestures, the good folk who had on the previous day subscribed to the rustics, a spread of beer, tobacco and beef".
    The bear was described as having great lengths of tightly twisted straw bands prepared and wound up the arms, legs and body of the man or boy who was unfortunate enough to have been chosen. Two sticks fastened to his shoulders met a point over his head and the straw wound around upon them to form a cone above the "Bear's" head. The face was quite covered and he could hardly see. A tail was provided and a strong chain fastened around the armpits. He was made to dance in front of houses and gifts of money or beer and food for later consumption was expected. It seems that he was considered important, as straw was carefully selected each year, from the best available, the harvesters saying, "That'll do for the Bear".
    The tradition fell into decline at the end of the 19th century, the last sighting being in 1909 as it appears that an over zealous police inspector had forbidden "Straw Bears" as a form of cadging.

Straw bear 1906

Reviving the Tradition

    The custom was revived in 1980 by the Whittlesea Society, and for the first time in seventy years a "Straw Bear" was seen on the streets accompanied by his attendant keeper, musicians and dancers, about 30 in all. Various public houses were visited around the town as convenient places for the "Bear" and dancers to perform in front of an audience...with much needed rest, drink and food as available.

    The Bear is constructed in a more practical way now, the straw being fixed to a suitable piece or clothing or suit, the head is supported on a metal frame on the shoulders. This allows the costume to be removable, which is essential, as the length of the parade route and the time taken, necessitates 2 people "driving the bear". The person wearing the costume is adding approximately 70 pound to his own weight.

Another picture of the early years

    The parade now contains over 250 dancers, musicians and performers from various part of the British Isles performing traditions "Molly", "Morris", "Clog" and "Sword" (traditional English folk songs), songs and dances. There is also American style "Appalachian" or a type of square dancing, street performances and Mummers plays. A decorated plough pulled by a local Morris side is now an established part of the parade.

    Recently the Straw Bear has made friend with a German Straw Bear from Walldurn, near Frankfurt, Germany, a town that celebrates its own Straw Bear Festival on the Monday before Shrove Tuesday the day before Lent, which is on a Wednesday.

Although the festivities begin earlier in the week, Saturday is the only day on which the "Bear" makes an appearance before the "Bear Burning" on Sunday. This leads the way open for a new bear to be created from the next seasons harvest.
   The 2012 ekspo is January  13th-15th.

Hogmanay In Scotland!!

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The Origins of Hogmanay

A guid New Year to ane an` a` and mony may ye see!

   While New Year's Eve is celebrated around the world, the Scots have a long rich heritage associated with this event - and have their own name for it, Hogmanay.

   There are many theories about the derivation of the word "Hogmanay". The Scandinavian word for the feast preceding Yule was "Hoggo-nott" while the Flemish words (many have come into Scots) "hoog min dag" means "great love day". Hogmanay could also be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon, Haleg monath, Holy Month, or the Gaelic, oge maidne, new morning. But the most likely source seems to be the French. "Homme est né" or "Man is born" while in France the last day of the year when gifts were exchanged was "aguillaneuf" while in Normandy presents given at that time were "hoguignetes". Take your pick!

   In Scotland a similar practice to that in Normandy was recorded, rather disapprovingly, by the Church.

"It is ordinary among some Plebians in the South of Scotland, to go about from door to door upon New Year`s Eve, crying Hagmane."
Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence, 1693.

Hogmanay Traditional Celebrations

    Historians believe that we inherited the celebration from the Vikings who, coming from even further north than ourselves, paid even more attention to the passing of the shortest day. In Shetland, where the Viking influence was strongest, New Year is called Yules, from the Scandinavian word.    It may not be widely known but Christmas was not celebrated as a pameran and virtually banned in Scotland for around 400 years, from the end of the 17th century to the 1950s. The reason for this has its roots in the Protestant Reformation when the Kirk portrayed Christmas as a Popish or Catholic feast and therefore had to be banned. Many Scots had to work over Christmas and their winter solstice holiday was therefore at New Year when family and friends gathered for a party and exchange presents, especially for the children, which came to be called hogmanay.
   There are traditions before midnight such as cleaning the house on 31st December (including taking out the ashes from the fire in the days when coal fires were common). There is also the superstition to clear all your debts before "the bells" at midnight.

   Immediately after midnight it is traditional to sing Robert Burns' "For Auld Lang Syne". Burns claimed it was based on an earlier fragment and certainly the tune was in print over 80 years before he published his version in 1788.

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot and auld lang syne
For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne,
We'll take a cup o kindness yet, for auld lang syne."

   An integral part of the Hogmanay partying, which continues very much today, is to welcome friends and strangers, with warm hospitality and of course a kiss to wish everyone a Guid New Year. The underlying belief is to clear out the vestiges of the old year, have a clean break and welcome in a young, New Year on a happy note.
   "First footing" (that is, the "first foot" in the house after midnight) is still common in Scotland. To ensure good luck for the house, the first foot should be male, dark (believed to be a throwback to the Viking days when blond strangers arriving on your doorstep meant trouble) and should bring symbolic coal, shortbread, salt, black bun and whisky. These days, however, whisky and perhaps shortbread are the only items still prevalent (and available).
   "Handselling" was the custom of gift giving on the first Monday of the New Year but this has died out.

Torch of The Bonfire Ceremonies

   The magical Firework display and torchlight procession in Edinburgh - and throughout many cities in Scotland - is reminiscent of the ancient custom at Scottish Hogmanay pagan parties hundreds of years ago.
   The traditional New Year ceremony of yesteryear would involve people dressing up in the hides of cattle and running around the village being hit by sticks. The festivities would also include the lighting of bonfires, rolling blazing tar barrels down the hill and tossing torches. Animal hide was also wrapped around sticks and ignited which produced a smoke that was believed to be very effective to ward off evil spirits. The smoking stick was also known as a Hogmanay.
   Some of these customs do continue, especially in the small, older communities in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland where tradition, along with language and dialect are kept alive and well. On the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides, the young boys form themselves into opposing bands, the leader of each wears a sheep skin, while a member carries a sack. The bands move through the village from house to house reciting a Gaelic rhyme. On being invited inside, the leader walks clockwise around the fire, while everyone hits the skin with sticks. The boys would be given some bannocks - fruit buns - for their sack before moving on to the next house.

   One of the most spectacular Fire ceremonies takes place in Stonehaven, just south of Aberdeen on the North East coast. Giant fireballs, weighing up to 20 pounds are lit and swung around on five feet long metal poles, requiring 60 men to carry them as they march up and down the High Street. The origin of the pre-Christian custom is believed to be linked to the Winter Solstice of late December with the fireballs signifying the power of the sun, to purify the world by consuming evil spirits.
   And it is worth remembering that January 2nd is a holiday in Scotland as well as the first day of the year - to give us all time to recover from a week of merry-making and celebration, all part of Scotland's fascinating cultural legacy of ancient customs and traditions surrounding the pagan pameran of Hogmanay.

Angel Food Cupcakes With Cool Whip Frosting!

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   This recipe comes from www.clairekcreations.com .  Two things that always go well together, cool whip and angel food cake (possibly with some strawberries)!



Today I am very excited to play host to my very first guest post! I discovered Mother Thyme a few months ago and I love reading her fabulous recipes. She’s the woman behind the delicious tomato pasta sauce and choc-ginger biscuits. Please make her feel welcome and be sure to stop by and check out all the fabulous recipes on Mother Thyme.

Hi everyone! I’m Jennifer from Mother Thyme. I am so thrilled to be guest posting on my foodie friend Claire’s fabulous site today!
Today I will be sharing with you a light and refreshing dessert that you can enjoy without the guilt, Angel Food Cupcakes. These cupcakes are light and airy and made with a few simple ingredients such as egg white, confectioners sugar, sugar, salt and vanilla. The egg whites are whipped to form stiff peaks that makes this batter light and airy.
Sure I could have topped these cupcakes off with a creamy, eat with a spoon buttercream frosting, but that defeats the purpose of composing a light cupcake. My first thought was to just add dollops of cool whip on top of these cupcakes with slices of strawberries, but after some experimenting and recipe developing I came up with this creamy, delicious cool whip frosting that is flavored with vanilla and a hint of almond. This frosting is creamy, tasty, and delicious without all the extra calories and fat. So instead of having one cupcake, let’s have two (or maybe three)!
Thanks for letting me share my recipe here with you today. Be sure to stop by and say Hi to me at Mother Thyme. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest!
Enjoy!

Angel Food Cupcakes with Vanilla Almond Cool Whip Frosting
(Click here for a print friendly version)


Yield: 1 ½ dozen cupcakes
Angel Food Cupcakes
Ingredients
12 large egg whites (about 1 ½ cups)
1 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup confectioners sugar (icing sugar)
½ cup sugar
1 cup cake flour (plain flour)


Directions

Preheat panggangan to 350F degrees (160C). Line cupcake tin with liners, set aside.
Using an electric mixer with whisk attachment combine egg whites, cream of tartar, vanilla extract and salt in a large bowl. Blend on medium speed for 4-5 minutes until stiff peaks form. Gradually add in sugars and continue to blend until just combined. By hand fold in cake flour.
Pour batter into cupcake liners filling ¾ full. Bake for 15-18 minutes until cake tester comes out clean and top is firm. Do not overbake.
Cool on wire racks completely before frosting.
Vanilla Almond Cool Whip Frosting
Ingredients
1 3.4oz (90-120g) package of vanilla instant pudding
½ cup milk
½ teaspoon almond extract
1 8oz tub (240) of cool whip, thawed (fat free, light or regular)

In a medium bowl combine pudding, milk and almond extract until smooth. Fold in cool whip until combined. Frost as desired.

Diy Antique Cake Stand!

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   This diy comes from www.shanty-2-chic.com .  An inventive idea to have around for the holidays and every day to put pinecones, nuts, faux fruit or any other decorative item you can think of.  Have fun!

Hey Guys!! I spent my weekend with the fam in Lubbock and made it home just in time to share my next project with you. A few weeks ago I saw a picture of an antique cake stand in a magazine and was instantly inspired to copy… although this shanty is far from antique:) Here’s what I did…

I started by purchasing my supplies. I found three great hat boxes at Hobby Lobby at 50% off. I paid less than $12 for all three… woohoo!!

I also bought 2 unfinished wood candlesticks and a bag of 6 little candlesticks. This picture shows 3… you only need 2.

I also had my Gorilla Glue Epoxy handy… Hot glue will not cut it on this project! I had to pull out my big guns…

For this project I only used the tops of the hat boxes. My first step was to glue my candlesticks to the tops. I added glue to each candlestick and started building…

My little candlesticks became the feet for the bottom stand…

Still building…

I used another little candlestick for the top and glued an unfinished wood finial to it. You can find these at Lowe’s on the trim aisle.

Now to add it to the top…

My next step was to get this baby one color! My color of choice… Rustoleum American Accents Heirloom White spray paint. I took it out in the garage and gave it a couple of coats.

When my paint dried I was wanting this to appear antique, so I distressed the candlesticks using my 3M block sander…

I then used a Shanty Sisters favorite… Ralph Lauren Smoke Glaze over the entire stand. You just paint it on and wipe it off with a cloth. You can leave as much on as you like to get the finish you like best.

Almost done…

I do love natural lighting for my photos so much better, but when you finish your project at 9:00pm that typically is not an option. Sorry!

My tamat step was to dress it up. I fought the urge to cover it in Christmas goodies! But, I did “Winterize” it a bit. I picked up some pine cones from a house down the street and added just a few walnuts on there as well. The best part about this… You won’t have to hide this project in a closet 10 months out of the year! It can be decorated for every season! What do you think??

How To Pipe Lines With Royal Icing!

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   This come to us from www.sweetopia.net .  Live it, Love it, Learn it!

Hope you’re enjoying the holiday hustle and bustle, and hope you have some time to fit a little cookie decorating in. The cookies I’m about to show you in this video are great in that they’re versatile… Make your icing to match the theme and voila, colour co-ordinated decorated cookies for any type of event! The icing lines may seem daunting at first, but with a few tips and tricks, you’ll be able to make these too.
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{Video} How to Pipe Straight Lines with Royal Icing

Click here if you can’t see the video.
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If you’d like to try making these, here’s what you’ll need…

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What you’ll need to make decorated cookies with royal icing lines:

• Gingerbread or Sugar Cookie Recipe
• Royal Icing Recipe
• Cookie Cutters of your choice
• Piping Tips
• Piping Bag Coupler
• Piping Bags
• Icing Bag Ties (You can use elastic bands)
• Toothpicks
• Damp cloth

 

How to Pipe Royal Icing Lines – Top 10 Tips

1. Royal Icing Consistency is Key

One of the most important tips has to do with the consistency of your royal icing. Too thick and your lines might curl, crumble and break. Too thin, and they’ll look like a soupy mess. I use the 10 Second Rule to help me find the right consistency for piping. You can find a post and video on the 10 second rule by clicking here.

2. Piping Tip PME #1.5

My favourite piping tip is #1.5 made by PME. It’s fine enough to be able to pipe details, but large enough so that it doesn’t clog like piping tip #’s 1, #0 or #00 often do. If you don’t have access to the #1.5, #2 is the next best thing (in my humble opinion). One thing to note – If you’re using a tiny piping tip, such as #00, #0 or #1 you should let the icing come together (See Consistency Video), at about the 5 second mark, instead of the 10 second mark. You might also want to check the post on Avoiding Clogging in Piping Tips.

3. Don’t Overfill your Piping Bags

It’s easier to pipe detail when your piping bag isn’t too full. Much like writing with a pen, a large, fat pen would make it more difficult to write nicely.

4. Practice First

Your hand may need a little practice to get the feel of the piping motion, and practicing on parchment paper first ensures that you’ll be piping nicely when you’re ready, instead of possibly wasting a few cookies.

5. Let Your Icing Fall

Gently squeeze the icing out of your piping tip, let the icing catch on the surface you’re piping on, lift the tip away from the surface, and let your icing fall, while guiding the piping tip/bag. You’ll end up with a smoother line which is easier to control.

6. Piping Pressure

When you’re piping, try and use the same amount of pressure on the piping bag to squeeze the icing out.

7. Piping Direction

Pipe in the direction you feel comfortable with. I prefer piping from left to right, probably because it’s similar to writing. You can pipe right to left, top to bottom or bottom to top. Have fun experimenting!

8. Avoid Pulling

While you’re piping and letting the icing fall into place, it’s easy to move your hand a little too fast, while not pressing enough icing out. The result is usually a broken line.

9. Speed

Tying in to #8, sometimes piping too fast can lead to icing lines breaking. I find that mistakes happen more when I’m going too fast, and piping at a slower speed gives me more control over how the icing falls.

10. Mistakes Can Be Corrected

Toothpicks are a great tool to fix mistakes with. Anything from a broken line, a ball of icing at the beginning of your line due to too much pressure, or just general mistakes. Use your toothpick to remove excess icing, move icing around or scrape your mistakes off.

These tips are what have helped me improve in terms of piping lines – now I just need help lining up my lines so that they’re symmetrical… maybe I could have measured out the angles/spacing and marked the edges with a dot of icing and then just connected the dots with the lines. Buuut, was having too much fun to bother doing that. Maaaaybe next time. Could also use some help in the photography department. I have got to get a better handle on my camera settings, lighting and editing. Oh well. Hope you like the pics anyways.

Thanks to the über-talented Yukiko of Rosey Confectionary Sugar Art for letting me use her Christmas ornament design (above in pink – top right of the photo), and for basing my fan cookie design on hers. I absolutely adore her work, and have a hunch you might too.

Diy Crackle Finnish On The Cheap With An Upper End Look!

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   This diy comes from www.makethebestofthings.blogspot.com .  I used to buy a special crackling medium that would cost quite a few bucks, but know anyone can get the same look for next to nothing.  Good luck and enjoy!

Crackle finish with Elmer's Glue

Thanks to Dollar Store Crafts for featuring this post!

For years whenever I wanted a cool crackled effect on my painted projects I used the very expensive (to me) crackle medium and even bought some paints that were supposed to crack on their own. Because of the cost I did not do anything large and I was sparing in what I did do. Well, thanks to this cheap alternative, I can go a bit crazy and experiment because I found out how to get the crackle effect with Elmer's Glue! It's alot less expensive than any size bottle of crackle medium and just before school it's downright CHEAP.

I've been doing this for awhile but if you go to the Elmer's faq site, you can see the instructions towards the bottom of the page. Four sentences of instructions. Four sentences! I had more than four sentences worth of questions when I first did this!

http://www.elmers.com/diy/project/crackle-finish

On their page Elmer's used wood glue. I used Elmer's school glue or multi purpose glue for ALL of my projects and have always had great results. Even the Dollar Store no name glue works in a pinch. I have never had a "failure to crackle" with these glues.

So this tutorial, as requested, will have lots of pictures and step by steps so you can see what to expect. If you have used crackle medium you know the basics, they are the same, but you will use Elmer's glue. I used multi purpose but I see online that others have used the school glue and even generic school glues. For this project I used Elmer's.



I painted this piece of foam board with flat black acrylic. This is my base coat.




Here is the piece of painted foam board and a piece of painted muslin I have smeared with a generous amount of glue. I used alot so it would show up in the pictures. Let the glue dry til it is tacky, just a few minutes, then paint your contrasting base coat on top. Do NOT wait for the glue to dry all the way or the top coat will not crack. This is one point that you desire tackiness, lol! Let's call it sticky. Alrighty then. For these pics I did NOT thin the top coat of paint.


Try to use long strokes in one direction when painting your top coat. Do not go back and forth. Use long, steady strokes to cover your entire base coat with your top coat. Here is the foam board within a few minutes of painting the top coat of white paint. You can see the cracks forming pretty quickly, it is cool to watch!


Here is the top coat on the painted muslin.



And here is the painted muslin with the crackle effect. Since the muslin has a bit of give the cracks are smaller than the cracks on the wood board.



Here are two more pieces of painted muslin. The piece on the left is painted using turquoise and black. The black on the top left piece has been thinned slightly. The turquoise on the bottom left has not been thinned so it's cracks are not as delicate as the black. The big piece of fabric on the right has been undercoated with burnt umber and chocolate brown, then top coated with THINNED glue and THINNED white paint. The cracks are very small and delicate and hard to see in the pic. They are what I prefer for a doll face or something with alot of fine detail.

And here are some close ups of my sample boards. I tried to give you lots of pics so you can see what to expect when trying this technique.

Foam board with black base coat and white top coat. Glue is not thinned and either is the white paint. Board is about 2" x 4".

The wood boards in the following pics are about 1.5" tall x 5" wide.

Base coated brown on the left and black on the right. Glue is not thinned. Top coat of black on the left is thinned alot, brown top coat on right is thinned just a little.

Black base on the left, turquoise/teal base coat on the right. Glue is not thinned. Turquoise/teal top coat is not thinned. Black top coat on right is thinned alot, very watery.

I used gold Patio Paint for this board and it reacts differently to the glue. Perhaps because Patio Paint stretches a bit? The base coat on the left is P P gold with a watery black top coat. The base coat on the right is black with a Patio Paint top coat. It cracked, but not much. The glue was not thinned for this board.

I hope I've given you enough options that you can see what to expect with this technique. I would suggest experimenting a little til you find the combination that you like the best before using it on a akibat project. But have fun, it's easy to do and it's really really CHEAP!