Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
Penny Loaf Day March 11th is Penny Loaf Day, though it is also traditional to set the observance to the Sunday closest to 11 March. This is an obscure holiday that I’d like to revive. Because first of all, it involves bread (so, duh, of course!), and second it celebrates generosity that has endured for… Continue reading The Daily: 11 March 2026
In acknowledgment of the spring sun's rising earlier and earlier — 6:16am in my town yesterday — those who follow Daylight Savings Time have had an hour removed from their morning today at 2am. This morning's sunrise is 7:14am, meaning we've lost an hour of morning light so that we can have more day in… Continue reading The Daily: 8 March 2026
February First Fruits & Quirinalia To highlight just how different the seasonal cycle is depending on latitude, mid-February, the last ides of the ritual year in Rome, was a festival of the first-fruit offerings. While here in Vermont we are barely thinking about the growing season, never mind able to see actual earth, during the… Continue reading The Daily: 16 February 2026
Well, we've made it through another Midwinter holiday season. Tonight is Twelfth Night, the last night of Christmas and the long night before Epiphany, the festival of the Wise Men. This is the night when all the drummers show up, along with a veritable cacophony of birds; a party of lords, ladies and colorful others;… Continue reading The Daily: 5 January 2026
Cranberry sauce was not part of Thanksgiving until the late 19th century. I feel this was their loss. This is the one part of the traditional Thanksgiving meal that I love, but not that jellied gunk that comes in a can — which is probably mostly sugar and red dye. The real sauce is delicious… Continue reading The Daily: 24 November 2025
Lammas It's the probably not-terribly-ancient festival of bread, Lammas, Hlaf-mas, Loaf Mass. This holiday is possibly an English variant on the Irish first fruits and fair festival of Lughnasadh, but compacted into one day and generally lacking any ritual or narrative. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, churches in East Anglia constructed elaborate… Continue reading The Daily: 2 August 2025
The lingering thick smoke is scary. The inflammation in my spine is scary. The hospital bills are very scary... I am feeling in need of comfort food. I think we all get this way... More often than not, these days. We want something nourishing and simple, something quick, something that doesn't add heat to the… Continue reading The Daily: 28 July 2025
June 9th, was the Roman feast of Vesta. This festival fell within the state holiday of Vestalia, and it did have state rituals assigned to it. But mostly it was a festival of the plebs, and particularly of the army of bakers that kept the Romans fed. So this is a grain harvest festival tied… Continue reading The Daily: 9 June 2025
The Daily for 29 March 2024: Hot cross buns!
National Dandelion Day When the dandelions bloom,time to plant potatoes. — Old Farmer's Almanac The Old Farmer’s Almanac claims that April 5th is Dandelion Day. I’m fairly certain this is not a thing, but it should be. Dandelions are pleasurable in so many ways. Just imagine an early summer lawn dotted with bee-covered smiling suns! And when… Continue reading The Daily: 5 April 2025
By My Solitary Hearth 