Spring Cleaning—Not an April Fools’ Tale

Yes, a history of spring cleaning exists.  Dating back about 3,000 years ago in Persia, spring cleaning began as a ritual of the Persian New Year which was usually March 21st, the first day of Spring.  The traditions and rituals continue today, but it is now known as the Iranian Norouz.  The practice of “Khooneh tekouni,” which means “shaking the house” is the first Spring Cleaning ritual. Everything that can be is taken outside and shaken and cleaned.  Inside, the floors and walls are all washed.  Fresh flowers are brought in for good fortune for the new year.

Virginia Women Writers at Home #4

Rita Mae Brown (1944 - )

Our fifth Virginia author brings us to the late 20th century as into the past. Though born in the Hanover, Pa horse country, Rita Mae Brown, through her father, claims Virginia roots, all the way back to “when the earth was cooling.”[i] Currently she owns a farm in Nelson County where she writes about Virginia history and indulges in her animals and in the very Virginian sport of fox hunting. Both appear in her novels, especially a cat, “Sneaky Pie Brown,” who co-authored nineteen “cozy” mysteries. Another mystery series centers on Brown’s foxhunting club.

Virginia Women Writers at Home #3

Ellen Glasgow (1873-1945)

Ellen Glasgow, like Johnston, was sickly and also had a reputation for resisting conformist strictures. Her father was an industrialist in the new south. She lived in Richmond and spent summers at plantations in the area. Her works followed romanticism to realism writing styles, Virginia plantation life to urban life, and pretty feminism to active feminism.

Virginia Women Writers at Home #2

Amélie Rives (1863-1945)

Amélie Rives traced her American ancestry back to colonial Virginia. Her great-grandfather Dr. Thomas Walker was a friend of Peter Jefferson. After Jefferson’s death his son, Thomas Jefferson, became Dr. Walker’s ward. Her grandfather, William Cabell Rives, was a senator and an ambassador to France. Robert E. Lee was Amélie’s godfather. Her home was Castle Hill (begun in the mid-1700s) in Albemarle County. Here famous founders and shapers of the young United States were frequent visitors. Unlike many other Virginia plantations, Castle Hill was not touched during the Civil War.[i] 

Virginia Women Writers at Home

We are saluting Women’s History Month with a series on women authors whose temperament and writing characterize Virginia women We will “snapshot” five authors and one work by each of them to illustrate how writers reflected in their lives and in the themes and settings of their works a distinctive “Virginia-ness.” Our last criteria: the works had to be a “good read.”

Uniform Monday Holiday Act

In 1880 the United States Congress declared February 22nd, George Washington’s birthday, a federal holiday for all government employees working in the District of Columbia. In 1885 that federal holiday was expanded to include those working in government offices in the entire United States. [1] Public Law 90-363, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, was signed into law on June 28, 1968 and took effect on January 1, 1971. [2] This act is responsible for moving the federal holiday celebration of George Washington’s birthday from February 22nd to what we commonly refer to as Presidents’ Day. Presidents’ Day is now celebrated on the third Monday in February, which will never be the 22nd of February as it can only fall on February 15th - 21st. [3]

Valley Traditions Part II: Festivals & Faschnachts

PRE-LENT CUSTOMS

Harkening back to our Christmas blog on Belsnickling in the Valley we continue to explore the origins of local customs associated with the darkest days of the year. With the approach of spring the last of the three traditional winter celebrations is upon us - the period before Ash Wednesday and the forty days of Lent. As with All Souls Day and Christmas the religious observance is preceded by “eves” of gaiety and eating. In some cultures frivolities may last a week, but most frequently they are observed on the two days before the beginning of Lent - Rose Monday and Shrove Tuesday. The name used for the Tuesday depends on whether one is in Latin Europe or in Teutonic Europe. In the southern European tradition, celebrations last for several days and are called carnival (derived from carne levare, which is translated as ‘taking away the flesh”). In the English language, shrove (the past tense of shrive) means to hear confession. So, prior to the salvation of body and soul, society dedicated a time to indulge in food, masquerade, and parades.