Latest Local News at The Weald & Downland Living Museum

15 January 2025

Drinking with the Trees: The Tradition of Wassailing

At the heart of English tradition lies wassailing, an ancient and joyful custom that marks the New Year with blessings, music, and communal cheer. Rooted in folklore and evolving through…

Zachary Peatling

Museum News

9 January 2025

Plough Monday: Welcoming in the Agricultural Year

Marking the beginning of the agricultural year, Plough Monday - celebrated on the first Monday after Epiphany - is a fascinating glimpse into England's rural past. Dating back to the…

Zachary Peatling

Museum News

2 January 2025

Twelfth Night: The Festive Finale of Christmastide

Twelfth Night has been celebrated for centuries as the joyous conclusion to the Twelve Days of Christmas. Rooted in medieval customs and immortalised in literature, it is a night rich…

Zachary Peatling

Museum News

30 December 2024

Celebrating New Year’s: Games, Gifts, and Royal Favour

What are your plans for New Year’s? Watching the fireworks? Counting down the year with a glass of champagne in hand? New Year’s celebrations have changed dramatically over the centuries,…

Zachary Peatling

Museum News

20 December 2024

Feasts, Parties and Celebrations: The Twelve Days of Christmas

How do you celebrate Christmas? Most, if not all, families will have their Christmas traditions; the food they eat, the family members they see, the church services they attend, the…

Zachary Peatling

snow covered late-Medieval buildings, traditional historic scenery

Museum News

9 December 2024

Winter Warming: Ritual Year Traditions in the First Season

In the Ritual Year, the year is divided into the four seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn. This roughly maps onto the monthly divisions too. Winter is December, January, February; Spring…

Zachary Peatling

festive holly advent decorations on a historic traditional cart

Museum News

1 December 2024

The Peace before the Party: Advent Traditions

As December dawns, our eyes will naturally turn to Christmas, if they haven't already. We will be looking forward to the food, the gifts, the family gatherings and the flowing…

Zachary Peatling

Museum News

26 November 2024

Celebrating the Beauty of Trees: Tree Dressing Day

Every December, communities around the UK come together for Tree Dressing Day, a celebration of the cultural, spiritual, and practical significance of trees. Revitalised in 1990 by the environmental arts…

Zachary Peatling

frosty Christmas ivy on a traditional historic wall

Museum News

18 November 2024

Christmas Through the Ages

How do you celebrate Christmas? You might have traditions that are unique to you and your family, your cultural heritage or national identity. In Britain, Christmas as we know it…

Zachary Peatling

Toll House fireplace at the Weald & Downland living Museum

Museum News

13 November 2024

The Heart of the Home: A History of the Hearth

What does the household revolve around? What is the centrepiece of the home? For millennia, it has been the hearth. Indeed, the modern world ‘hearth’ comes from the Old English…

wealddown

Museum News

5 November 2024

Blod-Monath: Winter Survival & Celebration

November, the month of Guy Fawkes, bonfires and autumn leaves, went by a different moniker during the Early Medieval period. It was known, rather descriptively, as ‘Blod-Monath’, or ‘Blood Month’…

wealddown

Museum News

30 October 2024

Ghostly Trick or Pious Treat? The Origins of Halloween

As soon as the leaves start to change colour, and the blanket of them begins to crunch under foot, our minds usually turn to Halloween. This is the night where,…

wealddown

News

Drinking with the Trees: The Tradition of Wassailing

Plough Monday: Welcoming in the Agricultural Year

Twelfth Night: The Festive Finale of Christmastide

Celebrating New Year’s: Games, Gifts, and Royal Favour

Feasts, Parties and Celebrations: The Twelve Days of Christmas

Winter Warming: Ritual Year Traditions in the First Season

The Peace before the Party: Advent Traditions

Celebrating the Beauty of Trees: Tree Dressing Day

Christmas Through the Ages

The Heart of the Home: A History of the Hearth

Blod-Monath: Winter Survival & Celebration

Ghostly Trick or Pious Treat? The Origins of Halloween

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