Celebration of Autumn and Winter

We all celebrate autumn and winter festivals by coming together as a community and experience events that have been long in our history. In this difficult time of COVID-19 when we are all separated, being connected through common causes and activities will help us celebrate the season and festivals that bring us together, in our homes. 

 

Apple Day (October 21st, 2020) is a day to remind people of the importance of orchards, fields and nature to humanity. This day every year has contributed to the development of farmers’ markets and have encouraged people to look for more naturally sourced food. You can be involved with Apple Day in your own way by going apple picking with the family. In our shop, we sell lots of different types of delicious apples for you to celebrate Apple Day in your homes. The apples we sell are ‘Beauty of Bath’, ‘Red Ellison’, ‘Greensleeves’, ‘Scrumptious’, ‘Epicure’, ‘Rosemary Russet’, ‘Red Falstaff’, ‘Fiesta’, ‘Holstein’, and ‘King of the Pippins’. 

 

World Food Day (Friday 16th October) ‘Learn Worlds’ says “honors the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1945”. Many national and international days have recently emerged using hashtags, such as #nationalcakeday. Is the increase of festivals driven by social media? Why not get involved with World Food Day by trying different recipes with organic foods and fresh herbs. Mires Beck has its own herb recipe book designed by our Friends from their experiences in food travel, on sale for £7. 

 

The Halloween Parade in New York is full of elaborate costumes, colourful banners, huge puppets and a parade. You can bring the parade home by dressing up in super scary Halloween costumes, making your own colourful banners and making finger puppets out of gloves, or normal puppets out of old socks. Ahead of Halloween, we have the Mires Beck annual Pumpkin Carving Class on Saturday 24th October. 

Around the 5th November, the Guy Fawkes Festival and Fireworks at the Royal Gunpower Mills has fireworks, a short theatre show featuring the Ghost of Guy Fawkes, learning about the science of explosions, and making slime or lanterns to take home. As this year is not confirmed, we suggest having a fun day making Chinese lanterns out of paper, putting on a show with family, and (with supervision) experiment with explosions using vinegar, baking soda and a bag! 

 

Yule Tide is a 12-day festival of history celebrated by Germany. The Yule Log was originally a real tree limb or trunk, today represented by a chocolate cake shaped log. The festival has developed across Europe and is celebrated in the UK with events having food and drink, crafts, ornaments, and hot chocolate. You could host your own Yule event with Christmassy food, create ornaments for your Christmas tree instead of buying them, and make classic hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows. Our nearest festival, The York Christmas Festival is usually full of food, festive things and a lovely Christmassy atmosphere. 

 

Twelfth Night celebrations in UK is on the 15th January. One of the biggest 2020 celebrations planned is the 25th anniversary of the London Festival, which brings together ancient mid-winter customs. To celebrate this at home, you could make Christmas alcohol cocktails such as hot spiced chocolate, Farmer’s Daughter and apple cider. 

 

At Mires Beck Nursery, we have contributed towards Apple Day and World Food Day by celebrating the Harvest Festival at All Saints Church in North Cave (Sunday 11th October), and contributed one of Suzanne’s prize-winning cabbages to Hull Foodbank. Usually, people would have been able to attend the service, but this year it was restricted due to social distancing measures. Sadly, people who attended the service were not allowed to sing due to the risk of spreading the deadly virus. Hopefully, we will all be able to be together at Christmas celebrations, including Yule Tide and Twelfth Night. This year, we will be making a musical Christmas video for our service users who sadly cannot join in these celebrations with us. 

 

Our Christmas shop this year will help you get involved with bringing Christmas Festivals to your home, by selling chocolate Yule Logs, other treats and little bunches of holly to put on your Christmas puddings and Mince Pies.