Category: Seasonal
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Victorian Romance: The Art of Cobweb Valentines

Today is Valentine’s Day, a centuries-old holiday celebrating love, strangely on a day commemorating someone’s execution. From the late medieval period in Europe, when courtly love and chivalry were at their peak, it became popular to think of romantic love on this day. By the 18th century, the day had become a time for lovers…
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Historical Figures: Wilson Bentley, The Man Who Photographed Snowflakes

With winter well and truly settled in, many places have been experiencing snowfall. Some places in the UK narrowly missed out on having snow on Christmas Day, bringing a much-desired White Christmas. Snowflakes bring many people joy for their crisp, clean coating of the land. School children learn how to cut out snowflake shapes from…
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A Brief History of Oktoberfest

210 years ago on the 12th October 1810 the very first Oktoberfest was held. Known across the world today as a German beer-drinking holiday, many do not know how old the festival is. So where did it originate from? In 1810, Bavaria, within modern-day Germany, was ruled by Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria. Maximilian had…
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A History of Food: Easter Cuisines around Europe

Today is the day before Easter and around the world people – Christians and non-believers alike – are preparing to celebrate tomorrow. Whether it’s by eating a pile of chocolate Easter Eggs or having a big meal with family, everyone will have their own traditions. But as Easter has been celebrated for just shy of…
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Women of Just History Posts Part 2: International Women’s Day 2020

Two years ago today I compiled a post exploring six of the blog posts I have written about women in honour of International Women’s Day. I decided today was a great chance to revisit this idea and have a look back at some of the fantastic women we have explored over the past few years.…
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“Dazzling in the Extreme”: Ice Skating in the Victorian Era

Winter is well and truly here, and that means that a plethora of sites have popped up outdoor ice skating rinks for the public to enjoy. In England, at least, Christmas seems to be tied strongly with the sport – although there are plenty of indoor rinks that people can use all year round, many…
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Women of Just History Posts: International Women’s Day 2018

As today is International Women’s day, and women hold such a huge focus in my blog, I thought it would be remiss of me to not do a post to celebrate. Over the past year and a half I have written about plenty of amazing royal women, and I am hoping to soon expand into…
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New Year, New Me: A History of Calendars

So the New Year is here, and I’m sure many of you will have made resolutions or goals for how you’re going to make this year better than the last. As humans in a modern world, we are ruled by time. Minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years dictate our lives – what we are…

