And the winner is…

Comment number 16, Maureen! Maureen, e-mail me your snail mail address, and I’ll drop your book in the mail. Thanks so much to everyone who entered my blog contest. If you’re still interested in winning a copy of Her Irish Warrior, there’s a second chance to win on my For Readers page. Good luck!

Last night I was working on a new scene on my book, and I’m researching the Irish festival of Lughnasa (Irish Lughnasadh). It’s a harvest festival, typically held the last Sunday of July. Many centuries ago, it was celebrated for two weeks. I think one of the best parts about researching historical romance is learning new things about a time period. There are so many fascinating customs, that I thought I’d share a few.

Did you know that:
1. The entire community would climb the highest hill in the area on Height Sunday? Sometimes people would climb the mountain barefoot, as penance.

2. At the highest point, the folk would bury the first corn of the harvest for Crom Dubh, the “dark crooked one.” He was said to have brought the secrets of cultivation to the Irish. He was overcome by Lugh, the bright god of knowledge.

3. Bilberries are a huge part of the festival. Boys would gather bilberries and give them to their sweethearts. The women would then bake a bilberry cake to share at the dance that evening.

4. The people would swim their horses through a river to receive a cleansing and special blessing from the element of water. This was different from Bealtaine (Beltane) where the Irish would drive their cattle between fires for a blessing.

Although I’m not yet sure which of these customs I’ll use in my book, I do think it’s fun to learn about them. Incidentally, the above picture was taken at Bunratty Folk Park in Shannon, Ireland. The reenactor was baking soda bread in an iron pot upon the peat hearth. There’s nothing better than home-baked bread!

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day this weekend, here’s a recipe for Irish soda bread with raisins (nicknamed Spotted Dick) for you to enjoy. It was very tasty when my family sampled it!

4 c. plain flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. sugar
2 cups of buttermilk (you can make your own buttermilk by adding 1 Tbsp of lemon juice per cup of milk. Just decrease the milk accordingly.)
1 c. raisins

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Sieve the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Scoop up handfuls and allow to drop back into the bowl to aerate the mixture. Add enough buttermilk to make a soft dough (I ended up using about 1 3/4 cups, not quite all of the buttermilk). Add the raisins. Knead the dough lightly (don’t handle it too much or it will become tough). Form a round loaf as thick as your fist. Place it on top of a lightly floured baking sheet and cut a cross in the top with a sharp knife. Bake for 30-45 minutes. When baked, the loaf will sound hollow when rapped on the bottom with your knuckles. Immediately wrap the hot loaf in a clean dishcloth to keep the crust from hardening too much. Enjoy!