Welsh legends and traditions

EASTER GREETINGS
 
 Hi my lovelies. I hope you're keeping safe and have managed to have a good Easter, despite the 'lock down'.

As a change from ghost stories, I thought I'd tell you about some of the Easter traditions of Wales.

Palm Sunday is known as Sul y Blodau (Sunday of Flowers) in Wales, as it is traditional to decorate and clean graves of loved ones with lots of beautiful flowers on this day.

In Tenby it has been well documented that no one works on Good Friday, with no horse or cart (and very few people) to be seen on the streets for the whole day.

On Good Friday, people also walked barefoot to church, so as not to "disturb the earth"

The custom of "making Christ's bed" was also popular in Tenby. Children would gather reeds and weave it into a 'Christ' figure, which was then laid on a wooden cross and left in a quiet part of a field or pasture to rest peacefully.

Llun y Pasg means Easter Monday in Welsh
It is often celebrated by a procession up to the very top of a mountain or a hill before sunrise (we are very proud of these in Wales!) to watch the sun rise.

In Llangollen, in the Vale of Clwyd, villagers used walk to the summit of Dinas Bran (a location famous for its inclusion in many medieval Welsh folk tales) to greet the sun's arrival with three somersaults.

In other areas, a bowl of water was taken to the top of the nearest hill to catch the sun "dancing" in the reflection.

Rogationtide was celebrated on the 5th Sunday after Easter. This was the Pagan spring fertility rites and Roman blessing of crops. Local Church officials should visit local crop farmers on this day to bless his crops

Ascension day is on the 40th day after Easter. This is the Roman Festival honouring streams and fountains.

On Ascension day wells were rededicated to saints in Wales and people would be wary of accidents. For example, you wouldn't wash clothes on this day as it was feared that someone would die as the clothes dried. Miners and farmers would also refuse to work through fear of mishaps!

 With many thanks for this article to Becca Hemmings of The Welsh Book Shop 
(They sell beautiful, traditional Welsh gifts and do Mail Order!)






For insider news and subscriber-only info, subscribe to my occasional Newsletter. I promise not to spam and your in-box will only see an email from me every 3 or 4 months or so - unless of course I have something really Newsworthy to share! I also promise that I never have and never will share your information or email address with anyone or any organisation.  http://madmimi.com/signups/196357/join

Springtastic blog tour - Spring Procrastination!

Welcome to the Springtastic Blog Tour. A group of 'Highway Cafe' Authors have got together to bring you a reading extravaganza with prizes to be won Yep, I knew that would get your attention. Several authors are giving individual prizes and there is also a grand prize of a basketful of Ebooks to be won - including mine, which is my fantasy novella, Dancing with Fate.  More details at the end of this post.

Now, I hear you ask - where does the spring procrastination come in?

Well, I don't have to tell you what spring means, do I? daffodils and bluebells,

little lambs in the fields, and there's that strange bright light in the sky - the sun is out.  


My horses are pleased to have their rugs off at last, needing lots of brushing to get all that winter hair off and of course I want to spend as much time with them as I can -

and meanwhile my little dog is raring to go on longer 'walkies'...








...and I  have a whole lot of new seedlings that need planting if we're to have any flowers in the garden this summer!

All this means I am very behind in writing my next novel - hence the

'procrastination'! *Sigh* it's not that I don't want to write - I do, but there are just so many things that demand my time in spring. Can anyone tell me how to get another eight hours into the day?


Anyway, what you really want to know is how to win a basket of books, don't you!

http://transcanadaromancewriters.blogspot.ca/2017/04/spring-tastic-tour.html

The Easter Bunny lost some eggs during his delivery, and he needs your help to find them! Today, April, 25th, and 26th, visit the participating Highway Cafe members’ sites to find the missing eggs. There are some hidden on this blog. when you find them, just leave a comment to let me know, then visit the Highway Cafe Blog Site: http://transcanadaromancewriters.blogspot.ca/2017/04/spring-tastic-tour.html  to find the other members taking part and visit their blogs too. When you've finished egg hunting, go back to the Highway Cafe Blog site and leave a comment listing the blogs where you found the eggs and commented.

I'm also 'full of the joys' of spring because the third book in the 'Destiny' Trilogy' is nominated for the RONE Awards in the SF/Fantasy category. I've already mentioned this in a previous post but in case you haven't come across this book before, although it's the third book in the series, each book is intended to be read as a 'stand alone', although of course I hope if you read one, you'll enjoy meeting up with some of the characters in the other two. Here's the blurb:

Blurb:

Cat Kincaid is obsessed with killing the man she believes is responsible for the torture and death of her sister, but when she eventually catches up with him, survival becomes a greater priority than revenge.

Kerry Marchant, haunted by memories, regret and self-blame, shields himself from the pain of the past by committing himself totally to the starship, Destiny, of which he is part owner. However, the beautiful, red haired woman who reminds him of his lost love, and who he suspects is working for a corrupt regime, represents a possible threat not only to the ship, but to his heart.

Marooned on an inhospitable planet, they need to work together to stay alive, fighting not only unknown assailants, but their growing attraction. But how can they learn to trust each other when he has vowed never to get close to a woman again, and she made a solemn pledge to destroy him?

PURCHASE AT AMAZON:

 https://www.amazon.com/Beloved-Enemy-Destiny-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B01BBCBYCS

AND...Be sure to visit The Highway Cafe’s blog for the list of other participants in the Spring ‘Tastic Tour, as well as enter our grand prize giveaway of a Spring ‘Tastic Basket of FIFTEEN eBooks!

For insider news and subscriber-only info, subscribe to my occasional Newsletter. I promise not to spam and your in-box will only see an email from me every 3 or 4 months or so - unless of course I have something really Newsworthy to share! http://madmimi.com/signups/196357/join 

The Winners of the Release contests and Updates

Sorry not to have been around too much after the excitement of my book launch for BELOVED ENEMY a couple of weeks ago.  I fell foul of the 'dreaded lurgy' and am still coughing and not feeling quite up to scratch, but I want to thank everyone who helped me celebrate, took part in my book tour and Facebook Party and tweeted, retweeted and shared on Facebook.  I appreciate it all so much. Just one small favour - if you read Beloved Enemy, and have a moment, could you leave a few lines of a review on Amazon please, reviews really do make a difference.  I already have a few up there but some more would be really nice.  I'm really excited about this book and hope people will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Sorry this is late, but here are the winners of the various events:

AUTHOR ROAST AND TOAST PARTY
(A download from my backlist)
MARY PRESTON

FACEBOOK PARTY (Thanks to Goddess Fish for organising this)

Welsh Dragon Mood Rings:
RENEE ROUSSEAU
PAULA MARTIN

'Galaxy' Pendant and earring set AND $10.00 Amazon Gift Card
AMANDA AVAKIAN

LYN'S STAR CREW CONTEST
'Galaxy Pendant'
SARAH TRANTER

FIVE DAY VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR
Galaxy pendant set.
WENDY MITCHELL


Congratulations to the winners, your prizes should either have been received or are on their way.  I will be holding a few more contests over the year - I have a limited number of  'Galaxy' pendants and jewellery sets, all different.  I found these and think they are so suitable for the  Science Fiction Romance, hope you do too. This is one of them.

I have also (finally) sent out my new Newsletter.  it's been a long time since I sent out a Newsletter, and am now starting again from scratch, with my Easter editiion. I hope to send one out roughly three or four times a year from now on. I am using the Mailing List from my old Yahoo Mailing group,  which I will continue to use but I now have a new signup form  (it can also be found in the left hand colum of this blog.  

You can read my Newsletter below. Please let me know what you think and how it could be improved. I'm more than happy to feature other authors as well, if you'd like to drop me a line, and will probably include links to one or two of the reviews I've done for other authors in the next one.

https://madmimi.com/p/fddc83/preview

To finish - I hope everyone had a joyous and happy Easter holiday.  After a rather blustery few days in the UK, it really looks as if spring might be on the way now!