Genealogy Forum UK

Has anyone ever heard this expression before?

During the past couple of weeks it's cropped up in the press several times, and today there's
an article in the Telegraph, concerning making Christmas cakes this coming Sunday - which is
supposedly Stir-up Sunday.

Seems in the past all the family members were involved and each took turns to stir the cake
or pudding mixture and made a wish.

What do you do? I make my Christmas cake whenever it's convenient to me (or I'm in the mood!).
However - I shall be having a Stir up Tuesday as we are in Stourbridge this weekend.

I won't be having a stir up day , mine will be a buying a cake day at M&S, I do remember when young though when mam made her cakes we would all have a stir a make a wish , can't remember my wish every coming true.

Annie

I remember the 'stir and wish tradition', but I liked better the one in a friend's family where, after the basic batter was made, a whole lot of different fruits and spices (and bottles of spirits) were left out on the kitchen table, and for a day, anyone who passed put in a handful or a glug of whatever they fancied, and stirred.
And, amazingly, it always turned out delicious.

I remembered there was another reason for the name besides Christmas cakes/puddings

"Stir-up Sunday is an informal term in Anglican churches for the last Sunday before the season of Advent.

The term comes from the opening words of the collect for the day in the Book of Common Prayer of 1549 and later (a translation of the Roman Missal's collect "Excita, quæsumus"):

Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Through an association of ideas, the day subsequently became connected, especially in England, with the preparation of Christmas puddings in readiness for Christmas."
Wiki strikes again!

I knew there was a tradition of everyone stirring, but I thourght it was stirring the pudding not the cake. I'd never hard a term for the actual day, or that it was the last sunday before advent.

(Making the first batch of mincepies tomorrow, does that count?)