24 December 2012

"Bullet pudding" in a Jane Austen-style Christmas

Parlour games were played throughout Christmas and during the 12th Night celebrations in Jane Austen’s era. One favourite at Godmersham Park was Bullet Pudding, as described by Fanny Knight, Jane Austen’s niece, in a letter written to her friend, Miss Dorothy Chapman of Faversham:
You must have a large pewter dish filled with flour which you must pile up into a sort of pudding with a peek at top. You must then lay a bullet at top and everybody cuts a slice of it, and the person that is cutting it when it falls must poke about with their noses and chins till they find it and then take it out with their mouths of which makes them strange figures all covered with flour but the worst is that you must not laugh for fear of the flour getting up your nose and mouth and choking you: You must not use your hands in taking the Bullet out.  
Found at Austenonly.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...