The next book in the Kingdom of the East Angles series, Nightfall till Daybreak, will be available on Amazon Kindle on 7 June 2013. This novel takes place four years after Dark Under the Cover of Night (Book #1), but can be read as a standalone.
During the research of this novel, I discovered the following fascinating facts about Anglo-Saxon England.
Did you know that...
- in Anglo-Saxon England, the main meal of the day was usually at midday. Most meals consisted of pottage - an unappetizing vegetable stew that was most likely cooked for hours in a pot over the fire pit.
- only noblemen could afford swords, and only freemen were allowed to carry a spear
- the shield wall was a purely Anglo-Saxon method of warfare, and not used in continental Europe
- Winterfylleth - Winter Full Moon - was the Anglo-Saxon equivalent of Halloween. Folk would burn great bonfires and leave their doorways open to allow the dead to enter. Torches would be placed in doorways, guiding in the good spirits and deterring the evil ones. They would leave jugs of milk, mead or wine, and a offerings of food, on their hearths. Winterfylleth signaled the beginning of Blotmonath, Blood month. The day after the first winter full moon, folk would perform rites to Hela, the Underworld Goddess who raised the dead - and the day after that Woden - the father of the gods - would ride his eight-legged horse through the mortal world
- Winterfylleth heralded the coming of winter but Beltaine celebrated the spring. Beltaine was a yearly fertility festival dedicated to Bel - god of light, fire and the sun. Folk would sing and dance around the Beltaine bonfire, and would burn the Wicker Man, a giant effigy made from wicker and straw, upon it. Beltaine was the eve of life, fertility and joining, and as such, many couples would go 'green gowning' - running off into the woods to make love.
Find out more on about the story here.
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