“Stir Up Sunday” is nearing. Start planning.

Last year I decided to make, for the first time, my own Christmas Pudding.  I got a late start on it.  It was delicious.

This year I am going to pay attention to Stir Up Sunday.

20 November is Stir Up Sunday if I am not mistaken, the 23rd and Last Sunday after Pentecost.

Your plans?

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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11 Comments

  1. acardnal says:

    That’s my birthday, Father! ;-)

  2. Phillip says:

    Usually I start making a fruitcake the day after Thanksgiving (Alton Brown’s recipe, which is incredible). Perhaps this year I shall do it on Stir-Up Sunday. A good and poetic day to bake.

  3. Wendy says:

    That is the day I put up my jars of mincemeat to mellow for the next 5 weeks in their rum and brandy baths (18th century recipe. They certainly weren’t shy about rum).

  4. David Schutz says:

    Except that in the new Missal, we only have “Stir Up Monday to Saturday”!

    By the way, could you please make some comment on the rationale for shifting the traditional “Excita” collects for the First and Second Sundays in Advent to the Friday in the First Week of Advent and the Thursday in the Second Week of Advent respectively? (There is yet a fourth “Stir Up” collect on the Thursday in the First Week of Advent – where did that come from?)

    When I was a Lutheran pastor, I greatly enjoyed praying these “Stir up” prayers at the beginning of each year. They are so distinctive and powerful, that I really can’t understand the decision to bump them to the weekday masses in the Missal of Paul VI.

  5. MargaretC says:

    Hmm…I haven’t made a fruitcake in years. Like Phillip, I used to start it on the day after Thanksgiving, but starting on Stir Up Sunday would give the rum more time to perform its magic.

  6. LaudemGloriae says:

    I’m a middle aged mother but I must confess that I am already SO excited about Christmas this year. Giddy! And I distinctly remember last year’s threads on “stir up” Sunday (a tradition I was not previously familiar with). This year … fruitcake, most definitely. I noticed all the dried fruit that showed up at the grocery store about a week ago …

    Anyone have a special recipe to share?

  7. The term also describes, in some places, the Third Sunday of Advent, otherwise known as “Gaudete Sunday.” Or so I had read once long ago.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stir-up_Sunday

    Plenty of opportunities to “stir up” our preparations, I suppose.

  8. jaykay says:

    This year, as always, I’ll make 2 puddings. I usually start on or close to 8th December, the reason being that when we were kids we had that day off school, if a weekday, and my mother would enlist our (somewhat dubious) help in the preparations. So I’ve kept to that date. Last year, for various reasons, I had to use whiskey instead of the usual rum and although I also used an amount of Guinness, as is usual in Ireland, the result was that the puddings turned out lighter and somehow different in taste – “drier” was one remark. It’ll be back to the rum this year… and plenty of it!

  9. catholicmidwest says:

    Stir up Sunday is going to be on November 27th this year, I think.

  10. Genna says:

    The plum and apple chutney was bottled in August and the puds are going to be made this weekend (left overnight, followed by 8 hrs steaming) giving plenty of time for the stout and brandy to do their stuff. The puddings come out almost black and verrrry rich. I wish I liked to eat them but I’d rather have a mince pie.

  11. uptoncp says:

    catholicmidwest

    November 27th is the 1st Sunday in/of Advent; Stir Up is the Sunday Next Before Advent (Last after Pentecost/Trinity, occurring with Christ the King in the newer calendar).

    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.

    Excita quesumus Domine tuorum fidelium voluntates: ut divini operis fructum propensius exsequentes, pietatis tue remedia majora percipiant. (spelling as late mediæval Sarum).

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