All around the world

It’s not long now until the man in red arrives, we do hope preparations are going well and that you all have an enjoyable festive period. We have had a really busy run up to Christmas with lots of orders and posting out of our new kits to people. It has also been great to see requests coming in for bookings for our workshops in 2025; some lucky people will clearly be getting these as a Christmas gift.

We have just had a shoemaker’s evening out at Iglu sauna, nothing quite like it to put a spring in your step. I wonder who realised that getting incredibly hot in a wooden box, followed by getting incredibly cold in a tin bath could make you feel so fabulous!

Our choice of Christmas do; made us think of all the interesting (or strange) rituals that happen around the world on New Year’s eve.

In Spain, eating a grape at each strike of midnight is supposed to bring good luck.

In Brazil, luck increases if you get in the surf and jump over seven waves on New Years Eve, one wish for each wave.

In Denmark, the tradition is to smash plates on New Year’s Eve, on the doorsteps of friends and family, the more shards found on the front steps of your house in the morning the more popular and well liked you are. Once you have smashed a plate, you can then stand on a chair and ‘leap’ into January at midnight.

In Greece, on New Year’s Eve, they bundles of onions above their doors as a symbol of good luck, then in the morning they bop their children on their head with them!

If you are in Ireland, bang on the wall with bread to chase any bad spirits out of the house, to start the year off with a clean slate.

Whatever you choose to do over Christmas and New Year, we wish you all a restful time and thank you for all your support in 2024.

Cathy and Anne

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