| Stir-up Sunday | |
|---|---|
 Traditionally, the preparation ofChristmas puddings began on Stir-up Sunday. | |
| Observed by | Western Christianity |
| Type | Christianity |
| Date | Sunday beforeAdvent Sunday |
| 2024 date | 24 November |
| 2025 date | 23 November |
| Frequency | annual |
| Related to | Christmas Day |
Stir-up Sunday is an informal term inCatholic andAnglican churches for the last Sunday before the season ofAdvent. It gets its name from the beginning of thecollect for the day in theBook of Common Prayer, which begins with the words, "Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people...", but it has become associated with the custom of making theChristmas puddings on that day.[1] TheChristmas pudding is one of the essential BritishChristmas traditions and is said to have been introduced to Britain byPrince Albert, husband ofQueen Victoria (the reality is that the meatless version was introduced from Germany byGeorge I in 1714).[2] Most recipes for Christmas pudding require it to be cooked well in advance of Christmas and then reheated on Christmas Day, so the collect of the day served as a useful reminder.
Traditionally, families gather together in the kitchen of their homes to mix and steam Christmas pudding on Stir-up Sunday.[3] Parents teach their children how to mix ingredients for the pudding. Everyone takes a turn to stir the pudding mix, for each person involved is able to make a special wish for the year ahead. Practically, stirring the mixture is hard work, therefore as many people as possible are involved. By tradition the pudding mixture is stirred from East to West in honor of the threewise men who visited the baby Jesus.[4]
In some households, silver coins or other charms are added to the pudding mix.[5][6] It is believed that finding a coin brings good luck.[6]
In a 2013 survey, two-thirds of British children reported that they had never experienced stirring Christmas pudding mix,[7] reflecting consumers' preference for ready-made puddings widely available in shops.
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The termstir-up Sunday comes from theopening words of thecollect for the day in the1549 Book of Common Prayer and later (a translation of theRoman Missal's collect"Excita, quæsumus" used on the last Sunday before Advent):
Excita, quæsumus, Domine, tuorum fidelium voluntates: ut divini operis fructum propensius exsequentes, pietatis tuæ remedia maiora percipiant: Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. | 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. |
In theBook of Common Prayer and later editions, this collect is listed for "The Twenty-Fifth Sunday After Trinity", with arubric specifying that this collect "shall always be used upon the Sunday next before Advent". This reinforced the significance of this day as forming part of the preparation for the season of Advent. The rubric is necessary because the last Sunday before Advent does not always fall on the 25th Sunday afterTrinity Sunday. Trinity Sunday is amoveable feast and theAdvent season is fixed, so the number of weeks in between varies from year to year. Thus, this collect was always read just before Advent – as it in the (pre-reform) Roman Missal whence it came (where the Sunday is called the "24th Sunday after Pentecost", but the Sundays left out after Epiphany are "caught-up" between the 23rd and the 24th, making it always the last before Advent).
Since most recipes for Christmas pudding call for the pudding to be kept for several weeks to mature, the day subsequently became connected, in countries which used theBook of Common Prayer, with the preparation ofChristmas puddings in readiness forChristmas.[8]
In recent years[as of?] most provinces of theAnglican Communion have adopted the practice of the RomanCatholic Church in observing this Sunday asChrist the King (sometimes under the name "The Reign of Christ").[citation needed] Popular attachment to the "Stir up" collect has, however, caused it to be retained (in contemporary language) in the liturgies of several provinces. TheChurch of England's "Common Worship" uses it as thePost-Communion prayer, with a rubric stating that it "may be used as the Collect at Morning and Evening Prayer during this week".
In theCatholic Ordinariates for former Anglicans,Divine Worship: The Missal appoints the "stir up" collect for use on any of the weekdays between theSolemnity of Christ the King which are not themselves Feasts or Obligatory Memorials. The collect thus functions as the collect for the Sunday Next Before Advent, even though the Sunday with that title is now a liturgical fiction, always being impeded by the higher rankingSolemnity of Christ the King. However, the fictional Sunday nonetheless provides the real collect for the following weekdays, as in other weeks in the calendar where a Sunday is occasionally impeded by a higher ranking Feast. The collect thus continues to be used the week before Advent.
In addition, one of the two choices inDivine Worship: The Missal for the collect for the Second Sunday in Advent begins with the words, "Stir up our hearts, O Lord." The other collect option on the Second Sunday in Advent is the more famous "Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" collect. However, another collect featuring the phrase "stir up" within the Advent season is the collect for Ember Friday in Advent, which in theOrdinariates occurs on the Friday in the first week of Advent, beginning "Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy power."
In theEpiscopal Church in theUnited States, the collect designated for the Third Sunday of Advent in the Book of Common Prayer (1979) commences with the invocation, "stir up your power, O Lord." Consequently, within numerous Episcopal congregations, the Third Sunday of Advent, commonly known asGaudete Sunday, is referred to as "Stir-up Sunday."Marion J. Hatchett in his definitive work "Commentary on the American Prayer Book," notes that in the Pre-Reformation EnglishSarum Rite, the collects for four of the last five Sundays preceding Christmas commenced with the wordsexcita, or 'stir up'. A comparable collect to the one appointed in the Book of Common Prayer 1979 is found in the recent book authorized for use in the Church of England, "Common Worship," designated for the Second Sunday of Advent; however, in this version, the phrase "raise up" is employed instead.
