Seasonal Tales of Hollow Farm
Stories for the old days of the year
Long before calendars hung on kitchen walls, the year was kept by its old days: the night the Belsnickel came calling, the eve Brigid was welcomed in at the door, the midnight a silent supper was laid for a guest no one invited. The families who settled these Kentucky hills brought those customs across the ocean and kept them, long after anyone remembered why.
Each Seasonal Tale follows one of those old days through the generations of a single family, or a single street, and what happens when the custom is kept, half-kept, or forgotten. Printed in full color, with art for every chapter.
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Let Brigid In
A Brigid’s Eve Tale · Available January 1, 2027 · Keep it on St. Brigid’s Eve, January 31
Kentucky, 1855. On the last night of January, Brigid Callahan kneels on her doorstep in the cold and asks, in the Irish of west Clare, to let Brigid in. Her husband answers through the door with the old words: she is welcome, she is welcome, she is welcome.
For a hundred and seventy years, the Callahans keep the custom, even after no one remembers what half of it means. But a welcome is a door. And a door doesn’t know who’s knocking.
The Dumb Supper
A St. Mark’s Eve Tale · Available April 1, 2027 · Keep it on St. Mark’s Eve, April 24
On St. Mark’s Eve, the old families of Yorkshire laid a supper in silence. They cooked it backwards, set one empty chair, and opened every door. At midnight, someone came to sit in it.
For a hundred and eighty-four years, the women of one Boyle County family keep the supper, and each generation forgets a little more of why. The guest always takes the seat beside whoever speaks first.
More tales to come
New Seasonal Tales are on the way for the old days still unmarked. Join the mailing list to hear when the next one is ready, and get The Belsnickel’s Ledger free.