The Language of Fans

by Historical Romanced Author Donna Hatch
www.donnahatch.com

Fans have been used as both a fashion accessory and a useful tool of staying comfortable for hundreds of years. Nearly every culture has a fan of some sort and the Regency Era, the time period in which I base all my romance novels, is no exception.

Unfortunately, the sources I read don't agree on what each action means. For example,  according to one source,* to fan slowly means "I am married." But according to another** to fan slowly means, "Don't waste your time; I'm not interested."

Likewise, according to one***, fanning oneself quickly means "I am married." But yet another ****says the same action means" I love you so much."

Shrug.

Also, the modern reader might wonder why go to all the trouble of learning such an elaborate language? But I think it might work well for the very shy, the very tongue-tied, or the person who needs to get the message across but fears coming on too strong. Also, telling a man she's not interested in him might be easier to say in fan language than in speaking. How many times have you told a guy who asked you out that you were busy when you really wanted to tell him to buzz off?

So, unless I can make friends with Dr. Who and jump into his time machine to find out what, exactly, these gestures really meant during the Regency Era, we may never know. Still, here are a few hand signals on which my sources seem to agree:

Touching right cheek: yes
Touching left cheek: no

Touching finger to tip of fan: I wish to speak with you.

Running fingers through the fan's ribs: I want to talk to  youResting the fan over the heart: my love for you is breaking my heart

Resting fan NEAR the heart: you have won my love

Resting fan on lips: I don't trust you.

Twirling in left hand: we are watched
Twirling in right hand: I love another
Open and shut: you are cruel

Open wide: wait for me
Presented shut: do you love me?
With handle to lip: Kiss me
In right hand in front of face: Follow me
Drawing across the cheek: I love you
Placing on left ear:  Leave me alone
Placing closed fan to the right eye: When may I see you?

Covering left ear with open fan: Do not betray our secret.
Changing fan to left hand: I love another.

So far, all the heroines in my Regency Romance novels have done with a fan is to keep cool or use it as a shield behind which they speak quietly to another. I admit, however I'm intrigued by the subtle, demure way a woman might have communicated to a man without speaking a word. She'd just have to time it when he's looking and not one else is, or her secret feelings would no longer be secret.


Sources:
*http://www.allhandfans.com/handfans/levels/language_of_the_fan.htm
**http://myhandfan.com/language.htm,
***Minute Company
****myhandfan.com

Mistletoe Kisses

The tradition of kissing under the mistletoe is as ancient as it is fun. No one seems to know the true origin of kissing under the mistletoe, but most sources seem to trace it back to old Scandinavia. It probably stems from pagan rituals, as do most Christmas traditions, even Christmas itself.

Druids believed mistletoe possessed magical powers of healing—even against poison—and helped improve fertility. Other herbology claims mistletoe is both an aphrodisiac and an abortive plant, which might be why some of the earliest customs involved more than an innocent kiss.

In the Celitc language, mistletoe means literally, “all-healer.” Modern medicine cannot prove this, so it probably comes from superstition based on the phenomenon that even in the dead of winter, mistletoe stays green and healthy because it is feeding off the trees serving as its host. Druids performed a sacred sacrificial ritual underneath the mistletoe for the benefit of sick or infertile land and animals.

But getting back to the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe. Its earliest uses are linked to its symbolism of peace. Supposedly warring parties would lay down their weapons and declare a truce while in the presence of mistletoe. Quarreling couples would kiss and make up underneath a sprig of mistletoe. This probably led later to the tradition to simply kissing anyone “caught” standing underneath the mistletoe, which later led to interesting--and not always innocent--situations. Until recently, the young man would traditionally pluck off one of the white berries after kissing a girl. When all the berries were plucked, the kissing, at least while under the mistletoe, also ceased. Reportedly, maids in a boarding house would wait under the mistletoe, get kissed, and then the men were expected to pay a shilling.

At one point, the "kissing bunch" became a Christmas decoration in England early American homes. The kissing bunch was constructed of two hoops tied into a round frame, then decorated with ribbons, holly, apples, oranges and other bright fruits. In the center of the frame rested figures of the infant Christ, Mary, and Joseph. A sprig of mistletoe hung below this.

In my Regency Christmas novella, A Winter's Knight, which is included in A Timeless Romance Anthology, Winter Collection, a mistletoe kiss leads to heart-rending choice.  A Winter’s Knight begins when Clarissa Fairchild’s coach breaks down in front of forbidding Wyckburg Castle, a place where generations of earls have murdered their young brides. An adventurer at heart, Clarissa is as horrified as she is fascinated. When she meets widower Christopher de Champs, Earl of Wyckburg, she's torn between fleeing for her life or uncovering the handsome earl's terrible secret which may land her in the middle of a deadly curse.

In my Christmas Regency novella, Mistletoe Magic,  there are lots of plots that center around a magical mistletoe kiss, but the end result is not what anyone expected!

So the next time you need a good kissing, stand under a bunch of mistletoe in the vicinity of a person you’d like to kiss, (bring your own mistletoe if necessary) and expect a kiss. Throat-clearing may help. But remember, no berry plucking or shilling paying necessary!