Introduction to the Festive Finds

Starting on Sunday 13th December and running for 12 days, a series of blogs entitled ‘Festive Finds’ will be posted onto the County Pages of the PAS (Portable Antiquities Scheme) database. Each day a new festive object from the database will be discussed, along with the history and wider context of the part of the holiday it represents.

My name is Katie Bishop and I am a volunteer with the PAS, working with the Essex Finds Liaison Officer, Ben Paites. Having been a volunteer with the PAS for four months, I have become more familiar with the work they do, which isn’t just identifying and recording objects. The database is a tool which contains a variety of information, with the ‘festive finds’ series just one small example in which the PAS records can be used to help further research.

This time of year is thought of as a time for joy and goodwill. We thought the PAS should do its part in spreading a little of the festive cheer. Although the original idea was to celebrate Christmas, it is not the only festival being celebrated around this time and we wanted to highlight this diversity; by changing the concept from ‘Christmas’ to ‘Festive’. We began looking through the records on the database for any festive themed finds; not as simple as I thought it would be! At times we really had to use our imagination and think outside the box, resulting in a wide range of finds. We used the finds from the database to conduct further research into the wider context of these objects and the festivals to which they link; an extremely interesting process. We found out new facts about well-established stories, learnt about the origins of world famous myths and discovered the truth about some popular misconceptions.

We hope you enjoy reading these ‘Festive Finds’ blog posts and join us as the PAS counts down to Christmas.