Editing Stir-up Sunday (section)

{{Short description|The last Sunday before Advent}}
{{Infobox holiday
|holiday_name  = Stir-up Sunday
|type          = Christianity
|image         = Christmas pudding.JPG
|caption       = Traditionally, the preparation of [[Christmas pudding]]s began on Stir-up Sunday.
|observedby    = Western Christianity
|date          = Sunday before [[Advent Sunday]]
|date2022      = 20 November
|date2023      = 26 November
|date2024      = 24 November
|date2025      = 23 November
|celebrations  = 
|observances   = 
|relatedto     = [[Christmas|Christmas Day]]
|frequency     = annual
|duration      = 1 day
}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}

'''Stir-up Sunday''' is an informal term in [[Catholic]] and [[Anglican]] churches for the last Sunday before the season of [[Advent]]. It gets its name from the beginning of the [[collect]] for the day in the [[Book 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 the [[Christmas pudding]]s on that day.<ref>''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''. Second edition, 1989 (first published in ''New English Dictionary'', 1917). "Stir-up Sunday (colloq.): the Sunday next before Advent: so called from the opening words of the Collect for the day. The name is jocularly associated with the stirring of the [[Christmas]] mincemeat, which it was customary to begin making in that week."</ref> The [[Christmas]] pudding is one of the essential British [[Christmas]] traditions and is said to have been introduced to Britain by [[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Albert]], husband of [[Queen Victoria]] (the reality is that the meatless version was introduced from Germany by [[George I of Great Britain|George I]] in 1714).<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/8896690/Who-needs-Nigella-Stir-up-Sunday-the-idiots-guide-to-home-made-christmas-pudding.html Who needs Nigella? Stir-up Sunday: the idiot’s guide to home-made Christmas pudding] Retrieved 24 July 2013</ref> 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.