Tea Salon, Part 2

After my last post of having a tea salon or "in-home" salon
more thoughts came my way.  

Someone mentioned to me that Gertrude Stein, an American writer during the early 1900's,
hosted Paris salons where she invited artists and writers into her home for intellectual conversations.

In wikipedia it states that a salon was a gathering of people under the roof
of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to
refine the taste and increase the knowledge of the participants through
conversation.  Salons, commonly associated with French literary and
philosophical movements of the 17th and 18th centuries, were
carried on until as recently as the 1940's in urban settings.

I learned that they most often were instigated by women for education
and the more positive aspects of being a woman.
Women were an important role and regulator in salons.
They selected their guests and decided the subject of their gathering.
They also had the role as mediator by directing the discussion.
It was a form of higher education for women of that era.

Fascinating!?  Yes!?
What do you think?

So as a woman I could instigate a tea salon for education and the positive
aspect of being a woman.  A hand written invitation would be sent
along with the topic of discussion.
The concept does fascinate and intrigue me.
The pictures I took for this post represent to me what it might look like
with an evening chosen, candlelight, and a subject such as:
tea, poetry, care of family, care of ourselves, care of our world
 or well it is wide open.
What would you want to discuss and share education about
as you sipped a cup of tea?

Happy weekend, dear friends!

In Home Tea Salon

Anna, seventh duchess of Bedford (1783 to 1857), as legend would have it,  would become quite hungry between breakfast and dinner took to her boudoir mid-afternoon and demanded slivers of bread spread with “good sweet butter,” on which, together with “mackeroons,” cheesecakes, tarts, biscuits, small cakes and other niceties, she secretly gorged.  Other ladies soon found out and began joining her in the habit.  Soon Afternoon Tea became not only acceptable, but most fashionable and tearooms were opened for business.  From The Afternoon Tea Book by Michael Smith

Tea in the afternoon started in the home.

As Bruce Richardson wrote, many early tearooms began in homes that opened their doors on weekends to travelers looking for home-cooked meals.  Unlike the British tea room movement, the centerpiece of many American establishments was not hot tea and scones, but iced tea and chicken salad.

Tea in homes was the first wave of roadside eating places in America.  It took very little capital and women knew how to bake, says Jan Whitaker in her book, Tea at the Blue Lantern Inn.

Doing a web search for tea salon, Google translated that to tearoom.  In my mind a salon is a bit different than a tearoom.  It isn’t as much about making a profit as providing a safe place to sip tea, nibble a bit, and carry on a conversation on the issues of the day. I picture these women sitting in secret enjoying a sip and nibble.  Gossiping and stories of the day were included in this afternoon adventure.  To me this would constitute a "salon" for tea.

A safe place "in home" to enjoy the company of others

while sipping tea.  Visits of friendship, visits of comfort,

visits of celebration with tea served buffet style,

a more casual setting while sitting at a low table.

Sometimes I imagine my own home as a "salon" for tea.

Do we still have "in home" tea experiences?

 Yes, I believe we do in many formats when opening our

home for friendship, comfort, celebration, and

shared conversations of the events of the day.

Let's continue the tradition with tea in our homes.

A shared cup of tea and conversation is a very good thing.

Why?  Because it satisfies the soul.

A day early, but happy weekend dear friends!

linking to Bernideen at http://blog.bernideens.com/