What Is Stir Up Sunday?

What is Stir Up Sunday?

Learn what Stir Up Sunday is and how this much-loved tradition invites us to begin our Christmas puddings, cakes and festive make-ahead bakes. Rooted in centuries of tradition, it’s a day that blends practicality with a touch of old-fashioned charm – and it’s fun too!

Here in the UK, many people use Stir Up Sunday as a day for baking. It’s a fun tradition that has a long history. The perfect day for making your Christmas puddings and fruit cakes, it allows just the right amount of time for cakes and traditional puddings to mature before the big day. You can also prepare any of your favourite make-ahead holiday treats, like mincemeat, chutneys or slice and bake cookies that freeze well.

Stir Up Sunday History

The last Sunday before Advent in the Christian calendar, this year Stir Up Sunday falls on 23rd November in 2025. Originally, Stir Up Sunday had nothing to do with Christmas desserts or baking. Instead, it was all about getting Christian congregations all ready for Advent, the season of waiting before Christmas Day.

“Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of Thee be plenteously rewarded, through Jesus Christ our Lord’’.

Part of many church services on the first Sunday in Advent for hundreds of years, this prayer was meant to ‘stir up’ the congregation, preparing them to be mindful of the season of Advent and its meaning. It was also an impassioned call to do good works and share the message of Jesus Christ and Christmas.

At some point a few centuries ago, people also realised Stir Up Sunday was also a good day to make a their Christmas puddings. A good Christmas pud needs time to mellow and age to improve the flavours, and four weeks is just about perfect for this process. It made for an excellent play on words as Christmas pudding needs a lot of stirring!

Christmas Pudding and Stir Up Sunday

Charles Dickens writes about Christmas pudding in A Christmas Carol. Unlike the lighter puddings I enjoyed growing up in Canada, which were often made with plums or even carrots, the traditional Christmas Pudding Dickens wrote about is more like a heavy cake, full of dried fruit and flavoured with brandy or stout (a very dark beer). Many Christmas Pudding recipes have been in families for generations, just like our family recipe.

Old Fashioned Christmas Pudding alight on a serving plate

A lot of people also make Christmas Cakes on Stir Up Sunday.

An Old Fashioned British Christmas Cake covered in marzipan and icing

I make a traditional British Christmas Cake, also from a family recipe that dates back four generations just like our Christmas pudding.

Gluten Free Christmas Cake with a slice served on a plate

Recently, I developed a Gluten-Free Traditional British Christmas Cake as well. It has been very popular! And of course, there’s no reason why you can’t make a start on other festive treats, like mincemeat, chutneys or make-ahead and freeze cookies.

Stir Up Sunday Traditions

Make a Wish

Traditionally, the whole family took part, with each member of the family takes a turn to stir the pudding mixture. Generally the youngest child stirs the pudding first, and the turns then move on in order of age. When it’s your turn, you make a wish. The wish is to be kept secret, a bit like the one you make when you blow out your birthday candles.

Christmas pudding requires a lot of stirring, so I’m assuming a clever cook came up with this idea one day when their arms were getting a bit sore from the effort of having to do it all by themselves!

Christmas Charms

In years gone by, before we realised that putting inedible items in baked goods was not a good idea on the whole, charms were hidden in Christmas puddings before they were steamed. From sixpences to thimbles, everything has a meaning, and each charm was reputed to tell the fortune of the finder. If you found a sixpence in your serving of pudding you were said to be going be rich, a thimble indicated you would always be a spinster or bachelor, and a ring meant you would be married within the year. Other people would warp a pound coin in waxed or greaseproof paper and put it in the pudding batter before it is steamed. The person who finds the pound coin was meant to be lucky all year.

As lovely as this idea sounds, it’s not very practical nowadays and I would not suggest doing it. Hidden charms can be a choking risk, and they are not especially hygienic either!

Making The Christmas Pudding

The Christmas Pudding is made and steamed Stir Up Sunday – usually for between 6 and 8 hours, depending on the recipe. Our Victorian Christmas Pudding recipe takes 8 hours. After the pudding is steamed it is then cooled, wrapped in cheesecloth or grease proof paper and then foil and stored in a cool place (not the fridge). Christmas puddings taste much better if they are allowed to mellow for a few weeks in a cool place. On Christmas Day the pudding is then steamed again, but generally only for a couple of hours.

Begin Your Festive Baking When You Are Reading

Despite everything I have just said, please don’t feel you need to start your Christmas baking weeks in advance. In the past, I have made a Christmas pudding only a couple of weeks before the big day and it was wonderful. Extra time simply allows the flavours to mellow, and a fruit cake will always appreciate a gentle feeding of brandy as it rests, but you can still bake something special whenever you are ready.

At its heart, Stir Up Sunday is less about timing and more about the gentle pleasure of preparing something comforting and delicious for the festive days ahead. Whether you make your puddings or cakes weeks in advance or closer to Christmas, the act of stirring, baking and setting things aside can feel really grounding. Either way, it’s a tradition you can shape to suit your own home, life and style.