How to Host the Best Yuletide Celebration
Yule is the old pagan celebration of the winter solstice, marking the longest night of the year and then the return of the sun. The main three themes of Yule are: candles, feasting and magic! It is a time to release any negativity in your life and start looking to the future. The best way to celebrate by a long shot is to host a Yule feast on the night of the 21st December (or any days around the winter solstice). Here’s our ideas on how to host the best Yuletide celebration.
Decorations
Candles - Firstly you will need candles for your Yuletide feast, lots and lots of candles! Try to source green, red and gold coloured candles, as well as some scented ones. Cinnamon, orange and pine are all great choices. The feast should ideally be held by candlelight only.
A Yule Tree - similar to a Christmas tree (the origins of the modern Christmas tree actually lies in ancient Yuletide traditions). Yule is a time to welcome back the sun and the light, so decorate your tree with lots of lights and items that symbolises the sun, such as dried orange decorations and garlands, or gold baubles.
A Yuletide Altar - an altar is a designated space in your home where you can celebrate the changing of the seasons. Fill this space with candles and anything that represents this time of the year. For Yule - use pinecones, evergreens, oranges, nuts, or whatever makes you think of midwinter.
Evergreens - snip a few branches off an evergreen trees. Use them to decorate your windowsill, mantelpiece or dining table.
A Yule Log - Yule logs are usually sourced from evergreen trees (for example, you could keep a bit of your Yule tree to use a Yule log the following year). You can turn your Yule log into a candleholder by drilling holes, big enough to put candles in, on one side. Flatten the other side by sanding it down a little, to keep your candleholder stable. Use it as the centre piece for your Yuletide dining table. Alternatively, if you have a fire place, you can burn your whole Yule log in your fireplace on the night of the winter solstice.
An Open Fire - If you have a working fireplace - do use it for your Yule celebration! If you don’t have a fireplace, consider getting a bio ethanol fireplace. This is a non toxic alternative that doesn’t need a chimney.
Welcome Drinks and Activity
Wassail (mulled cider) is a must for any Yule celebration. Have the wassail ready and warming up on the stove as your guests arrive. It will make your home smell incredible! Once it’s warm, pop the wassail into a teapot and gather your guests around the table to drink and get ready for your first activity - Yule Pomanders. This is a lovely and very easy activity that everyone can enjoy. Yule Pomanders are oranges that you decorate by sticking cloves in them, creating different patterns with the cloves and as you go. You’ll notice a wonderful smell created by the piercing oranges with the cloves. Once the Pomanders are complete you can add them to your Yule altar, or tie them with ribbon and hang them as a decoration on your Yule tree. Offer seasonal nuts and dried fruits as snacks to enjoy whilst your drink and create.
Yule Release Ritual
Yule is a time for releasing negative energy and looking to the future. This simple ritual is a great way to focus on exactly this. Write down a habit, or a feeling, that you would like to let go off on a small piece of paper (or a piece of Rizla, as this creates less smoke), then light it and drop it into a caldron, or fire proof container. Be careful you don’t burn yourself as these can burn quickly!
Yule Feast
When your guests have drunken the wassail, eaten the snacks, created a Yule Pomander and made a wish - it’s time to feast! Any seasonal food is great for your Yuletide Feast. Roasts always go down well at this time of the year. Serve roast meat, or brie and cranberry tarts for vegetarians, with roast potatoes, honey roasted carrots and parsnips - whatever you fancy! For dessert serve a chocolate yulelog cake or a panforte. Depending on how boozy you would like your celebration to be, you can serve a cocktail to accompany the dessert. I like to serve a ‘Snowball’ cocktail consisting of amaretto whisked into double cream and sprinkled with cinnamon and nutmeg.
Let the feast be a long process - don’t rush it and enjoy the meal. Share stories of the year that has passed as well as your hopes for the future. It is a fortunate thing to spend the longest night of the year inside with some of the people you care most about, accompanied with plenty of warmth and food and drink. Pause to reflect and appreciate this moment.
After Dinner Ritual
As mentioned earlier, Yuletide is a great time to look to the future and this simple ‘Four Candles’ ritual is a great way to get an insight into the coming year. Each person needs four candles of equal size. Each candle represents a coming season: Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn. Light the candles at the same time and watch how the candles burn. The way they burn will represent how that season will unravel. If one candle burns much quicker than the others, this will be your season of major change. If a candle burns much slower this will be your season of stability.
Other After Dinner Activities
Still have plenty of juice in you? Try these after dinner activities:
Yule Tarot reading - get the tarot cards out and do a special Yuletide reading. Take turns to draw the cards and interpret them for each other. It doesn't matter if you’re not familiar with tarot, just interpret the cards how you see fit.
Tell ghost stories - the darkest night of the year was traditionally a great time to tell ghost stories. Either take turns to tell a story, or listen to an audiobook recording. It great to do whilst you let your food digest!
Stay up until sunrise - people have traditionally stayed up all night during the winter solstice to welcome the dawn on the first day of the days getting lighter. You can also watch a live stream of the sunrise at Stonehenge.
Sing songs - nothing is better to lift spirits on the darkest night of the year than singing. Sit around the Yule tree and get singing!
