Post by Shadow_Kitten on Nov 6, 2008 10:22:58 GMT 1
I've FINALLY finished my last Sabbat list. Enjoy!
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-Mark the circle with a spear. Decorate the circle with greens (pine cones and freshly cut pine boughs) and candles. Set tall red candles at the four quarters with holly at their bases.
-In the centre, lay a Yule wreath of evergreens, preferably one you have fashioned yourself. In the centre of the wreath, place a large red candle to represent the reborn Sun. Place it in a small cauldron, if you have one, to symbolize the Goddess of Rebirth. Around the outside of the wreath make another circle with sprigs of mistletoe which can be energized during the rite and later given to participants and friends to bring blessings to their homes in the New Solar Year.
-Decorate house with green fir branches, mistletoe and holly. Try to get fallen branches whenever possible but when you do need to take them off a live plant make sure you ask the plant first and then thank it when you’re done. NEVER take more than you need. Crystals are good to leave for the plants as a thank-you presents.
-Find a dead tree to use as a Yule log. Tradition states that the log must either have been harvested from the householder's land, or given as a gift . . . it must never have been bought. Carve symbols (suns, goddess symbol, god symbol etc) into it, decorate it with seasonal greenery, douse it with cider or ale and dust it with flour before placing a piece of last year’s Yule log on top of it. Light the new log with the piece of last year’s Yule log (held onto for just this purpose). The log would burn throughout the night, then smoulder for 12 days after before being ceremonially put out. Ash is the traditional wood of the Yule log. It is the sacred world tree of the Teutons, known as Yggdrasil. A herb of the Sun, Ash brings light into the hearth at the Solstice.
-Simple Modern Yule Log: Find a smaller branch of oak or pine, and flatten one side so it sets upright. Drill three holes in the top side to hold red, green, and white (season), green, gold, and black (the Sun God), or white, red, and black (the Great Goddess). Continue to decorate with greenery, red and gold bows, rosebuds, cloves, and dust with flour.
-The Yule Log is decorated with greenery to symbolise nature, it’s wassailed with cider or ale
? and the flour symbolised triumph, light and life.
-It is important that the Yule log be the biggest and greenest log available since the Winter festivities will last only as long as the Yule log burns. Once the log is out and the ashes are cold they are often gathered for luck and protection or to fertilize the land. The Yule Log was often chosen early in the year (commonly at Beltane) and set aside to dry out so that it may be used for Yule.
-Light the Yule log along with several other candles in the room. There won’t be any need for artificial light. Sing some songs about Yule.
-Let your child stay up with you all night, and watch the Yule log burn. If your child (or you!) can't make it all night long, wake up extra early and plan a dawn picnic in a park, or on a hill, or somewhere where you can watch the sun rise.
-It is also said that the number of sparks struck off the burning log indicated the number of lambs and kids would be born in the coming year.
-Bonfires were lit in the fields, and crops and trees were "wassailed" (toasted & doused) with toasts of spiced cider. The bonfires were lit to help light the Horned Lord’s way through the dark months of winter.
-Keep a candle lit throughout the night to encourage the Sun to keep it company. Make sure the candle is in a safe place where it can't accidentally set your home ablaze.
-Greet the Sun at dawn on Solstice morning by ringing bells.
-Pick out a live tree to decorate and then plant in the Circle. Most use Fir, Evergreen or Pine. The reasons these particular trees where probably use is because that these where the only trees that were considered to be still alive, eternal. These trees were sacred among the Druids, as they were the trees that didn't die. The Druids would decorate the trees with images that represented their wants and desires for the coming year. You can also decorate tree with popcorn and cranberry strings.
-Decorate your tree with Sun signs, hearts, apples, holly berries, dried orange slices, goats, deer and other natural ornaments.
-The tradition of decorating with evergreen trees and boughs originates from the ancient pagan cultures. Many cultures saw the evergreen, one of few plants to remain green even in winter, as a symbol of life even during the season of death. To decorate with the trees and branches of the evergreen was a way of celebrating this eternal life.
-If you live near a Christmas tree farm, or other location where you can cut your own tree, take advantage of the opportunity to find the "perfect" tree. Remember to ask permission of the tree spirit before cutting it and thank it for sharing its life with your family. Use extra branches to form wreaths.
-Decorate a tree for the birds or other wild animals that live near your home. (Be sure that while you are feeding the birds, you are not inviting the local dog or cat to feast on the birds. The decorations should be high up and in a fenced area if possible)
-In some regions of Germany, people placed witches on the tops of their Yule trees instead of angels, perhaps in recognition of the Crone; the old-woman face of the Goddess who presides over this part of the year.
-The custom of placing a light at the top of the Yule tree is another symbol of the rebirth of the sun. Catholics later changed this image to that of the angel heralding the Christ Child's birth.
- Children were escorted from house to house with gifts of clove spiked apples and oranges which were laid in baskets of evergreen boughs and wheat stalks dusted with flour. The apples and oranges represented the sun, the boughs were symbolic of immortality, the wheat stalks portrayed the harvest, and the flour was accomplishment of triumph, light, and life. Holly, mistletoe, and ivy not only decorated the outside, but also the inside of homes. It was to extend invitation to Nature Sprites to come and join the celebration. A sprig of Holly was kept near the door all year long as a constant invitation for good fortune to pay visit to the residents.
-Explain the concept of the holiday to your child. Using crayons or markers ask him or her to draw you a picture of the sun being born, or try other mediums like clay or finger paints.
-String plain popcorn or plain oat cereal to form garlands. Cut slices of bread with a cookie cutter and spread with peanut butter and sprinkle with birdseed. Add apple slices, cranberries and suet balls (mix birdseed into bacon drippings and form into balls which you tie up in pieces of the mesh bags that onions or oranges come in) All these are lovely, messy activities, with which your smallest children will be able to help.
-Hang popcorn balls made with honey on trees for wild birds or string a popcorn chain and drape it around the trees.
-Make an Advent calendar or Yule cards to send to your family and friends. You could also make Yule tree decorations as gifts.
-Decorate your home with lights, greens, and holiday colours.
-Bless your home with a Yule wreath on your front door and sprigs of mistletoe inside.
-Make Sun Welcoming Centre Pieces
-Make a wreath out of pine boughs that the family collects on a family outing. Put the wreath in a visible location, such as on the front door, on an inside wall, or in the centre of the dining table. When summer solstice arrives it may be burned in the bonfire.
-Create a ritual of re-birth. Let it begin with all in darkness, and, throughout the ritual, light candles until you are surrounded by warmth and brightness. Move from the womb to the full light of a summer's day!
-Bake gingerbread men. In ancient times it is said that Germanic tribes would sacrifice their prisoners to the god of victory by hanging them upside down from trees for nine days, as Odin was hung from the Tree of Life in order to obtain the wisdom of the runes. After the wars ended, they replaced actual men with gingerbread men, as way of asking for help from Odin in making it through the dark winter.
-Grains and seeds, and the feeding of creatures have been associated with Yuletide holidays for hundred of years in Europe. To continue this tradition why not feed our feathered friends as a family project? See who comes to visit your little sanctuary and identify them with a field guide.
-Place sunflower seeds outside for wild birds to feast upon.
-Volunteer at a soup kitchen, and make a commitment to be there at other times throughout the year; there are those less fortunate than you . . . share what you can with them.
-Donate to food-banks. Be an anonymous giver.
-Just as you do for the other seasonal celebrations, try to spend part of the Yule celebration at your favourite wooded area or park. Dress the family warmly, take a thermos of cocoa or chilli and send time walking through the trees and observing winter life.
-Do magic for a more peaceful planet.
-If you are part of a group, take up a collection of food and/or clothing at your Yule gathering and give what you collected to a social service agency to distribute to the needy.
-Strengthen bonds with family and friends by visiting and/or exchanging gifts and greetings.
---
-Mark the circle with a spear. Decorate the circle with greens (pine cones and freshly cut pine boughs) and candles. Set tall red candles at the four quarters with holly at their bases.
-In the centre, lay a Yule wreath of evergreens, preferably one you have fashioned yourself. In the centre of the wreath, place a large red candle to represent the reborn Sun. Place it in a small cauldron, if you have one, to symbolize the Goddess of Rebirth. Around the outside of the wreath make another circle with sprigs of mistletoe which can be energized during the rite and later given to participants and friends to bring blessings to their homes in the New Solar Year.
-Decorate house with green fir branches, mistletoe and holly. Try to get fallen branches whenever possible but when you do need to take them off a live plant make sure you ask the plant first and then thank it when you’re done. NEVER take more than you need. Crystals are good to leave for the plants as a thank-you presents.
-Find a dead tree to use as a Yule log. Tradition states that the log must either have been harvested from the householder's land, or given as a gift . . . it must never have been bought. Carve symbols (suns, goddess symbol, god symbol etc) into it, decorate it with seasonal greenery, douse it with cider or ale and dust it with flour before placing a piece of last year’s Yule log on top of it. Light the new log with the piece of last year’s Yule log (held onto for just this purpose). The log would burn throughout the night, then smoulder for 12 days after before being ceremonially put out. Ash is the traditional wood of the Yule log. It is the sacred world tree of the Teutons, known as Yggdrasil. A herb of the Sun, Ash brings light into the hearth at the Solstice.
-Simple Modern Yule Log: Find a smaller branch of oak or pine, and flatten one side so it sets upright. Drill three holes in the top side to hold red, green, and white (season), green, gold, and black (the Sun God), or white, red, and black (the Great Goddess). Continue to decorate with greenery, red and gold bows, rosebuds, cloves, and dust with flour.
-The Yule Log is decorated with greenery to symbolise nature, it’s wassailed with cider or ale
? and the flour symbolised triumph, light and life.-It is important that the Yule log be the biggest and greenest log available since the Winter festivities will last only as long as the Yule log burns. Once the log is out and the ashes are cold they are often gathered for luck and protection or to fertilize the land. The Yule Log was often chosen early in the year (commonly at Beltane) and set aside to dry out so that it may be used for Yule.
-Light the Yule log along with several other candles in the room. There won’t be any need for artificial light. Sing some songs about Yule.
-Let your child stay up with you all night, and watch the Yule log burn. If your child (or you!) can't make it all night long, wake up extra early and plan a dawn picnic in a park, or on a hill, or somewhere where you can watch the sun rise.
-It is also said that the number of sparks struck off the burning log indicated the number of lambs and kids would be born in the coming year.
-Bonfires were lit in the fields, and crops and trees were "wassailed" (toasted & doused) with toasts of spiced cider. The bonfires were lit to help light the Horned Lord’s way through the dark months of winter.
-Keep a candle lit throughout the night to encourage the Sun to keep it company. Make sure the candle is in a safe place where it can't accidentally set your home ablaze.
-Greet the Sun at dawn on Solstice morning by ringing bells.
-Pick out a live tree to decorate and then plant in the Circle. Most use Fir, Evergreen or Pine. The reasons these particular trees where probably use is because that these where the only trees that were considered to be still alive, eternal. These trees were sacred among the Druids, as they were the trees that didn't die. The Druids would decorate the trees with images that represented their wants and desires for the coming year. You can also decorate tree with popcorn and cranberry strings.
-Decorate your tree with Sun signs, hearts, apples, holly berries, dried orange slices, goats, deer and other natural ornaments.
-The tradition of decorating with evergreen trees and boughs originates from the ancient pagan cultures. Many cultures saw the evergreen, one of few plants to remain green even in winter, as a symbol of life even during the season of death. To decorate with the trees and branches of the evergreen was a way of celebrating this eternal life.
-If you live near a Christmas tree farm, or other location where you can cut your own tree, take advantage of the opportunity to find the "perfect" tree. Remember to ask permission of the tree spirit before cutting it and thank it for sharing its life with your family. Use extra branches to form wreaths.
-Decorate a tree for the birds or other wild animals that live near your home. (Be sure that while you are feeding the birds, you are not inviting the local dog or cat to feast on the birds. The decorations should be high up and in a fenced area if possible)
-In some regions of Germany, people placed witches on the tops of their Yule trees instead of angels, perhaps in recognition of the Crone; the old-woman face of the Goddess who presides over this part of the year.
-The custom of placing a light at the top of the Yule tree is another symbol of the rebirth of the sun. Catholics later changed this image to that of the angel heralding the Christ Child's birth.
- Children were escorted from house to house with gifts of clove spiked apples and oranges which were laid in baskets of evergreen boughs and wheat stalks dusted with flour. The apples and oranges represented the sun, the boughs were symbolic of immortality, the wheat stalks portrayed the harvest, and the flour was accomplishment of triumph, light, and life. Holly, mistletoe, and ivy not only decorated the outside, but also the inside of homes. It was to extend invitation to Nature Sprites to come and join the celebration. A sprig of Holly was kept near the door all year long as a constant invitation for good fortune to pay visit to the residents.
-Explain the concept of the holiday to your child. Using crayons or markers ask him or her to draw you a picture of the sun being born, or try other mediums like clay or finger paints.
-String plain popcorn or plain oat cereal to form garlands. Cut slices of bread with a cookie cutter and spread with peanut butter and sprinkle with birdseed. Add apple slices, cranberries and suet balls (mix birdseed into bacon drippings and form into balls which you tie up in pieces of the mesh bags that onions or oranges come in) All these are lovely, messy activities, with which your smallest children will be able to help.
-Hang popcorn balls made with honey on trees for wild birds or string a popcorn chain and drape it around the trees.
-Make an Advent calendar or Yule cards to send to your family and friends. You could also make Yule tree decorations as gifts.
-Decorate your home with lights, greens, and holiday colours.
-Bless your home with a Yule wreath on your front door and sprigs of mistletoe inside.
-Make Sun Welcoming Centre Pieces
-Make a wreath out of pine boughs that the family collects on a family outing. Put the wreath in a visible location, such as on the front door, on an inside wall, or in the centre of the dining table. When summer solstice arrives it may be burned in the bonfire.
-Create a ritual of re-birth. Let it begin with all in darkness, and, throughout the ritual, light candles until you are surrounded by warmth and brightness. Move from the womb to the full light of a summer's day!
-Bake gingerbread men. In ancient times it is said that Germanic tribes would sacrifice their prisoners to the god of victory by hanging them upside down from trees for nine days, as Odin was hung from the Tree of Life in order to obtain the wisdom of the runes. After the wars ended, they replaced actual men with gingerbread men, as way of asking for help from Odin in making it through the dark winter.
-Grains and seeds, and the feeding of creatures have been associated with Yuletide holidays for hundred of years in Europe. To continue this tradition why not feed our feathered friends as a family project? See who comes to visit your little sanctuary and identify them with a field guide.
-Place sunflower seeds outside for wild birds to feast upon.
-Volunteer at a soup kitchen, and make a commitment to be there at other times throughout the year; there are those less fortunate than you . . . share what you can with them.
-Donate to food-banks. Be an anonymous giver.
-Just as you do for the other seasonal celebrations, try to spend part of the Yule celebration at your favourite wooded area or park. Dress the family warmly, take a thermos of cocoa or chilli and send time walking through the trees and observing winter life.
-Do magic for a more peaceful planet.
-If you are part of a group, take up a collection of food and/or clothing at your Yule gathering and give what you collected to a social service agency to distribute to the needy.
-Strengthen bonds with family and friends by visiting and/or exchanging gifts and greetings.
