An around-the-world tour of ancient Christmas celebrations, Pagan Solstice customs, and magical seasonal plants - Explores in depth the medicinal and magical properties of the many herbs, barks, and berries associated with the Christmas and Yuletide Season - Looks at the origins of the Christmas tree and Santa Claus, as well as female gift bringers, holiday Spirits, and Yuletide animals - Shares crafts such as how to make a Yule Log, practices such as Winter Solstice divinations, and Recipes for traditional foods and drinks Whether viewed as a mid-Winter observance of the Winter Solstice or a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, for millennia cultures have taken time out to honor the darkest days of the year with lights, foods, and festivities.
Woven throughout with mystical seasonal lore, this guide offers practical and magical ways to celebrate and honor the darkest days of the year..
And she looks in depth at the medicinal and magical properties of the many herbs, barks, and berries associated with the Christmas and Yuletide Season such as Frankincense and Myrrh, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Hibiscus, Bayberry, and many more.
She explains how to perform Winter Solstice divinations and cook traditional foods and drinks such as Wassail and Elizabethan gingerbread cookies.
She shows how to make a Yule Log and decorate your house with greenery and grain weavings.
She explores the origins of the Christmas tree and Santa Claus, as well as female gift bringers, holiday Spirits, and Yuletide animals.
Presenting an around-the-world tour of ancient Christmas celebrations, Pagan Solstice customs, and magical seasonal plants, Ellen Evert Hopman shares lore, recipes, rituals, and crafts you can make as a family activity to enliven your Yuletide observance.
In Celtic cultures, mummers and guisers went door to door and European mistletoe ( Viscum album ) was gathered by Druids as a medicinal and magical aid.
In Scandinavian and Germanic cultures, the Yule Log was burned in the hearth, fruit orchards were wassailed, and sheaves of wheat were displayed to carry luck into the New Year.
The ancient Romans decorated their homes with vines and ivy and shared gifts, especially candles, at the midWinter festival of Saturnalia.
In ancient Egypt, people decorated their homes with greenery at the festival of the re-birth of the God Horus.
An around-the-world tour of ancient Christmas celebrations, Pagan Solstice customs, and magical seasonal plants - Explores in depth the medicinal and magical properties of the many herbs, barks, and berries associated with the Christmas and Yuletide Season - Looks at the origins of the Christmas tree and Santa Claus, as well as female gift bringers, holiday Spirits, and Yuletide animals - Shares crafts such as how to make a Yule Log, practices such as Winter Solstice divinations, and Recipes for traditional foods and drinks Whether viewed as a mid-Winter observance of the Winter Solstice or a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, for millennia cultures have taken time out to honor the darkest days of the year with lights, foods, and festivities
