Is "Yule" on December 21 and what do you all do for it?

[HowTheFillyjonkStoleChristmas]

is it bascially the winter solstice?

am feeling nosy and in need of burning of wood and scandinavian tradition.

had a vague idea of burning a log and telling wintry stories and drinking mulled wine.

thoughts?

Yes to the first question.

If you want to burn a Yule log the right way is to use Ash or Oak. You shouldn't buy a log, it must be a gift or cut by your own hand (after asking the tree's permission of course ).

Normally you would keep a piece of the log from the previous year to start the new one burning.

Telling stories and drinking mulled wine sounds great.

Toast the return of the sun and have fun.

cut my own log?

jaysus

can it be the sort of gift where I say "if I give you money will you give me that bit of tree"? To the 16 yo behind the counter at the tescos garage?

can I use windfall tree, do you reckon?

I can see I have much to learn here...

Windfall is great, just don't get in to trouble if it isn't your land it has fallen on

nah i know a good place for windfall logs

in

Mountain Ash

tada

um but does the log not have to season?

bllx

will have to be a bit creative here I think

A nice alternative is to just have an already bonfire and a decorated Yule log.

Flatten one side of the log so it will sit flat safely. Notch out 3 spaces on the top into which you can fit candles.

Nice candles to have are gold or yellow (to welcome back the sun) or choose something from the colours of the seasons - white, green, red.

already bonfire?

Errr I think that should say 'ordinary' bonfire. I type faster than I think.

"flatten"?

more sawing?

might prop, maybe

have very nice beeswax candles atm so could drill holes in wood

oooh this is a nice idea

fillyjonk - I would go with the beautiful candles in some kind of wood, a glass of mulled wine to toast the return of the sun.

We go out and collect greenery to make wreaths for the door - but more as my friend is into lots of hippy stuff and I adore her and go along with her plans! It is jolly good fun though - and will persaude her to do the mulled wine thing!

I thought the winter solstice fell on the 22nd this year - at 22 minutes past midnight iirc, so only just.

FillyJonk - (Mega puts on tree surgeon's wife hat) if the tree is a windfall and has been down awhile it will be fairly well seasoned already. (I may be talking out of my arse but I'm fairly sure that's right)

Hooray for the winter solstice, the days will start to lengthen again.

Hallgerda - strictly speaking yes, but many people will celebrate it on the evening of the 21st.

I will be aiming for the night of the 21st right through to dawn on the 22nd, DH and kids allowing

I'll be seeing in the dawn with a nice piece of cake on 22nd; burning things and drinking wine are both out as I'm in London and will need to drive to get to somewhere without too much light pollution. (Funnily enough I've cut loads of logs with my own hand, but I can't remove them from the nature reserve and they can't be burnt there because there's a bat roost right by the only safe place for fires.)

hallgerda - I want your log sawing bat roosting life!

Message withdrawn

DimpledThighs, I'm afraid that side to my life is Wednesdays only. I would recommend doing voluntary work for your local Wildlife Trust though - it's great fun.