Last week (Monday 21st December) it was Yule/the Winter Solstice. I usually celebrate with a chocolate Yule log. Occasionally I make my own, but most of the time I buy them because it's easier! lol. As I mentioned in the More Yule Inspiration post, this year I bought one again.
It was from Sainsbury's and I liked it, although I do think it was better in previous years. Here's a picture:
Yule/the Winter Solstice is coming up! This year it's on Monday 21st December.
Note: If you're in the Southern Hemisphere it's almost time for Litha aka Midsummer/the Summer Solstice. Here are my Litha celebration ideas posts:
Litha/Midsummer Celebration Ideas (also a post about no-yeast dinner rolls): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/06/baking-no-yeast-dinner-rolls-and.html
Celebrating Litha/Summer: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/06/celebrating-litha-summer.html
Litha Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/06/litha-inspiration_17.html
In the past few years, I've done posts with celebration ideas for Yule, and an inspiration one too. You can see them below:
Yule Celebration Ideas: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/12/yule-celebration-ideas.html
Celebrating Yule/Christmas: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/12/celebrating-yulechristmas.html
Yule Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/12/yule-inspiration.html
For Yule 2020 I'm sharing more inspiration. As with the last Samhain post, since I've shared quite a lot of information on Yule in the past, I'll just give a brief background first and then share some celebration ideas. :)
Time for the September/October update! There is only one more update post to go after this, since I'm covering two months at a time.
You can see the previous update posts at the links below:
Jan/Feb: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/03/januaryfebruary-update.html
March/April (+ Baking Inspiration): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/05/marchapril-update-baking-inspiration.html
May/June: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/07/mayjune-update.html
July/August: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/09/julyaugust-update.html
In September the Rule of 6 was introduced in England, due to the coronavirus. Unfortunately, it meant my belly dance group couldn't meet up since there are loads more than 6 of us! I was able to go for a socially distanced walk with a group from my local mental health resource centre though.
I celebrated Madron/the Autumn Equinox on 22nd Sept. You can read my post about it here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/09/madron-2020.html
I also went to the beach in the Worthing area during September. I hadn't been for ages, so that was nice. Here's a pic:
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| Goring Beach |
Last Saturday (31st October) it was Samhain/Hallowe'en. I celebrated with a pumpkin and by making some food and drink. I made my usual Demon's Blood drink and some potato salad, and also baked some gingerbread skeletons.
Demon's Blood is ginger beer mixed with apple juice and orange juice, and dyed green. The recipe is from Kate West's book The Real Witches' Kitchen. And the potato salad is based on a recipe from The Kitchen Witch book by Soraya. I planned to use spring onion and chives, but couldn't get any chives.
Here's a picture of the pumpkin:
My favourite sabbat Samhain is coming up on 31st October! (My other fave is Lammas). It's on a Saturday this year. I started celebrating the sabbats in 2010, and since Hallowe'en is the modern version of Samhain, I celebrate both these days.
Note: If you're in the Southern Hemisphere Beltane is almost here! Check out my Beltane Celebration posts here:
Beltane Celebrations Ideas: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/04/beltane-celebration-ideas.html
Celebrating Beltane/May Day: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/04/celebrating-beltanemay-day.html
April Update + Beltane Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/04/april-update-beltane-inspiration.html
More Beltane Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/04/more-beltane-inspiration.html
For the past few years, I've done celebration idea posts which you can see below:
Hallowe'en/Samhain Celebration Ideas: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2016/10/halloweensamhain-celebration-ideas.html
More Hallowe'en/Samhain Celebration Ideas: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/10/more-halloweensamhain-celebration-ideas.html
Celebrating Samhain/Hallowe'en: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/10/celebrating-samhainhalloween.html
And last year I wrote a series of Inspiration posts for the sabbats. Here's Samhain's: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/10/samhainhalloween-inspiration.html
For Samhain/Hallowe'en 2020 I'm sharing more inspiration. As I've written quite a lot on Samhain in the past, I'll just give a brief background and then share some ideas for celebrating. :)
Samhain is the 3rd and final harvest sabbat on the Wheel of the Year and takes place on 31st October. Although some may celebrate from sundown on 31st Oct till sundown on 1st November. It is a cross quarter sabbat, and follows Lammas at the start of August and Madron/Mabon aka the Autumn Equinox in September. This festival is also called the Witches' New Year in some circles. As mentioned before, some people end the old year and start the new year at Samhain (I tend to think of it in this way), whereas others consider Yule/the Winter Solstice to be the start of the new cycle.
Back in 2018 I wrote a post called Autumn Photos + Inspiration. You can see that here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/10/autumn-photos-inspiration.html
Now we're in autumn once again, so here are a couple of photos I took in Hove Park recently, and I also thought I'd share some posts with inspiration for things to do during this season. :)
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| Hove Park- early Oct. |
Last Tuesday (22nd September) it was Madron (more commonly known as Mabon) aka the Autumn Equinox. As I mentioned in the Baking for Madron post, my main celebration was baking. I made gingerbread cookie bars with cream cheese icing and I also baked some bread the day before.
The gingerbread cookie bars are from Handle the Heat. Here's the recipe: https://www.handletheheat.com/gingerbread-cookie-bars-with-cream-cheese-frosting/
It was quite nice but a bit of a crumbly texture. Maybe because it's more biscuit/cookie like than a cake. Here's are a couple of pictures:
