How to Throw a Winter Solstice Party and Bonfire

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By DawnChesbro
eHow Community Member

Article Rating:

(8 Ratings)

The winter solstice is a turning of the tides in Mother Nature’s yearly cycle. Arriving on December 22nd this year, the solstice is a time to celebrate the coming of longer and warmer days, followed by the arrival of spring. On this, the shortest day of the year, be sure to keep warm and light your way.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Warm colored table linen
Old English drinking songs
Cinnamon sticks
Balsamic portabello mushrooms
Dry firewood, matches and tinder for bonfire and fireplace
Wassail
Aged cheddar mashed potatoes
Votive candles for each guest plus extra for mood lighting
Oranges and whole cloves for your guests
Marshmallows and roasting sticks
Salad greens with garlic-sauteed mushroom vinaigrette
Orange-spiced tea
Spiced cider

Step 1

If one is available, light a fire in a fireplace and throw whole cinnamon sticks into the fire. This will provide a wonderful smell that permeates the house.
Step 2

Heat the drinks so that when guests arrive in from the cold, they can choose between spiced tea and cider. When hot, lower the heat of the drinks to low on the stove. Save heating the wassail until after dinner has finished, to drink around the bonfire.
Step 3

Place a lit candle at each setting, or if you are having a buffet, place along the buffet table.
Step 4

Lower the lights in the room so that people can see, but the candles and fireplace provide the majority of the light.
Step 5

Use holly or bundles of twigs to make placeholders or napkin rings that fit in with the theme of a sparse winter bounty.
Step 6

If you have any, play raucous old European drinking songs. The Belgian monks had quite a few, Carmina Burana is one example. If you aren’t sure of where to find this music, use an Internet search engine to look for Irish or English drinking songs.
Step 7

Before serving dinner, invite your guests to spike oranges with numerous cloves. If done properly, this can preserve the orange. It also makes the house smell entirely of cloves and oranges. Guests who participate should also take home their work.
Step 8

Serve fare similar to balsamic portabello mushrooms, served with aged cheddar mashed potatoes and salad greens. Keep the food simple and hearty since not much was available to harvest during the winter months in Medieval Europe. Serve with a wine of your choice.
Step 9

If you choose to, start a bonfire in a safe, rock-lined firepit. This may take a good 20 minutes to accomplish. This would be a good time to start heating the wassail.
Step 10

When the bonfire is finally raging, hand out steaming mugs of wassail and sheet music to a favorite drinking/holiday song, invite your guests to join in drinking and singing around the bonfire.
Step 11

While I don’t think that marshmallows were available to Medieval Europeans, I believe that they would have loved to roast them over a bonfire. Invite your guests to participate in roasting marshmallows.
Step 12

Revel in friends and family during this dark day. Bring a little joy to everyone this night by lighting a fire in their hearts.

Comments

u2beal999 said

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on 1/14/2009 When this article was written, eHow posted the date of the article, which for this article was two years ago.

While I appreciate the correction, if eHow had kept the date of the article up, this would not be a problem. Please be polite when posting replies. I no longer work for eHow and I cannot edit older articles