Countdown to Winter Solstice – Holiday Planner

December 1st – 7th

• Make the sugarplums.

• Take seasonal (outdoor) pictures with family/friends.

• Bring home a tree, evergreen foliage for crafts/decoration, and a Yule log, if you have a fireplace.

• Begin holiday shopping, if you haven’t already. (Read A Frugal Yule.)

December 8th – 14th

• Make or firm-up ritual plans; where, when, with who, etc. It is possible to celebrate 12 days of Yule with rituals and feasts. Decide how much celebrating best suits your available time and energy.

• Make menu plans, a grocery list, and shop for non-perishable items.

• Bake cookies. Bake cookies. Bake cookies.

December 15th – 19th

• Shop for the rest of your menu items.

• Prepare some menu items in advance (if applicable).

• Finish up gift shopping & wrapping.

December 20th – 31st

•  Prepare feast(s).

•  Have ritual, attend any other festivities, and celebrate!

Countdown to Autumn Equinox – Holiday Planner

August 23rd – 31st

• Decorate home for the holiday / make crafts to decorate home.

• Take seasonal (outdoor) pictures with family/friends.

• Bring home foliage from above outing for crafts/decoration.

September 1st – 8th

• Firm up ritual plans, if you haven’t already. Will you be attending a festival, local event, a family event, or doing something on your own? If you are planning the ritual, decide on location and script/liturgy.

• Line up Autumn Equinox activities for the kids.

• Make an Autumn Equinox playlist.

September 9th – 15th

• In addition to any ritual plans, you may want to plan on attending a local harvest event or hayride; check community calendars and plan accordingly.

• Make menu plans and grocery list.

• Shop for menu items.

September 16th – the equinox

• Prepare feast (or potluck dish).

• Have ritual, attend any other festivities, and celebrate!

Countdown to Lúnasa / Summer Thermstice – Holiday Planner

July  8th – 14th

• Decorate home for the holiday / make crafts to decorate home, like wheat weaving and dough crafts.

• Take seasonal (outdoor) pictures with family/friends.

• Firm up ritual plans, if you haven’t already. Will you be attending a festival, local event, a family event, or doing something on your own? If you are planning the ritual, decide on location and script/liturgy.

• In addition to any ritual plans, you may want to plan on attending a local harvest festival or fair; check community calendars and plan accordingly.

July 15th – 21st

• Make a Lúnasa playlist.

• Make menu plans and grocery list.

• Find some good berry patches and places to pick pawpaws.

• Line up Lúnasa activities for the kids.

July 22nd – 31st

• Shop for menu items.

• Forage paw paws (if ready) and wild berries.

• Prepare some menu items in advance (breads and desserts, for example).

August 1st

• Prepare feast (or potluck dish).

• Have ritual, attend any other festivities, and celebrate!

Countdown to Midsummer – Holiday Planner

May 23rd – 29th

• Decorate home for the holiday / make crafts to decorate home.

• Take seasonal (outdoor) pictures with family/friends.

• Line up Summer Solstice activities for the kids.

• Make a Midsummer playlist.

June 1st – 8th

• Firm up ritual plans, if you haven’t already. Will you be attending a festival, local event, a family event, or doing something on your own? If you are planning the ritual, decide on location and script/liturgy.

• Make sun medallions (if using), as well as any other salt dough or papier-mâché projects (such as a sun-shaped piñata) so they will have time to dry.

June 9th – 15th

• Make menu plans and grocery list.

• Find a place to pick/obtain herbs for making an herb (or herb & flower) chaplet for your Midsummer ritual. (See this School of the Seasons newsletter on magical Midsummer herbs and their uses.)

• Make a sun wheel to bun in Midsummer fire. (Like the giant sun weaving on the summer crafts page at Twig and Toadstool, but perhaps on a smaller scale.)

June 16th – the Solstice

• Shop for menu items.

• Prepare feast.

• Obtain herbs to use in ritual and make herb chaplets, etc.

• Have ritual, make merry, and feast.

Countdown to May Day – Holiday Planner

April 1st – 7th

• Decorate for the holiday / make crafts to decorate home and altar.

• Take seasonal (outdoor) pictures with family/friends.

April  8th – 14th

• Firm up ritual plans, if you haven’t already. Will you be attending a festival, local event, a family event, or doing something on your own? If you are planning the ritual, decide on location and script/liturgy.

• Obtain ribbons, pole, etc. and construct a may pole (unless you already have one you use every year).

• Scope out good places to forage various wild foods (especially nettles, and other greens).

April  15th – 21st

• Make menu plans and grocery list.

• Find place to pick/obtain flowers for ritual.

• Start a batch of mead for next year.

April  22nd – 30th

• Shop for menu items.

• Gather Sassafras leaves.

• Pack away winter clothes in Sassafras leaves (an Ozark folk tradition).

• Prepare some menu items in advance (if applicable).

April 31st / May 1st

• Forage for wild greens, if part of feast.

• Pick wild flowers and make garlands, crowns, altar decorations, etc.

• Cook Feast.

• Observe ritual, or honor the Spirits in one form or another.

• Feast and make merry.

Countdown to Spring Equinox – Holiday Planner

February 23rd – 28th

• Decorate home for the holiday / make crafts to decorate home.

• Take seasonal (outdoor) pictures with family/friends.

• Bring home foliage from above outing for crafts/decoration.

March 1st – 8th

• Firm up ritual plans, if you haven’t already. Will you be attending a festival, local event, a family event, or doing something on your own? If you are planning the ritual, decide on location and script/liturgy.

• Prepare papier-mâché eggs (if using), or any craft that needs drying time.

• Shop for basket fillers and holiday clothes (if needed).

March 9th – 15th

• Prepare garden for planting or check on/seek out places to wild craft (forage).

• Make menu plans and grocery list.

March 16th – the Equinox

• Shop for menu items.

• Prepare menu items.

• Celebrate!

Countdown to Imbolc/ Winter Thermstice – Holiday Planner

January 16th – 19th

• Begin early Spring deep cleaning and organizing.

• Collect juniper branches to dry out for smoke purification.

• Collect materials for Imbolc crafts.

January 20th – 23rd

• Firm up ritual plans, if you haven’t already. Will you be attending a festival, local event, a family event, or doing something on your own? If you are planning the ritual, decide on location and script/liturgy.

• Take inventory of ritual and magical supplies.

• Make candles to replenish your supply for the year (if needed).

January 24th – 27th

• Make menu plans and a grocery list for your holiday feast.

• Make garden (or windowsill garden) plans for early sprouting.

• Shop for seeds and other supplies.

• Obtain blessed water (this can simply be water from a source you consider sacred).

January 28th – February 1st

• Shop for menu items.

• Clean and bless house.

• Make Imbolc crafts and set up Imbolc altar/shrine.

• Set out a Brat Bríde (a strip of fabric or ribbon for Bríde to bless when she stops by your house).

Countdown to Samhain – a holiday planner

October 1st – 7th

• Carve apple-doll heads, slice and dry apples for crafts.

• Set up an ancestor shrine.  (Add objects to shrine as the month progresses.)

• Obtain charms for Barm Brack (a ring, a coin, a stick, a pea, and a thimble), as well as any other supplies needed for Samhain crafts.

October 8th – 14th

• Work on Samhain crafts and decorate home.

• Plan Samhain feast and make a grocery list.

• Make costumes for kids (or help them make their own).

October 15th – 21st

• Firm up ritual plans, if you haven’t already. Will you be attending a festival, local event, a family event, or doing something on your own? If you are planning the ritual, decide on location and script/liturgy.

• Carve turnips and/or pumpkins.

• Make treat bags for trick-or-treaters.

October 22nd – 28th

• Do food shopping for Samhain feast & treats.

• Make sugar skulls and decorate with icing.

• Make popcorn balls and caramel apples.

October 30th

• Bake Barm Brack and any other dishes for the Samhain feast that can be made ahead.

October 31st

• Visit graves of loved ones and ancestors, if possible.

• Cook the Samhain feast.  (Keep warm in crock pots for later in the night.)

• Light candles on ancestor shrine at dusk.

• Treat the trick-or-treaters (or take kids trick-or-treating).

• Observe ritual and have feast.