Community Yule FestivalSaturday December 19, 2009 at Circle Sanctuary Nature Preserve 13 miles west of Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin Schedule of Events 10 am - 11 am: Yuletide Spirit Activities Commune with the Land, meet and greet friends and guests, shop the Resources Shop, decorate the Yule tree. Place your gifts for the Community Yuletide gift exchange on the gifting altars (adult & youth) & donations of canned goods in charity food drive boxes. Contribute snacks to the day-long Yuletide snacks smorgasbord & potluck dish for the feast in late afternoon. 11 am - Noon: Happy Holidays! Pagan Winter Solstice Origins of Christmas & New Year's Customs by Selena Fox Displays of lights, exchanging gifts, evergreen decorations, mistletoe kissing, sumptuous feasts, holiday parties, and other traditions associated with Christmas and New Year's Eve & Day have their origins in the celebrations of Winter Solstice by Roman, Germanic, Celtic, Scandinavian, Greek and other Pagan peoples in old Europe. Learn about the cross cultural and interreligious dimensions of Yuletide holidays traditions. Noon - 1 pm: Break Socialize, drink wassail, snack, take a Nature walk. 1 pm - 2:30 pm: Australian Journey: Parliament Visions, Views & Voices by Dave & Sylvia Linton Dave & Sylvia Linton share perspectives and experiences from their recent travels in Australia and their participation in the 2009 Parliament of the World's Religions, December 3-9 in Melbourne. Dave & Sylvia, who live in southeastern Wisconsin, have been part of the Circle Sanctuary Community since 1994 and are contributors to CIRCLE Magazine. 1:00p- 2:30p: Mugwort's School of Magick Youth Program - Walnut Divination & Offerings To The Land Join us as we fortell the future using Eastern European Walnut Divination techniques. Then help to make edible garlands & decorate outside for the animals and spirits of the land. 3 pm - 4:30 pm: Yule Ritual - The Return of the Light Celebrate Winter Solstice with song, rhythms, meditation, invocations, Yule Log burning, and World Peace blessings. Weather and trail conditions permitting, all or some of the ritual will be held outdoors. Bring a rhythm instrument to play and/or a bell to ring. Bring dried herbs to cast into the Solstice Fire. Ritual facilitated by Selena, Ana & others. 5 pm - 6 pm: Pagan Caroling & Gift Exchange Gather in the Temple Room to warm up with hot wassail cider, coffee, and tea. Join our Community Bard Michael Doran in Pagan Caroling, followed by our annual Magical Yuletide Gift Exchange. The joy of gifting will fill our hearts with holiday wonder while we enjoy receiving really neat stuff! 6 pm - 7:30 pm: Yule Candlelight Potluck Feast Join in a merry, candlelit Yuletide dinner. Feast on the amazing foods and beverages contributed by our wonderful Community! Please bring enough to feed a healthy and hungry dozen or so folks. Please be sure to tell us what you’re bringing when you register so we can accommodate our varied eating population (omnivores, vegetarians and vegans). If you wish, bring a candle in jar or votive glass to provide light at the tables, to be blessed with Yuletide cheer, and to take back home with you after the Festival concludes. 7:30 - 8 pm: Clean-up & Departures We celebrate Community as we contribute to the return of order to the Temple Room and the cleaning up after supper. Hugs and well-wishes are a major part of our good-byes as we spread the Light as we depart for our homes on this Yuletide night. Things to bring:
From Dec 8 & at gate - $20/adult, $5/youth, under 5 free Cancellations received before December 14 will be refunded minus 50% processing fee. Cancellations received on December 14 or later will not be refunded. Please refer to Circle's cancellation policy if you should need to cancel your event registration. | |||