celtic holidays

How to Throw a Fairies Themed Midsummer Night Dream Party (Quarantine Safe Edition)

| astronut1

Happy Midsummer everyone! Wednesday June 24rth is the Midsummer festival, which means as you go to sleep that night, I wish you all Midsummer Night Dreams! Before that though, I welcome you to party like it’s the court of King Oberon, and here are some ideas:

Background: What Are Fairies?

The story of Fairies has many authors that come from multiple folkloric traditions. The Greeks had nymphs, the Romans had cupid, and the English and Germans had…



1.  According to Paracelsus, fairies are elemental spirits that help control the Earth’s four elements: Silfs (air), gnomes (Earth), Salamanders (fire), and  Undines (water).
2. In some versions, they are household creatures that interact with humans
3. Some cultures call them demoted Angels, not good enough for Heaven, but not bad enough for Hell.

So you can see there are lots of traditions that contribute to our modern concept of the fairy, and plenty of ideas to adapt into your party!

Part One: The Invitation:

There’s a ton of free fairy clip art and fairy designs online. Below is an invitation I created for free with an app called Canva and a parchment background picture I found online.

1. Pixie invitations
2. Immortal Longings

Second card design I created on Canva.

You probably also know that I am a huge fan of the website Immortal Longings because of their excellent Shakespearean art and they sell cards too. You can buy the cards or download the pictures on their website.

Shakespearean Greeting Cards from Immortal Longings.com


Part Two: Decorations
Fairy

Fairy Dens Right now the Royal Shakespeare Company is making DIY Fairy decorations including a Fairy Den that you can share with your family and friends:

What is a Fairy Den? Fairies in folklore are closely tied to the Ancient Celts and Druids, who believed that Fairies live in hollow places underground. A fairy den is a homemade den that imitates the ancient fairy hollows.

Workshop on Fairy Dens and Fairy Lanterns: https://youtu.be/KC7CbPPIrjs

Fairy lights from IKEA

In addition to fairy dens, there are tons of fairy lights, fairy coloring books, and other fairy crafts you can find. Here is a fairy lantern my wife made using pickle jars!

First paint the jars with white paint and cut out paper fairies to paste around the inside of the jar (we used tackey glue). You can also stick star stickers on the inside of the jars.
For added realism, you can glue fake moss to the bottom of the jar. We got this from our local dollar store.
Put a small battery powered LED light inside.
Turn on the LED lights and take the lanterns somewhere dark.
Detail of the fairy lights.



Part Three: The Feast

Since the Fairies in Midsummer are woodland spirits, almost any forest or camping themed recipes can be adapted. Here are some ideas that my wife and I made for our own fairy themed party.

Snail sandwiches

Hedgehog cheese ball.


Hedgehog cheese ball:

Fruit wands with yogurt dip


Dessert

Chocolate GardenCake from How to Cook That: https://youtu.be/JidhdxiSsnQ

Fairy bread: For those of you who don’t live in Australia or New Zealand, Fairy bread is white bread covered in

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/80934/fairy-bread/

Homemade Fairy bread

 

Music

  • Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies

Games

1.  Pin the tail on the Bottom.

2. Love potion: Similar to follow the leader or musical chairs. A group of people lie down and pretend to sleep. Then someone plays Puck by putting a real or pretend flower in one of the player’s hands. The Puck then yells “Awake,” and sets a timer or plays some music. The object of the game is for everyone to chase after the flower and get it before time runs out.

Costumes:

Make some printable donkey masks for Bottom, flower crowns for the fairies, and don’t forget your wings!

Well, that’s my advice, happy  Midsummer everyone!

Sources:
Tolkein, JRR. On Fairy Stories

Happy Birthday Juliet!

| astronut1

Hi Folks,

Not only is it the first day of this month, it’s also a Shakespearean holiday! According to this passage from “Romeo and Juliet,” today is Juliet’s Birthday!

NURSE: Even or odd, of all days in the year,
Come Lammas Eve at night shall she be fourteen.
–Romeo and Juliet, Act I, Scene ii.
Lammas Eve, is a pagan holiday, also known as Lughnasa, a Celtic holiday traditionally held on August 1st, or the midway point between the summer solstice and the Equinox. It was a day celebrating harvests and the beginning of fall, and was celebrated through eating wheat, drinking wine and burning a giant wicker man in effigy, (the inspiration of the film of the same name, and the festival of Burning Man). By the way, not everyone appreciates this holiday, click here to see what I mean.
There is also another significance to Juliet’s birthday. It makes her a Leo, a star sign traditionally associated with the Sun. So, when Romeo calls her “The Sun,” there is a literal connection to her birth. Shakespeare makes many allusions to astrology in Romeo and Juliet, as a metaphor for fate.
In the next few days I’ll be talking about what these allusions mean and how they help people understand the play.
Enjoy Juliet’s Birthday everyone!
By the way, here’s a link to a fun website: Juliet’s Blog: http://julietisthesun.blogspot.com/