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During midwinter of 2025, I invited all of my friends to celebrate Yule at my house. I wasn't really sure how to go about actually celebrating it, because I am not a neopagan. I am an atheist. Does this mean I can't celebrate holidays? Particularly a holiday that marks a very real celestial and seasonal pivot? Celebrating the birth of the Sun seems like a very important thing to do, especially for a group of families who are still heavily involved in traditional gardening, farming, homesteading, and seasonal foraging. Plus most of these holidays aren't really a religious celebration as much as it is a secular cultural tradition.
I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate than to host a potluck and a variety of tabletop games to keep everybody entertained and connected throughout the evening. For the sake of tradition, we did burn a Yule log out back in the fire pit. Even though it may have had spiritual significance to some, for me and my family, it was just a cultural tradition with poetic significance, a reminder of the warm days coming as we count down to the light half of the year.
There was no need for the awkward ceremony and ritual you see at a lot of neopagan celebrations. I believe the real magic happens when a group of friends and family get together to enjoy each other's company for a day of merriment.
The success of that community event got me thinking about whether I should host similar gatherings for other celestial holidays throughout the year.
Walpurgisnacht was about a month away when I first conceived the idea. It's a German holiday that celebrates the beginning of the light half of the year, marking the end of winter and the arrival of spring, much like May Day and Beltane. It acts as the opposite of Halloween, which is not traditionally a Germanic holiday. There is, however, a Germanic holiday that falls around the same time, Allerseelen, or All Souls Day.
True to my ADHD fashion, I waited until the very last minute to invite everyone. I ordered a shabu-shabu pot for hotpot on Amazon and sent out very informal invitations to my close friends less than a week before Walpurgisnacht. The date was set for Friday, May 1st, at noon, and it would last until the party naturally fizzled out, or until I got sick of everyone being in my house.
Lighting bonfires is a big part of Walpurgisnacht, but we were expecting a pretty bad rainstorm, so we had to make do with burning some juniper leaves in a small cast iron bowl with a long handle that was originally used for melting led into round bullets. Cultural traditions should be observed, but they can be adapted to fit the needs of the environment. Even if the storm had let up by sundown, it wouldn't have been in anyone's best interest to be covered in mud, nor in mine to have all of my guests tracking it into the house once the fire died down.
To prepare for the event, I stopped by Walmart to pick up all the ingredients needed for a curry base for the hotpot, along with various cuts of lunch meat, bacon, and imitation crab. No feast would be complete without a charcuterie board with thinly cut meats, cheese, and crackers. I also put together a pretzel bite board with cheese for dipping. Since this was announced as a potluck, guests were expected to bring something to contribute, though of course that was never a strict requirement.
Much to my surprise, Fallen, otherwise known as David, brought a sheep's head and various cuts of mutton to contribute to the feast. From about noon until three, we played Yu-Gi-Oh and chatted about LARP. Then I got a message from Mordakin, or Matthew in the mundane world, saying he'd be at my house in about an hour.
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| Yu-Gi-Oh and pizza for lunch. |
That's when we decided to put the mutton in the oven and start getting the hotpot broth ready. That didn't take very long, so we spent the remaining time making Dungeons and Dragons character sheets for a one-off campaign to test the waters. When Mordakin arrived, we cleared the table and set up the hotpot, which was beautifully spiced by Artezerious, aka Roy. One side was a Cajun beef broth and the other a mild chicken curry. Fallen then brought out his mutton head and all the various cuts to accompany the beautiful spread already laid out on the table.
Some of us ate more than others, and as people drifted into their own corners, Mordakin and Artezerious settled into a game of chess. After their exciting match, I introduced the group to Hnefatafl, and then to Ship, Captain, and Crew, a dice game I joined in on, enjoying a few rounds of gambling with them. We didn't ante up real money, of course, just a bag full of shiny trinkets and glass beads.
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| Mordakin, Artezerious, and I playing Ship, Captain, and Crew. |
By that point, everyone had finished their character sheets, so Zarah stepped up to DM the opening of a one-off campaign. We had so much fun that we've since decided to meet twice a month for an in-person campaign, while Artezerious runs a separate online campaign of his own storyline via Discord.
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| Dungeons and Dragons adventures. Baby kitty had to participate as well. |
After everyone left around ten, I cleaned the house and did half of the dishes, leaving the more detailed cleaning for the morning. Then I sat in my recliner and reflected on the day. I almost decided not to host anything because I was worried nobody would show up, or that people would show up and be bored. There were moments when the activities and conversations didn't hold everyone's attention, but the group always reignited the spark by changing things up and adding humor to everything we did.
Like Yule, there was no need for everyone to stand around in silence while someone led a ceremony. The feast and merriment was the ceremony. If the weather had been on our side, the evening chill would have invited us to light a cozy bonfire, not just for warmth, but for the sake of Walpurgisnacht traditions. That's about as much of a formal ceremony as I feel the need to offer. The conversations shared between mouthfuls of food were more than enough to honor the occasion and welcome the sunny half of the year.
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| Guess who the center of attention was today? Baby kitty! |
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