A Knuts Party or Knut’s Dance is a tradition in Sweden (and apparently now in Hackney) on St Knut’s Day (13th January) which marks the end of Christmas and the festive season. It is also known as “Dancing Out Christmas” or “Throw Out The Tree”. We have at home long celebrated the end of the…
Category: holidays
Last night I dreamed I went to the charcuterie house again…
On they walked and walked, till suddenly they came upon a strange cottage in the middle of a glade. “This is chocolate!” gasped Hansel as he broke a lump of plaster from the wall. “And this is icing!” exclaimed Gretel, putting another piece of wall in her mouth. Starving but delighted, the children…
Old Ways in a New Town
What are you doing for Solstice this year? I’m in my old home town of Milton Keynes to watch the sunrise from the Light Pyramid, and see what’s up at the Medicine Circle and the Milton Keynes Henge. Milton Keynes always had a bad reputation, the kind of place people would say “urgh!” about when…
Drink the Rainbow for the Holi Festival
Did someone shoot you in the face with a gun full of green water today? Or startle you with a pink powder shower? You should be pleased! It’s just time for Holi – the festival of colours, new beginnings, the repayment of debts and the ending of conflicts. This Hindu festival is celebrated at the…
How To Throw A Swedish Crayfish Party or Kräftskiva
Sweden is an unusual country. What happens there is this. Most of the year they exist in a black dark. A few months of the year the sun is out all the time, even at midnight. At this time all Swedes shut up shop and go to stay in little red box houses on the…
A Ghost Story For Halloween
I maybe saw a ghost in the late 1990’s. Marshall and I were exploring a then abandoned church on Balls Pond Road in Islington. I found a small anteroom on the side of the building, and was peering through a crack in the boards which covered its windows, trying to see what might be stored…
Tired out? Bake a Mabon Bread Demon
This period between the festivals of Lammas and Samhain is known to be an unchancy one, with high levels of supernatural activity. It’s wise to avoid most magical behaviour for now, as while you are likely to get heightened responses, it’s also extremely possible that the results may not turn out as you anticipated. So…
Dancing Lions & Lucky Lettuce
This is the time of the year the terrible Nian comes out of the dark to feed, and roams the neighbourhood looking for vulnerable people it can snap up and crunch down. The Nian was originally indigenous to rural China and was close to extinction in the 1800’s, but over the years has interbred with…
Vanquish a Love Rival via Voodoo
Sometimes you need to get somebody out of the way. I’m well aware that it would be v. bad ju-ju to destroy an enemy or rival by use of the dark arts… but…. Let me make it clear now that we will not be using poppets, D.U.M.E oils, hexing, cursing, left-handed grimoires nor will we…
Ride the Pooka or An Ideal Martini
A pooka is a shapeshifter which prefers the shape of a black horse, although it may also appear as a rabbit, wolf, raven, fox or cat. You should always be on your guard when meeting an unknown creature with a black coat, especially if its eyes are green or red. Especially at parties. Remember those…
The New City Witches Cocktail Coven 