Part of the joy of writing about the World of the Wise is describing their customs and traditions. For the Yuletide traditions, I did a lot of research about Yule traditions old and new. Everything here except Candle Dark (which was stolen from a Catholic Eastertide tradition) comes from some real solstice or Yule tradition— even the butter.
Yule Eve brought their yearly journey into the forest behind Gryphon Park Manor to find next year’s Yule Log. This was followed by smearing butter on the outer lintels for the returning sun to melt — so the sun would have the sustenance it needed to burn more brightly again—and the moonlit Yule Buck procession, as Rachel and the other children from Gryphon-on-Dart paraded from house to house carrying the last wheat stalk of the harvest. They sang songs that honored the returning sun and the god Thor; while the houses they visited rewarded them with candied fruit and mulled cider.
Upon coming home, the duke and duchess threw three burning coals into a barrel of water, and nobles and servants alike washed hands and feet there. Then, they all donned new garments, never before worn—ensuring that neither troll nor trow would trouble them during the year to follow. And, of course, they played snapdragon and, as always, Rachel singed her fingers trying to steal raisins from the blue flames of the burning brandy. She recalled Gaius scoffing that no one ever burnt their fingers at snapdragon and smiled sadly.
Then deep into the night came Candle Dark, when every light in the mansion must be extinguished. This period of darkness was one of Rachel’s favorite times all year. After the hour of Candle Dark, the winter lamps were lit and placed in windows, where they would keep burning until the spring equinox. Candle Dark was the one hour all year when the Vestal Virgins extinguished their fires.
The idea of feeding the returning sun with butter comes from the Sami people, the reindeer herders of Lapland. The Sami are important in the World of the Wise because they are the inhabitants of Ultima Thule—the country of the wise that takes up the area we Unwary believe to be the Northern Greenland National Park. This national park is larger than all but 32 countries. We believe it to be all ice and rock, but in the World of the Wise an secret gulf stream maintained by sea fairies brings warmer water to the southern part of Ultima Thule where the city of Thulhavn lies. Thulehavn is a popular summer getaway place for the Wise, particularly the British Wise. The Griffin family, for instance, maintains a summer house there.