King of Winter Altar Decoration

You Will Need 2 Bunches Twiggy Herbs Embroidery Cotton & Scissors I mentioned on the forum that I'd come across an idea for making a homemade Samhain/Yule altar decoration. Its made from fresh herbs and a few people asked me how to make one, so I thought I'd do a step by step guide. My King of Winter decoration will decorate both my Samhain and Yule altars, its to honour the death of the God and to serve as a reminder that come the spring he'll be back. I plan on using the herbs once dried in some Imbolc incense to welcome the return of the God come the Spring.

It really is easy to do and the effect can be achieved by the beginner as well as the advanced crafter. You'll need two bundles of freshly picked 'twiggy' herbsplants out of your garden or from someone elses garden (as long as you have their permission!) My King of Winter was made using rosemary, myrtle and lavender, but you can use any twiggy herbs such as bay, hyssop and sage. Make sure one bundle of your herbs is slightly thicker than the other. Take the thick bundle of herbs and tie it together about 2/3rds of the way up from the base using your embroidery thread, wool or string and bind it well. Tie it off tightly because as the herbs dry out they will shrink and if you haven't tied tightly your King Of Winter will slowly fall apart.

Once you've bound the centre you're then ready to seperate your thick bunch into two to form the legs. Tie each of the two bundles together securely and shape them by trimming bits with your scissors so they look like legs. Next add the 'arms' and tie them in at the same place you joined the first bundle to form the torso. Once the arms are secured to the body you can then tie the ends of each arm together securely to form the 'hands'.

Once you've finished tying the hands you then tie the herbs around 'neck' height and shape the herbs into the 'head'. My arms were a little long but you can trim them down with your scissors, which is what I did. The aroma was wonderful when making this decoration, cutting the lavender, rosemary and myrtle left the room smelling very festive. It would be a good idea to bind similar herbs together to make pentacle wreaths to hang around the home for Yule. You could also use oak and holly branches in with your herbs to weave in the magic of the Oak King and Holly King.

Who is the King of Winter?

In much of British tradition the Winter King is Arthur but not always. Christianity took over the ancient feast of sun-return, the birth of a new king at the turn of the sun and for a large part of the world this feast is now called Christmas. To Pagan's the Winter Solstice, is the eve of the shortest day, when the sun comes to its nadir (the astronomical term for the point in the sky directly below the observer) and the darkness reigns. It is the time when the Oak King is victorious over the Holly King. The Holly King represents the death and darkness that has ruled since Samhain, and the Oak King represents rebirth and life and the return of the light. The waning (diminishing) sun is overtaken by the waxing (increasing) sun, thus the days become longer, lighter and increasingly warmer after the victory of the Oak King.