TradCatKnight: New Year! How to Party Like It’s 1399...

If you’re a peasant, chances are you’ll be dressing in thick homespun wool or linen, but it needn’t be drab. Dress it up and stay warm with rabbit and squirrel trim, and bust out the needle and thread to embroider some festive designs on your tunic or dress. Ladies, it’s always fashionable to wear coloured ribbons in your hair when it’s party time, so get braiding! The Princess Leia buns with netting or a veil on top are very hot right now. If you’re rich, this is just the right moment to rock pointy hats and shoes – the more impractical, the better (after all, you’re rich; you don’t have to be practical). You can also use a wider range of colours and furs than the peasantry, but don’t overdo it: leave the royal purple to the actual royals.

 

2. Get Some Good Eats

Although Christmas is a religious holiday, there’s no need to fast. Help yourself to meat, meat, and more meat! While you won’t be munching on a huge turkey leg, like in the movies (turkey is North American, so it’s a delicacy not yet discovered by Europeans), you can dress up your fowl by carefully reattaching its feathers for an extra-fancy look. Feel free to build marzipan sculptures to dress up the table, or tell stories with your food by baking cookies in molds carved with scenes from the Bible, or other famous tales. Now is the time to set the table with your best glassware and (of course) fanciest salt cellar.

 

3. Crank the Tunes

It’s not a real party unless recorders are involved, am I right? Hire yourself some musicians to play all the most recent dance tunes on recorders, drums, and lutes, and don’t forget to sing along!