Wolfenoot. Tis the season of the holiday that you’ve probably never heard of. That’s because it’s a made-up holiday, or it was a made-up holiday, until people started celebrating it. Unlike Christmas, Hanukkah, Thanksgiving, and all your more traditional holidays which took hundreds or thousands of years to birth, Wolfenoot leaped into existence fully formed practically overnight, via the mind of a child and magic of the internet. From the moment it graced my newsfeed, I knew that Wolfenoot was a necessary addition to our already full holiday plate, and I think if you stick with me, I can make a full-fledged Wolfinati out of you by the time you’re through with this post.
So, What is Wolfenoot?
Wolfenoot was created by a seven-year-old boy from New Zealand in 2018, to celebrate the ‘Spirit of the Wolf’ (all canines included) and the people who love them. The concept was tweeted out by his mom, and it quickly took off. Here is her original post which can now be found on the official Wolfenoot website :
“My son has invented a holiday called Wolfenoot.
It is when the Spirit of the Wolf brings and hides small gifts around the house for everyone. People who have, have had, or are kind to dogs get better gifts than anyone else.
You eat roast meat (because wolves eat meat) and cake decorated like a full moon.
A holiday to the spirit of wolves that celebrates people who are kind to dogs? I can 100% get behind this. So we will be celebrating Wolfenoot. It’s on the 23rd November if anyone else is moved to celebrate it. 😉 If you do, please post pics, so he can see how his idea has spread.
If you’re posting publicly about it, use #Wolfenoot”
A holiday based on kindness and dogs? Count me in. And not just me. The official Wolfenoot page has almost 10,000 followers. Not bad for a made-up holiday!
Of course, when I told my own little wolf-boy that someone had created a holiday about wolves, he howled with excitement and immediately came up with his own stipulations for how our pack should get into the wolfish spirit. Now we have a few simple elements for a happy, Howly Wolfenoot :
1) Watch wolf movies: These include, but are in no way limited to White Fang, Call of the Wild, and Peter & The Wolf. This year we may add in Princess Mononoke as well.
2) Meat-eating: Call us non-traditional, but we don’t strictly adhere to the roasted meat rule in our den. Cold cuts are much easier for Mama wolf, and much more appreciated by the cubs. This year’s menu includes salami sticks per request of the wolf-boy, because they ‘turn him into a werewolf.’ Hey, I don’t make the rules, I just buy the groceries.
3) Full-moon cake: The boy who invented this holiday was mercifully wise beyond his years when he decreed that we must all eat cake ‘decorated like the full-moon.’
You can fancy this up if you like, but it’s basically a circular cake with white frosting, something any mama wolf can easily make or acquire. God bless his little canine soul.
4) Family Howl: You can’t have a Howl-y Wolfenoot without the howling. If you haven’t howled like a wolf in a while, you’re in for a treat. It’s time to uncage your inner pup and have a good howl!
5) Kindness: The most important tenant of Wolfenoot is kindness to animals and each other. You can do this by giving each other small gifts, praising your four-legged friends, or making donations to your favorite furry charity. We recently discovered Wolf Hollow, a wolf sanctuary in Ipswitch, MA. We visited there for my son’s birthday this year, and it was so cool. Well worth the drive. This year we may add ‘adopting a wolf‘ to our Wolfenoot festivities.
Celebrating this unusual, low-stress holiday has been so much fun for our family. If you have a little canine-lover in your life join us in channeling our inner wolves this November 23rd! If not, I encourage you to find a special way to celebrate whatever it is that your child loves. You will build lasting childhood memories, and might even start a new tradition you look forward to year after year! And to all of you who already celebrate, I wish you a very healthy, Howly Wolfenoot!
