Never let it be said that Solvang, the Danish village in the heart of the Central Coast that aims both barrels of its year-round whimsy at the Christmas season, doesn’t have another, more pagan side ...

It’s a chance for locals to dispatch their ceremonial indoor pine trees and for the community, and curious outsiders, to gather in a bonfire ritual similar ... single tree on fire as a teaser.

Whether it’s torchlit processions, folk dances or modernised pagan rituals, these events take ... It’s believed that the faster the fire reaches its head, which is filled with firecrackers ...