Decorations:
Decorate with thick hanging knotted ropes, bundles of dry grass, weathered pieces of wood, logs, leather items such as belts and saddle bags, skulls, antlers, and thick off-white candles
Music:
Tribal drums
Activities:
Strength of Kull: Urgals engage in contests of strength, which determine their clan rank. The strongest and largest Urgals become Kull. Organize a tug-of-war game and arm wrestling matches with friends. And maybe do a round of Urgal inspired calisthenics.
Best Urgal Contest: Invite friends to step forward and give their best Urgal impersonations. Stomping and bellowing is encouraged!
Urgal Village: In Eldest, we discover that Urgals live in villages. Their women, dams, care for the children while the men, rams, are at war. Build an model Urgal village on a solid base, such as a flat sheet of wood, with sticks, grass bundles, stones or other natural materials. Use a glue gun to secure items in place to create the village. Lego or other toy people can stand in for Urgals.
Games of Stategy: Urgals use games to teach their children skills of strategy. A favorite is the old fox and hens board game. For a party, invite guests to bring their favorite board games to play with others.
Smashed Squash Soup: When party guests arrive, give each the opportunity to smash a small squash or pumpkin with a clean hammer. Encourage them to give a loud Urgal growl to help them along. Then, after washing their hands, invite them to pick out the innards (seeds and strings) with their fingers. Dump all the good parts of the pumpkins or squash into a large pot with broth, onions, and thyme. Boil until tender while the party progresses. Pour the soup through a large screen sieve to remove the skins and onions. Press through the squash flesh. Add cream, salt, and pepper to taste and serve.
Crafts:
Urgal Sash: During the cold winter months, Urgal dams (females) and rams (males) weave sashes in shades of yellow, orange, green, brown, and black. Rams wear them like a baldric. Dams wear them around the waist. The bold designs indicate status: single, married, parents, grandparents, clan elder, or rank. Braid a baldric or sash using thick yarn or fabric strips in the above colors. Alternately, make the sash from cloth or paper. Decorate with designs. Write a brief description or poem to indicate what your sash represents.
Urgal Wristband: Urgal clans hang large knotted ropes outside their huts. These ropes can be up to nine feet in length. Every clan uses a different pattern of knots. The knots represent the unique patterns of whorls that ridge each Urgal’s horns, and specifically, of the female Urgal (dam) who founded that clan. Warriors often wear wrist bands knotted with the family pattern. Make a knotted wristband.
Garzhvog’s Footprint: Seeing Urgal footprints is one sure sign that they are near. Draw the outline of an Urgal footprint, then write a haiku or poem in the center of it. Or cast an Urgal footprint from plaster of Paris . . . and beware!
Braided Hearth Rug: Upon marriage, the Urgal husband and wife choose the colors they will use in the family rug that will lay before the fire in their home. By custom, they take turns braiding the cloth for the rug, their joint effort representing the entwined commitment to each other and their family to be. Make a miniature Urgal hearth rug, using fabric strips. Choose colors that best represent your hopes, and then braid the strips together. Coil the braid, and then lightly stitch the coil together into a traditional rug shape.
Clan Arrow: Urgals use very large bows. Members of each clan decorate their arrows with bold colors and designs. Draw or make (with a dowel shaft, feather tail, and cardboard head) an Urgal arrow worthy to fit one of their great bows.
Urgal Horn: Sculpt a replica of Urgal horns from modeling clay.
Food:
Urgals are fond of meat but will eat most anything they can get their hands on.
Entrails Entrée: Urgals eat or find uses for all parts of the animals they kill, so as not to waste anything. Make a bowl of spaghetti with tomato sauce, call it Entrails Entrée, and watch your guests shiver.
Quivering Jello Glop: Make up a batch of tomato aspic and serve it in quivering dollops.
Urgal Bread: Find a recipe for Monkey Bread. It’s made from bread dough that is formed into small balls and baked in a springform pan. Bake a batch, and then invite friends to rip it apart and eat it.
Beef Jerky: Dried meat is an important Urgal food that is eaten on long marches. Set out plates of jerky for snacking.
Beef-Turnip Stew: Whether cooked in an Urgal home or in camp, one can ususally find a pot of stew bubbling over a slow fire. Urgals look forward to filling their massive bellies with its nourishing warmth at the end of a strenuous day. Serve up a steaming bowl of your favorite stew.
Honey Cakes or Cookies: Urgals are adept at finding the nests of honey bees in tree hollows. Use your favorite recipe to make honey cakes or cookies for dessert.
Blood Juice: Serve glasses of bright pomogranate or cranberry juice, plain or sparkling.
