Winter solstice is a rather quiet notation on the calendar, clumped in with the shrill deadline of Christmas and the planning panic of New Year’s Eve. It is the shortest day and the longest night of the year for those of us in the northern hemisphere and, if you live in Vancouver, the gateway into the grey emptiness of January.
Vancouverites, all too familiar with the stillness of wet winters, celebrated the 20th annual Winter Solstice Lantern Festival Dec. 21 for a variety of cultural reasons but mostly for the reassurance that, eventually, summer is coming.
“It’s a celebration of getting through this time of the year,” said Wayne Carrigan while poking holes with a pin into his lantern at the Strathcona Community Centre prior to the procession to Chinatown’s Dr. Sun Yat-Sen gardens.
“That’s right, it’s the winter hump,” added his wife Katherine Reilly. “The days start getting longer here on forward. This is the worst it can get.”
The couple moved to Vancouver from Toronto two years ago and made a point of attending the Secret Lantern Society festival. Last year’s highlight was the labyrinth at the Roundhouse in Yaletown so it was again part of their solstice plan after visiting the Chinatown gardens. As for Vancouver’s dreary winter months, living in Toronto was basically weather boot camp.
“This is nothing,” Carrigan said about Vancouver’s weather. “When the snow came here last week…” He paused, looked at Reilly, and the both laughed. “The news channels are all like, winter storm!” Carrigan said of Vancouver’s first snowfall of a handful of centimetres. Added Reilly: “I’m originally from Manitoba and it was – 32 C.”
Carrigan conceded that weather is relative. “When we moved here we knew we’d adapt so we made a conscious decision to enjoy the rain, enjoy the winter, and remember our perspective.”
Working on his lantern at a nearby table was John Hall who said he needs more than perspective to get through Vancouver winters. “I take lots and lots of vitamin D,” he said. Hall, originally from rural Kansas, has lived in Vancouver for 20 years and still finds the west coast winter months to be a drag.
Meteorological and astronomical winter seasons have different start and end dates. Meteorological winter started Dec. 1 and ends Feb. 28. Astronomical winter started Dec. 21, 2013 and ends at the vernal equinox March 20.
Mark Didicher, who brought his three children to the lantern-making workshop with plans to participate in the drum-led procession to the gardens, says the darkness makes it a difficult time.
“I try to find every bit of sunlight I can at this time of the year,” he said. “I even bought a SAD lamp at one point to get more light but it didn’t really work. It’s one of those things you have to use a lot.”
While workshop leader Alex Hass is with the majority who give the thumbs down to winter and escapes for a couple of weeks in January to Maui, her 13-year-old daughter Arden Jansen didn’t see what the fuss was all about.
“I happen to like the rain,” she said. “I find it relaxing and it makes it cozy to be indoors.”
