Tonight is Winter Solstice, the longest and darkest night of the year.
And it couldn’t have come sooner. I’ve really been feeling the weight of darkness recently, as the days get shorter, and the end of the year draws near.
It’s been a really good year in some ways, but there have also been some very hard things this year.
So tonight I went out into the night in the company of friends, to carry a light through the darkness.
We joined a lantern parade along the sea wall to celebrate the solstice, wandered around Granville Island to enjoy the decorations and snacks and sailboat views, laughed and joked and shared bits of life with each other, then lined up for the finale of the evening: the lantern labyrinth.
The labyrinth — although a bit crowded — is intended to be a contemplative experience. As I traveled to the centre I allowed myself to feel the weight, to hold it and examine it, and then when I got to the centre I knelt, and put my hands on the ground as if to leave it there.
As I stood to make my way back out of the labyrinth, I felt… lighter. And as my friends and I went off into the night, I noticed how many lights were all around us even on this, the darkest of nights.
And you know what? The beauty of the darkest night of the year and the reminder of Winter Solstice is, everything gets lighter from here.
Breaking Moulds 
This is such a beautiful way to celebrate the winter solstice. We went through the labyrinth at daytime and my 4 year old walked a bit of it herself. It wasn’t actually the day of. So we ended up with Xmas lights driving around at night. Thank you for sharing this experience and the photos.