There is something about the solstice that captures my imagination. The winter solstice is the longest night of the year and the official beginning of winter and generally occurs on or around December 21. From that day forward, the days will get longer and the nights shorter.
Even as winter is just beginning, the seeds of spring have been sown. Knowing that helps me get through the dark months of February and March, when winter’s cold starts to feel oppressive. Even as the coldest days of winter take hold, the days are lengthening and spring is ever closer.
This long dark night inspires introspection in me. I find myself contemplating both the dark parts of my life and the light things I would like to see more of as lights fills the world little by little throughout the winter. Things would be better if more patience, more creativity, and more laughter were cultivated and judgement and anger were left in the dark.
This night has been a big part of my yearly ritual for decades. Decades ago, I started camping outside on this longest night, laying my sleeping bag near a raging fire as I lit the darkness on the longest night. Sometimes it was just me, sometimes a group, but that night in the dark forest was a ritual for years.
Some years, a full moon lights the dark night like daylight, casting moon shadows across the world. Others, deep snow allows us to build giant snow lanterns and put candles in them to create structures of crystal and light. The campsite changed with who was coming. Some years were backpacking trips that went miles into the forest to a magical site far from the road. Others were in campgrounds where the safety of a car was seconds away.
The long night is full of natural surprises. One night was full of the scratch-scratch-rasp of a porcupine gnawing on the apparently delicious bark of a hemlock tree. The porky’s dark shadow in the tree above was the only hint that it was lurking above, while the sounds it made seemed to echo harshly across the soft snowy landscape. Another night, a herd of deer trooped past the circle of fire as I sat contemplating them. Their soft brown eyes reflected weirdly in the firelight as deer body parts shimmered in and out of view with the wobbly light of the fire, legs and bodies appearing and disappearing as flames flared and subsided.
The night has always been one of my favorite times of day. Darkness transforms even the most familiar of places into a magical new land. Animals that are seldom seen in the day populate the darkness like an unseen army, leaving only tracks in their wake.
The mysteries and beauty of the natural world on that longest night are something I have not seen in years, since my children were born. There have been backyard fires and sculptures of snow lit by candles, but no long night in the forest.
However, Audubon started a new tradition last year of having a bonfire on the longest night of the year. This December 21, at 4:30 p.m., there will be a giant fire at Audubon to kick off the long dark. More information on this program and other holiday offerings is available online at auduboncnc.org or by calling (716) 569-2345.
Audubon Community Nature Center builds and nurtures connections between people and nature. ACNC is located just east of Route 62 between Warren and Jamestown. The trails are open from dawn to dusk as is Liberty, the Bald Eagle. The Nature Center is open from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. daily except Sunday when it opens at 1 p.m. The Nature Center will be closed on December 24 and 25.
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