Shedding light on the origins of the season

Before Christmas the common celebration was solstice

Want to go back to origins of the season? The ancient celebration of solstice preceded the Christian celebration. Don't get me wrong. The sharing, goodwill and peace that Christmas honours are great. But as I get older I can't help but wonder why the holiday changed from celebrating abundance to encouraging over consumption. Solstice celebrations remain largely non-commercial, and, for a growing segment of the population, deeply spiritual.

Red berries were considerd magical

We celebrate nature's abundance just after the harvest season as the earth travels its furthest distance from the sun and and land in the northern hemisphere falls fallow.

Many fixtures of our Christmas celebration, such as greens and berries, had their origins in pagan festivals such as those of the Druids in Northern Europe. Traditions like feasting were born from practical considerations. Herds were culled to accommodate the lack of food winter brings. At the same time the new ale and other spirits from the grain and fruit harvest were ready. Thus the season of feasting was born.

It is true that Druidism has long been removed from mainstream culture. The last recorder of the BC Druids,  John Hugh Roberts, was laid to rest in Vancouver's Mountainview Cemetary in 1917 (see post "Moutainview cemetery; a look at our past"). For more on Roberts see www.azatlan.com/RobertsHeritage.php.

Thanks to The Secret Lantern Society you can take part in the 18th annual public solstice celebration marking the return of light on the longest day of the year, December 21. The event is very accessible. This year the Roundhouse, False Creek, Creekside and Britannia comunity centres, Granville Island's Performance Works and Chinatown's Dr Sun Yat Sen Gardens.will host festivities. All of these venues and procession routes are wheelchair accessible. For event details go to http://www.secretlantern.org/.

Next time we dive into the Vancouver Aquarium. Till then, peace.

Things Yule love to do this holiday season

Here's a list of ways to light up the holidays.

The Vancouver Christmas Market returns for its second year to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre plaza. If you were put off by the many bumpy cable crossings last year, they have smoothed things out. To be fair last year's market was a Christmas miracle: just hours before the scheduled opening a propane tank exploded on the construction site. No one was hurt and the market was able to open eventually.

 The market is situated where Georgia meets Hamilton

The market features daily entertainment, crafts, food, drink and entertainment in the German tradition. There are accessible washrooms but n.o attendant fare or PWD discount of any kind. It could use some more lower seating for chairs, strollers, etc. Christmas stollen to die for!

Across from the VPL and the CBC

Watch them, ride them or both. For carol ship routes and schedules go to carolships.org.

There's something Dickensian about

skimming the top of deep, dark

water. Remember Scooge's noctural

journey over land and sea?

Through English Bay, False Creek
and Burrard Inlet

The Van Dusen Gardens Festival of Lights continues to dazzle year after year. To see how Santa spends the summer, visit the tropical dome in Queen Elizabeth Park. Check out the City of Vancouver's Parks Board site for information on these and other seasonal offerings at www.vancouver.ca/parks.

Don't miss the famous Woodward's animated Christmas windows. For younger or newer Lower Mainland residents, the name Woodward may be associated with Christmas as the surname of the boy who got his tongue stuck to a frozen lamp pole in the nostalgic movie "A Christmas Story". Like the movie the Woodward's windows take you back to a simpler time when Lower Mainlanders made their Yuletide pilgrimmage to view these treasures. The windows are featured throughout Vancouver's downtown core this Christmas. For a map and details on a contest go to http://www.canadaplace.ca/.

The season is a time of plenty, so we'll be back soon with lots more ways to light up the holidays!