My Favourite Day Of The Year!
Today is my favourite day of the year! It’s the winter solstice and by extension it’s the Festival of Lights in Kensington Market (hosted by Red Pepper Spectacle Arts)
(for those of you viewing from home… aka an RSS reader, email or facebook there is a cool little flickr slide show embedded here)
“Why Lexa, why?” you might ask, “Why would you chose the shortest day of the year as your favourite?”
Well, little Cindy-Lou Who, let me explain:
- I’m a huge fan of anticipation – and at the end of tonight’s longest night the light starts to come back. Longer, brighter, warmer sunshine every single day. You can’t celebrate the light without recognizing that knowing the dark is what makes you appreciate it.
- I’m a huge fan of people – and tonight, Kensington Market will be filled with the best kind of people. Quirky, odd, magical, weird people all participating. Walking together drumming, holding lanterns, singing, laughing, sharing and generally making a spectacle of themselves, for themselves.
- I’m a huge fan of magic – not the Love Potion #9 type of magic, but the magic that happens when people all concentrate on the same goal with smiles on their faces. (see also #hohoto) In this case, the goal is to bring light and noise to help each other through the longest night of the year and scare off the demons. Scaring off demons – that is never a bad thing. And finally,
- I’m a huge fan of silly – and there is no one, anywhere, who can tell me that a Sunday night in Kensington Market for Festival of Lights isn’t silly. With the streets crowded full with fire breathers, stilt walkers, carolers, vignettes on fish store rooftops, people banging drums, wrapped up in layers topped with ribbons, bell and bows… that, my friend, is silly incarnate.
So little Cindy-Lou, while this event is a little much for someone who is no more than two, it is a brilliant event for people who are eight and above.
I hope I’ll see you there with your hat festooned with ribbons, your noisemaker and your light shining brightly.
And if you can’t make it to Kensington Market tonight, perhaps when darkness falls you can go out into the night and make a little noise and light where ever you are.
Happy Solstice everyone!
