Winter Solstice Lantern Festival illuminates the longest night of the year, December 21

Secret Lantern Society’s annual offering includes outdoor processions, workshops, song and dance performances, and more across Yaletown and Granville Island

Sun lantern by Joey Mallett at the Winter Solstice Lantern Festival. Photo by Claire Yargeau

Secret Lantern Society presents the Winter Solstice Lantern Festival on December 21 from 6 pm to 10 pm

WINTER SOLSTICE, the day of the year with the least amount of sunlight, is fast approaching. And as always, the Secret Lantern Society is illuminating what will be the longest night of 2025 at various spots around the city with its Winter Solstice Lantern Festival.

On December 21 after sunset, the festival will bring a variety of creative offerings—including art workshops, live dance musical performances, and outdoor lantern processions—to several indoor and outdoor spaces across Yaletown and Granville Island.

Happenings at the False Creek Community Centre include an interactive shadow-puppetry play area with lights and projections by Mind of a Snail Puppet Co., a traditional Squamish dance performance by Spakwus Slolem (also known as the Eagle Song Dancers), and songs from the Baltic region by local trio Salalaul. Over at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre, there’ll be music and dance performances by accordionist Susan Gerofsky, masked folk band Sospiro Misterioso, and the Tiddley Cove Morris Dancers.

At both venues, visitors can make festive nature headdresses out of ivy and evergreen, or assemble last-minute paper pin-prick lanterns to carry during an outdoor procession. The Roundhouse will also host the Labyrinth of Light, a meditative indoor walking path made of 500 beeswax candles, featuring bowl toning by Lori Bella. For folks on Granville Island, a second labyrinth will be set up at Performance Works; and over at The NEST, there’ll be a solstice drum circle with instruction hosted by master musician Ron “Radar” Stelting.

In all, there’s plenty happening at the festival’s 32nd edition. As Naomi Singer, the fest’s founding artistic director, told Stir in an interview a couple of years ago: “There’s just such beauty in seeing a lantern in a profoundly dark environment.”

In other words, the warm glow of handmade lanterns seems like a pretty enticing reason to brave the torrential downpour that’s been shrouding the Lower Mainland this week.

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Emily Lyth

Emily Lyth is a Vancouver-based writer and editor who graduated from Langara College’s Journalism program. Her decade of dance training and passion for all things food-related are the foundation of her love for telling arts, culture, and community stories.

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