The History and Heart of the Winter Solstice Lantern Walk

Each year around December 21st, the Earth reaches a quiet but powerful turning point. The winter solstice. The shortest day and longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. From that day forward, daylight slowly begin its return. For years people across cultures have marked this shift as a symbol of hope, endurance, and renewal. A reminder that even the deepest darkness is not permanent.

Long before modern calendars and electric lights, ancient civilizations tracked the sun with remarkable precision. Structures like Newgrange in Ireland, built over 5,000 years ago, were aligned so that the solstice sunrise would illuminate their inner chambers, a striking testament to how deeply this moment mattered. Across the ancient world, the solstice was understood not just as an astronomical event, but as a spiritual and agricultural one.

Throughout history, winter solstice celebrations took many forms, but they shared a common language of light.

In ancient Rome, Saturnalia filled the darkest days with candles, feasts, and communal joy. In Northern Europe, Yule was marked with fires and glowing hearths to welcome the rebirth of the sun. In Persia, Yalda Night brought families together to stay awake through the longest night, reading poetry and awaiting dawn.

Across cultures all over the world, people responded to winter's darkness not with withdrawal, but with gathering.

The tradition of carrying light through darkness naturally evolved alongside these celebrations. While bonfires and candles once served as the primary symbols of warmth and protection, lanterns became a more mobile expression of the same idea. Light carried by human hands.

Lantern walks draw inspiration from European winter customs and Scandinavian traditions, where glowing processions moved through the towns during the darkest months. Over time, these quiet, reflective walks became less about spectacle and more about meaning: walking together, each person holding a small light, acknowledging both the darkness around us and the hope we carry forward.

In modern communities, winter solstice lantern walks have become a way to reconnect with nature's rhythms, with neighbors, and with ourselves. In places like Hillsborough, North Carolina, lantern walks transform familiar streets into something almost otherworldly, glowing with shared intention and collective warmth. These events echo ancient traditions while offering a deeply human response to winter: we walk together, and we bring light with us.

Traditionally, solstice lantern walks take place in December, close to the longest night itself. But if you have been following along with events at the Bailey Museum you'll know that we just had our Lantern Walk yesterday, February 6th. This was a deliberate decision in hopes of more community rather than the calendar. February still carries the spirit of the solstice. The days are longer, yes, but winter's grip remains. Snow still quiets the landscape, darkness still arrives early, and many of us are still waiting - patiently - for spring. By holding our lantern walk later in the season, we hoped to create space for more people to gather, to participate safely, and to experience the same symbolism that has defined solstice celebrations for centuries.

Lantern walks, whether held in December or later in winter, are about more than tradition. They are about pausing long enough to notice where we are in the cycle of the year - and in our own lives. They remind us that light does not always arrive all at once. Sometimes it appears gradually, carried carefully, one lantern at a time.

In that way, the lantern walk feels perfectly aligned with the spirit of Liberty Hyde Bailey himself; attentive to nature, rooted in patience, and grounded in the belief that meaning is found in the quiet moments we choose to observe. The light is returning, and we walk towards it together.