Palmer Solstice and celebrations

I am writing this column on December 21, which is Solstice 2025. Today is the shortest day and longest night. Starting tomorrow, we reverse the trend. Oh it will be subtle increases of light, but the pendulum of weather and light will have swung to the other side. Our planet will begin to tip back to the light and the deliberate change in axis is a delightful thing to recognize with Solstice.

Celebrations—Despite the Palmer wind, there are private Solstice Light parties planned Good warming foods are prepared along with party music and a special playlist. Traditional Ice lit luminaries, icicle flash lights, and frozen glowing bubbles will be part of the festivity. Sadly a large fire, fireworks, sparklers, and torches are nixed because of the wind and lack of snow this year. The downtown parade was a joyful time this year.

Dark, dark, dark—It’s the darkest week of the entire year. We are heading down to the shortest hours of daylight. In the Palmer mornings we see 2 or 3 or 5 different slow sunrises as the sun slips behind mountain tops and pops out intermittently between the ridges. It’s an uncanny performance and—even if you have lived with it for 50 years—it turns us all on our heads.

How Do We Celebrate the Dark?—In Palmer, twinkly lights are everywhere. Christmas decorations reflect and resonate the lights. Bonfires and campfires are a big deal, even in the back yards. The Menorah on by the railroad tracks burns beautifully beside the windblown Christmas tree. The beautiful nativity scene glows warmly at the intersection. Lampposts are festooned with holiday cheery lights. Walkers, runners and bikers are lit up, along with their dogs. They wear lights and reflectors and reflective tape and collars. Candles are in many windows. All of these lights scare away the darkness.

Palmer Yule—This old Yule tradition is celebrated with soups and sun cakes. Some eat dark chocolate and hearty stews. Some people in Palmer dress up in semi-authentic Nordic costumery and stride through town— as cool as all that. In former years without wind, large burn-piles, saved up all year and built specifically to burn on Solstice eve, are lit. But not this year.. If you have lived elsewhere than Alaska, perhaps Winter Solstice was a nonevent. But it is an event in Alaska. This event harkens back to the prehistory of colonization. Frankly, it’s my favorite private holiday where we gather together and yell and cheer for the sun to come back.

Winter Solstice—This is the best of times. The sun wakes very slowly these days and stretches low in the sky, allowing for more than one sunrise in most locations. The Sun (finally) leisurely peaks around 1230 and then immediately turns around and begins to nap and set simultaneously. Once again there are usually several long, lengthy, consecutive sunsets. It is a special kind of solstice light all day, which is rich golden color. In early afternoons, the sun is so low in the sky that it is difficult to drive southwest without being blinded. We are so fortunate to see this SUN phenomena in Palmer and our typical celebrations and Solstice parties are genuine. Starting tomorrow, our planet will begin to tip back to the light and the deliberate change in axis is a delightful thing to recognize with Solstice.

The Dark—We know that the dark is temporary. We accept that it heals. Sometimes it does us well to just stand still and absorb its significance. Instead of jovial jumping around party style, we can simply walk in to the dark woods and experience the shortest days and what they mean to us. This quiet retrospective walk is almost a prayer and always a rich moment of awareness.

And With Joy Comes Christmas! — What a crazy special week this is….solstice and holy days. It is no wonder that we end the entire year with celebration. I wish you warmth and light and love of community. I hope your dogs and children behave, your neighbors are kindly, your vehicle starts and your family is together. Great thanks to our leaders, our followers, the first responders, law enforcement, service providers, spiritual and community leaders, helpers and generous volunteers. Give a kind word to a stranger please. May the winds settle down and some snow cover the land.

Barbara Hunt is both Palmer writer and artist. She works hard to keep the robust pulse of Palmer, Alaska. She shares the good stuff in the weekly Palmer Alaska Buzz Column in the Mat Su Valley Frontiersman and daily on the Palmer Alaska Buzz Facebook Group. Contact at bhunt@mtaonline.net or text 907.315.3222