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December 18, 2009

Celebrate the longest night of the year

Heritage plays a big part in evening's events

By MARTA HEPLER DRAHOS

TRAVERSE CITY -- A blizzard that caused Kaleva's annual winter solstice celebration to be canceled last year has residents crossing their fingers for good weather on Monday.

The tiny community has been placing luminaria on the graves at Maple Grove Township cemetery every Dec. 21 for nearly a decade to honor loved ones and to brighten the longest night of the year.

"It's an absolutely beautiful sight," said Beverly Johnson, treasurer of the Kaleva Historical Society, which sponsors the event.

The solstice celebration is one of several around the region and has its roots in Kaleva's Finnish heritage, said Johnson, who participates with grandson Drew every year. Volunteers fold down the tops of brown paper bags donated by Larry's Grocery, fill them with sand delivered by the local road commission and add six-inch emergency candles. Then the luminaria are collected by community members for placement on the gravesites.

"Light is a big thing in Kaleva and in Finnish history, especially around Christmas," Johnson said. "On Christmas Eve the trees weren't decorated, they were lighted."

This year's celebration will begin at 4 p.m. Monday, when community members light the cemetery with between 700 and 1,000 luminaria. The Rev. Diane Bareis Greble of Bethany Lutheran Church will lead a short prayer and carol service at the cemetery before the church opens its doors for a steaming soup supper.

"There's a hopefulness to it," said Bareis Greble, who has been involved in the event for five of its 10 years. "It brings signs of life and remembrance."

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation will celebrate "the return of the light and the turning point in the wheel of the year" with a nature-based spirituality service designed for families, said organizer Sarah Montgomery.

The event will begin at 5 p.m. Sunday, Solstice Eve, and will include acknowledgement of the four cardinal directions, candle-lighting and the "planting" of wishes in bread dough, which can be baked the next morning as part of a traditional solstice morning feast.

"A lot of the stuff we do has a very European, Celtic feel to it," said Montgomery, who has a degree in comparative religion and taught at Western Michigan University. "If we were really good, we'd stay up all night and see if the sun came back."

The service will be followed by a potluck meal of soup, bread and dessert topped off by carol singing with a solstice twist.

"They'll be tunes people will know, but with solstice, wintry words," Montgomery said. "We wouldn't be UUs if we didn't mix it up a little."

Raven Hill Discovery Center has hosted a winter solstice celebration at its outdoor Ancient World Exhibit site for about seven years, but will move the event indoors this year to allow more people to participate, said CEO Cheri Leach.

Instead of celebrating near a native-stone scale replica of the bluestones of Stonehenge, participants will be able to view a model of Stonehenge, make a sundial to take home, learn how water clocks work, and mark down important dates from a perpetual calendar. A bonfire, hot chocolate, s'mores and luminaria also are planned.

General admission is $8 and includes access to regular indoor and outdoor displays and exhibits.

Leach said the solstice celebration is an opportunity to connect science, history and art -- the East Jordan center's mission -- and to teach about cycles and seasons. The solstice was especially important in ancient times, when communities needed reassurance that there would be another season.

"The 21st is the longest night and the shortest day of the year; after that the days get longer," she said. "So winter solstice is the celebration of the new harvest season."

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