“There were lights everywhere, marigold windows in the shadowy walls of houses, and golden lanterns hung before the doors, and every light reflected in the river so that it made two. For in those days people still called Christmas Eve the Feast of Lights and set candles in every window and lanterns before their doors…”
~ Rosemary Sutcliff, The Armourer’s House

So here we are on Christmas Eve — Rosemary Sutcliff’s “Feast of Lights” from her novel The Armourer’s House, which is set in Tudor England.

Royal Fireworks Suite — a Christmas & New Year favourite

I have been thinking about this particular quote ever since I featured it last Monday, chiefly because I think the “light” aspect of Christmas—and festivals with similar timing, such as Hanukkah, Lucia’s festival in Sweden, and even Hogmanay (New Year) in Scotland—is probably more powerful in the Northern Hemisphere, than here in the south.

The deep midwinter, albeit NZ style 😉

That’s because in the north, Christmas and other light festivals fall on or close to the winter solstice, at the darkest time of the year, when the early drawing in of night, together with the midwinter cold, encourage candlelight and firelight and the atmosphere of romance and mystery that goes with that. Their promise is the return of the light, a promise that is captured in Ursula le Guin’s Earthsea, with the festival of Sunreturn.

Or as my friend and fellow author, Mary Victoria, put it on Twitter:

“Winter Solstice…It’s one of my favourite festivals… because I find it useful to remember that even in our darkest moments, the light is on its way back.”

Light and colour all around us

Which I get, because the Maori festival of Matariki—fast becoming a NZ festival—has a similar focus. Christmas, though, falls at what is the summer solstice for us: the longest days and—if we’re lucky—sunshine and “life’s a beach” moments.

Light in the sky

Yet all the same, there’s still something magical about a Christmas festival where light is everywhere in the natural world, lingering through the long evenings until one can light a candle in a meaningful way. And even then the night sky is deep blue velvet, the stars warm and bright, rather than a frosty black sky with icicle stars… (As I recall midwinter from my Swedish days.)

Glass, flowers, colours, all create an atmosphere of light

So in terms of the Rosemary Sutcliff quote, Christmas Eve here in the south can still be a Feast—or festival—of Lights, only in this case the light is from the natural world all around us, rather then the glimmer of firelight and candle flame.

Either way, I hope everyone who is celebrating has a very Merry Christmas Eve and Day.

And to everyone else, just have the best of days, whether beneath northern or southern skies. 🙂