Hot Springs celebrates the winter solstice with light

Matt Unrau

Two days before the shortest day of the year Hot Springs residents made sure that the town was all aglow even at night. With enough candles and fire to go around their Winter Solstice Celebration lit up the darkest shadows in the streets.

Starting with a living nativity and hayrides and ending with the Luminaria Labyrinth and fire dancing the community event that started out as a private party a few years ago got the whole town together to celebrate longer days ahead.

“For me it’s the shortest day and the longest night and it’s an opportunity to look at the changing season and to welcome back the light,” says Lisa Pearl, coordinator of the event.

Plus it’s an opportunity to get the community out on the streets together and to have a good time together.

After the traditional daylight activities, the Luminaria Labyrinth started off the night activities. Located at Hot Springs City Park 288 jars with lighted candles inside made up a circular maze with no dead ends and no corners.

Walking around the outside first, visitors would continually walk around the labyrinth in continually smaller circles until they stood at the center of the labyrinth where a large bowl rested. There they could throw in an object to commemorate their walk and meditate on the solstice and whatever was on their mind.

“The labyrinth is a meditation tool and it goes hand in hand with the reflective nature of the solstice, so we put two and two together,” says Pearl.

For Ruth Isreal, the labyrinth gave her the opportunity to count her blessings. Isreal’s husband died in October of 2008 and she says her biggest blessing is having the “community altogether and knowing each other.” She compares the town to a big family and enjoys community events like these.

“It’s good to count your blessings,” says Isreal. “Your walking with the light and I don’t know you think many things.”

For a young girl, Zinnia Collins, the thing she was just simply amazed that the labrynth wasn’t a maze.

“You think you get stuck when you get to the middle, but you have to turn around.”

When Zinnia made it to the middle of the labrynth she looked around and asked, “what are we supposed to do once we get to the middle.” She was answered by a man saying “just take a moment and contemplate.”

Afterwards, Zinnia said her contemplations were very simple, she simply thought “cool.”

The cool part for Zinnia was all of the lighted candles, which is what makes this labrynth unique.

“We were just thinking about light and the light represents the solstice and we wanted to do an evening or an at dusk activity. The labrynth is different because it’s lighted at night,” says Pearl.

Shortly after residents started weaving their way through the labrynth the highlight of the night, the Bio Luminesce Fire Dance Troupe, began to wow the crowds with complex and sometimes hilarious fire dancing routines.

Travis Engle of Sandpoint, Idaho started the one-hour performance by saying “we are almost at the darkest day and it is now a goal of moving into the light again.” He then read a poem by Robert Frost titled “Fire and Ice” and he began the performance by blowing a large cloud of fire in front of a memorized crowd.

The troupe completed several routines that ranged from a group of animals including a monkey with a fire tail to simple interpretative dances.