Bonfire lights up longest night of the year

MADISON, Wis. (WMDX) – As the sun began to set on Sunday, hundreds gathered in Olbrich Park for a bonfire, celebrating the season in a way that’s deeply rooted in ritual and tradition. 

As the wind from Lake Monona blew in, organizers led brief winter affirmations. “It will get warmer,” the crowd repeated, “and everything will get easier.”

Then organizers in florescent vests set a carefully-stacked pile of Christmas trees ablaze. As the roaring flame died down, participants set about tossing their secrets into the blaze.

It’s a winter solstice celebration that has been taking place for 24 years now.

“I go around and give people pieces of paper and they write down the wishes that they want to happen, the things that they want to let go of, for themselves or for someone else. And then they commit them to the flames,” said Will, a “wish agent.”

Rituals like this date back to the end of the Stone Age. As the sun kept disappearing, celebrations and sacrifices were made to convince the sun to come back for warmth, harvest and survival.

“This seems to be a moment where people have been drawing inward for awhile now, it’s the longest and darkest night. After this people hopefully start to go outward and then expand,” added Will.

The winter solstice is the first day of winter, and Sunday brought nearly 15 hours of darkness. The sun sat directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, at 23.5 degrees south of the equator, at its lowest elevation of the year. To picture this better, it was positioned by Australia, Chile, southern Brazil.

“To bring the sun back to us!” chanted the crowd.

Days following will, in turn, get longer. Minute by minute, the sun will begin extending its stay each day for the entire winter season. By the end of this month, we gain an extra whopping 45 minutes of daylight.

That will lead us up to the spring equinox, which gives us an equal amount of daylight and darkness.

Rituals like this have Pagan roots, combined with the modern celebration of light. 

Ritually, the burning of the Yule log in bonfires rids fears and ensures good fortune, symbolizing cleansing and new beginnings.

“Drawing inward and spending more time to focus on yourself is a good thing. I think also taking time to focus on things outside of you is also good it’s just a different perspective,” said Will. “I like to take a moment to reflect on what I wrote down, then throw it into the fire, seal it in with another moment and then step back.”

Braving the cold, I ran into Claire Steward who just moved to Madison from Salt Lake City. 

“We write our future selves notes for the next year, so I kept this letter with us and we drove across the country with this little envelope and it’s been waiting for me all year. I am excited to open this today. I think it’s an opportunity to reflect on that. Have a little bit more excitement going into next year, cause we are staying in Madison and it feels really good.”

With the drums setting the tone and the lights to draw you in…

“I’m going to remember how we were all together and around the fire and at night and celebrating the winter solstice even in these costumes and everything. It’s been a lot of fun. All of it, the whole experience,” said Gail Machare-Paganelli, from 350 Wisconsin Art Group.

She was wearing a tiger costume. Dancing around and posing for pictures, she wasn’t alone. Paper mache hats traveled from head to head.

“Some people are wearing full costumes, my Dad has this stick with a dragon fly, it’s a huge stick that’s really tall. It’s a lot of fun and a lot of variety of costumes.”

Celebrating wildlife, light and the Earth — here’s to winter, ringing in the renewal.