The winter solstice, also known as midwinter, is an astronomical event celebrating the day with the shortest period of daylight and longest night of the year.  

Organiser Su Dennett said residents in Hepburn Shire celebrate both solstices each year. 

“We celebrate the summer and winter solstices to recognise the longest and shortest days of the year… I guess there’s a lot of emphasis on these things as there is a strong emphasis on going back to the land, growing and of course you really notice and are dependent on the seasons for our food.” 

She said a lot of Christian celebrations are taken from Pagan celebrations of the seasons.

“You’ve got summer, winter and the equinoxes either side, so equal days and equal nights,” she said.

Ms Dennett said it was not just spiritual people who celebrate the solstice, however.

“A lot of people have a hard time in winter because we are all holed up in our houses with our heating on and don’t want to go outside because it’s cold. 

“To celebrate the solstice means to celebrate the coming of the light again for the new year. This is the shortest day of the year, so the most night and the most blackness. We are not getting towards the end of winter but there is the enjoyment and excitement about spring arriving.”

David Holmgren said the Christian celebration of Easter is attached to the ancestral spring rebirth as the egg, resurrection and bunny symbols are “like coming out of the dead of winter”.

“All of our traditions are built around that cycle of the seasons,” he said. 

“They are exactly the same in the southern hemisphere as the northern hemisphere. We are a long way from the equator. In Victoria, we have the same seasonal pattern as in Europe but it’s six months in reverse.”

The evening encompassed different beliefs about the solstice. It involved the ritualistic component and sharing locally grown food by candlelight and music.