Winter Solstice Lantern Festival

On December 21st, the longest night of the year, we stopped in at the Winter Solstice Lantern Festival at The Roundhouse in Yaletown (Vancouver). We didn't stay for very long as most of the interesting things (eg. a darkened room containing a labyrinth made from 700 beeswax candles) had long queues, and we didn't want to see anything that badly!


We caught a glimpse of a few homemade lanterns that people had carried to The Roundhouse in a procession led by drummers before we arrived, but unfortunately didn't get any photos of them. There were some fancy ones!

We also saw some Morris dancing (a traditional dance from England) by a group of middle-aged ladies called the Tiddley Cove Morris Dancers. I find some of the more unusual things people do for hobbies so fascinating!!

And this funky young violin troupe called Twisted String...

After leaving The Roundhouse, we wandered to a nearby Starbucks, sipped a gingerbread latte (I'm slowly working my way through their seasonal offerings menu!), read The Georgia Straight for an hour or so, and then took the Skytrain home again. And just as we do after every Skytrain trip downtown, we resolved to go more often because it really is so quick and easy... and there's always something new to see or do in Vancouver!