California Botanic Gardens Solstice Symbols: Longest Night Art | December 12, 2026 10 am-noon

Description

Long before calendars, people marked the seasons by watching the natural world. They tracked where the sun rose along the horizon and noticed the shadows stretching longer each afternoon. When the sun seemed to stand still at its lowest point in the sky, they knew the longest night had arrived and that the light would soon begin to return.

In this class, we’ll explore the ancient symbols that grew from those observations: spirals like unfurling ferns and turning seasons, sun wheels, and radiating circles like ripples on still water or rings in a tree.