Celebrating Winter Solstice 2025 at the Meadowood SRMA

The Mustang Meadow pavilion at the Meadowood Special Recreation Management Area in Lorton, VA hosted a small celebration for the Winter Solstice this year. This special event allowed the Lower Potomac Field Station team to reach out to the surrounding community and introduce them to their public lands.

The Winter Solstice is an event that welcomes the return of the sun, as the 21st of December is the shortest day of the year and offers the least amount of daylight. This is an event that has been celebrated by humanity for thousands of years, all around the world. This is historically a celebratory occasion with music, dancing, food, and light.

While celebrating at Meadowood, staff prepared two fire pits near the pavilion in Mustang Meadow for visitors to enjoy, along with a craft table, plenty of outreach materials, and marshmallows to roast. Visitors brought camping chairs and blankets, enduring the chilly evening for some fireside fun.

Along with stickers, bookmarks, and candy canes, visitors were offered glow sticks that fastened around their wrists or coat zippers. Pinecones were gathered from trees next to the field station with the intention of creating simple holiday ornaments using various craft supplies made available by staff. Hundreds of wish papers were prepared for visitors to write wishes on, ball up the papers, and throw them into the fire; it’s often customary to make wishes on the night of the winter solstice and to welcome the return of the light with positivity. 

Throughout the evening, songs were hummed or sang, and laughter rang out into the meadow. The light from the fires and the lanterns staff placed on the tables shone on the faces of everyone there, smiling cheeks red from the wind. This event was joyous, simple, fun, and it allowed the community to make a deeper connection to their public lands. Lower Potomac staff all hope that this will continue to be an annual celebration that will continue to improve for years to come.