The world above us is cold and gray, summer a distant memory. Our world too has known its winters, so each year we begin this feast in darkness, as our world began in darkness.
This was a land of lost hope and twisted dreams, a land of despair, where the sounds of footsteps coming down a tunnel were the sounds of terror. Where mean reached for knives and rocks and worse at the sound of other men's voices.
We all were a part of one another, one family, one community. Sometimes we forget this and so we meet here each year to give thanks to those who have helped us and to remember, even the greatest darkness is nothing, so long as we share the light.
Darkness almost engulfed us, but our unity gave us strength. Our shared light showed us the truth. As we part for another year let us remember. Darkness is only the absence of light...and all winters end.
Vincent, it's beautiful. Remember how I told you that when I was little I was afraid of the dark. My mother gave me a candle to light at my bedside before I went to sleep. Just a tiny little thing, a birthday candle. Somehow, it made it all right. I have loved candles ever since.
This is no ordinary candle. This is for Winterfest. It is a special time for us. We have other celebrations, all the holidays and traditions we share with your world, but Winterfest is our own. A time to remember the past, dream of the future. Each year, we deliver these candles to our helpers in the world Above. Without their light, our world would be dark. Our lives would be cold without their warmth.The candles are our way of saying that they're a part of us. Everyone, the entire community has agreed this year that Winterfest would be incomplete unless you are there.
My oldest memory is of a Winterfest. I must have been three or four. I remember a cold, dark room. Footsteps echoed all around me. I was frightened. Devin held my hand. Then, they lit the candles and the darkness pushed back. When I saw the tapestries for the first time...they took my breath away.
It is a mystery that we have never solved, Catherine. Perhaps, they are enchanted. I use to imagine they were magic windows that if I stared at them long enough and hard enough they might open up and I could pass through to another world. But when I reached out, they were only cloth.
Winterfest is a time for brotherhood, for joy and trust. Now, if we forget that, if we let this day of all days to be tainted with fear...then Paracelsus will truly have won.
