"We stand, as it were, upon the borders of two worlds; and as the mood of our minds may be, we may gather lessons of profound wisdom by contrasting the one with the other..."
– Joseph Story, Mount Auburn Cemetery Consecration Address, September 1831

A Message from Mount Auburn Cemetery

Since 1831 Mount Auburn has been a place to commemorate the dead, console the bereaved, and inspire all who visit here. Nearly two centuries later, more than 100,000 people have come to be buried and remembered here while countless visitors have entered our gates seeking the healing and inspirational powers of this sacred space. In some ways, the seeds for SOLSTICE: Reflections on Winter Light were planted with Mount Auburn's founding. Like the cemetery, SOLSTICE has been designed with a careful balance of art and nature. It reflects the great dualities of life-- loss and renewal, sorrow and joy, endings and beginnings, darkness and light-- and recognizes that only with one is the other possible.

Grounded in these same themes, Mount Auburn has welcomed its community for a Winter Solstice gathering for the past thirty years. Taking its cues from nature's need to pause and reset during the winter season, Mount Auburn's annual gathering provided a space for inward reflection on all that had come before and all that was still to be. Drawing heavily from the tradition of placing lit candles in cemeteries to remember loved ones, thousands have figuratively and metaphorically brought light into the darkness for themselves and for others who have joined us in this community act over the past three decades.

While honoring these well-rooted traditions, SOLSTICE: Reflections on Winter Light brings new opportunities for connecting with Mount Auburn and experiencing its incredible landscape. We are grateful to our artistic partners, MASARY Studios, for helping us to show Mount Auburn in a new light– as a place of welcome where the natural world, the seasons of life, and human stories will always be celebrated. 

A Message from MASARY

Since 2020, our artist collective has partnered with Mount Auburn Cemetery to shape a new winter solstice tradition —an annual gathering that honors both the timeless cycle of light and dark and the history of this extraordinary place known as Mount Auburn Cemetery.

What began nearly three decades ago as a small gathering has now grown into a regional tradition that is one of a kind. SOLSTICE offers a space for reflection that is rooted in Mount Auburn’s landscape of remembrance, nature, and renewal. Through this participatory experience we invite guests to pause, to reflect, and to experience the profound resonance of this moment in our shared seasonal calendar.

Each year, our artworks we create respond to the Cemetery’s unique character and to the solstice itself: a legible turning point where darkness deepens, yet the promise of light returns. The pieces offered this year explore rhythm and personal meaning; presenting concepts deriving from celestial cycles, the harmonies of the natural world, and the gaze of introspection. 

We each arrive at the winter solstice carrying something of our own: grief, wonder, contemplation, connection. Together these experiences form a collective poem—fragmented yet whole, personal yet shared—and are all welcomed to be felt during the event.

As the SOLSTICE event continues to grow, we see it maturing into a lasting tradition for both new and returning community members who seek meaning in this turning of the year. We welcome you to walk with us again this season: to step into reflection, to be present with the beauty of Mount Auburn, and to discover what the solstice may hold for you this year.