Let’s welcome our winter

WINTER has well and truly come and the South, as always, has faced the season’s broadsides of snow, rain, wind and frost.

It may seem obvious that winter in the South is, for many, a season to be endured, not enthused over. While winter is happily heralded in the Southern Lakes area, for most in the region it is a time to bring in firewood, unroll the blankets and stay indoors.

While this may be a common response to winter anywhere in the temperate world, there is an argument New Zealand’s deep south, and Dunedin in particular, are missing out on some of winter’s spoils.

Festive civic winter scenes from Europe’s grand old cities are common on postcards, travel shows and tourists’ bucket lists. Of course, for most of the Western world the celebration of winter coincides with Christmas. As the temperature drops, days shorten, gloom descends and grey skies take residence. Christmas sits in the calendar like a beacon.

With a cold wintry Christmas comes Christmas markets held, more often than not, in northern cities’ central outdoor squares — out in the elements where the season’s climatic realities mingle with its festivities.

It is comforting to be amidst a crowd in winter, surrounded by grand old buildings which have withstood frosts and snowfalls and, like a resolute promise to withstand many more, continue to endure.

Many northern cities also sport outdoor icerinks for the winter months. Families and funseekers flock to them, rugging up and revelling in the cold temperatures which allow such activity.

The south of New Zealand, in contrast, has a history of apologising for winter. Comments about the region often include a negative weatherrelated addendum: Winter is cold there; beware.

While Queenstown’s Winter Festival stands out as a winter highlight, it serves more as a celebration of the opening of the snow sports season, which the town’s success has largely been built on, rather than a celebration of the season itself.

Dunedin’s magnificent Midwinter Carnival probably comes closest to being a true celebration of winter. With its illuminated lanterns, created and carried with pride by hundreds of the city’s children and artists, it has rightly become one of Dunedin’s cultural staples.

Despite that, and in spite of the increasing popularity of Matariki around the city, Dunedin still has a habit of apologising for winter. It may be time for that to change.

Cities and regions which are proud of themselves, proud of how they have adapted to the weather and geography they exist within, exude an attractive maturity often missed in this country.

Perhaps Dunedin’s growing Midwinter Carnival and Matariki celebrations, coupled with the growing confidence now evident in the city, could serve as nudges towards a new attitude.

It could be argued Dunedin is the only city across Australasia capable of pulling off a true, magical, urban celebration of winter. Dunedin could take what has often been considered its Achilles heel and turn it into an asset, a means to tap into the winter tourism hoards just a few hours away in the Southern Lakes.

And, of course, a Dunedin winter celebration could also honour the truth behind all of the world’s traditional winter celebrations; to come together as a community in a season of hardship and offer help, encouragement and cheer where it is needed.

Traditional winter celebrations are a part of the European culture many New Zealanders are very recently descended from, and they are a part of the Maori culture that existed for hundreds of years before Europeans arrived on these shores. Celebrating winter is something we have lost, not something we’re yet to gain.

Perhaps it is time Dunedin becomes the city that leads the way in reclaiming winter as a season to be celebrated.