Winter: it’s dark, gloomy, and cold. But this year Madrid isn’t going to let these long nights put a dampener on its Christmas spirit. The 21st of December is the winter solstice, the day with the fewest hours of sunlight, but also the point from which the calendar gradually turns back towards Spring.

This year the city will be marking the occasion with a very special edition to its celebrations. A night will be filled with lights, colour and happiness as hundreds of lanterns are released into the inky black sky.

The event, which will begin at 19:00 with a lantern parade at Puente del Rey. But it’s once this display reaches it’s end that the real magic will happen. A huge firework display, designed to symbolise the transition from autumn to winter will follow the lanterns as they soar upwards into the heavens.

The lantern festival is open to the public and the parade has a maximum capacity of 1000 people.