November 2026

ights has become firmly established as part of many people’s pre-Christmas ritual. For one week the Cathedral hosts a stunning immersive display. Its vaults, arches, and walls become the screens upon which a bewitching sequence of images and animations are shown. Dinosaurs have lumbered along the aisles; whales have leapt in the nave; the glories of Renaissance art have lit up the transepts. The building has been filled with people, young and old, many of them visiting the Cathedral for the first time. In 2025 Sarum Lights brought more than 13,000 visitors to the Cathedral.

Light in the darkness: that’s the essence of Sarum Lights. The projections would not work on balmy August evenings. It’s only in the gloom of the approaching winter that they can be seen. The colours and shapes prompt the warmth of a shared experience. The Lights beget light. Cameras are held aloft; children gasp in amazement; families chat about what they’ve seen over cups of hot chocolate. And the night-time streets are busy – after hours, for this one week, the city comes to life, and its shops, pubs and cafés thrive. Light in the darkness: dazzling images, the joy of human company, the bustle of the lively thoroughfares. In the light of Sarum Lights we see such light.

November offers so many moments to enjoy the thrilling sight of light in the darkness. A sparkler twirled on Guy Fawkes Night, perhaps, or a candle lit in memory of the fallen, or a brooch of bright red petals worn in the autumn mist and drizzle.

For in reimagining light in the darkness Sarum Lights is only catching up with what our culture and our Church have done at this time of year for many centuries. October ends with All Souls, and with the opportunity to light candles and remember those we love but see no longer. Then November opens with All Saints, when we honour those women and men of faith whose lives have shone brightly in their generation (at the Cathedral, Bishop Karen will present the Cross of St Aldhelm to those who have served our Diocese with distinction – whose light has guided, helped, and enabled many others to flourish). Remembrancetide follows. The scarlet of our poppies glows against the often-solemn tones of military uniforms and winter overcoats, recalling us to the sacrifice made by many in service of the liberty we enjoy.

These weeks lead us to the end of the liturgical year with the celebration of Christ the King. The infant who is greeted as ‘a light to reveal you to the nations’ is acclaimed as the universal Lord, to whom all things are subject. Our Lights may beget further light, but at our year’s end we are reminded that it is Christ’s light that illuminates all things. ‘…In your light shall we see light’, as the Psalmist puts it. Only in Christ are our eyes truly opened, and in Christ there is no darkness at all.

Light in the darkness. Hope renewed at the end of a challenging year.

Nicholas Papadopulos, Dean of Salisbury