Burning the Clocks 2023

Burning the Clocks is a unique community event held on the 21st of December, created by Same Sky, that brings the whole city together to mark the shortest day of the year. Local people make their own paper and willow lanterns, using our kits, and after parading through the city, they pass them into a blazing bonfire on Brighton beach, as a token of the year’s end. The annual event brings the city together to celebrate the shortest day of the year and provide an antidote to the excesses of Christmas with a different theme every year. This year’s theme is Clocks, which will be reflected in the lanterns made by the community for the parade. This theme was inspired by our changing perception of time’s passage after the event’s successful return last winter. 

Artistic Director John Varah said: “Burning the Clocks is having its great reset, passing the time with ticking distractions, delightful nonsense, and ​a thousand illuminations; to render a few dark, silent hours even stiller.”

Burning the Clocks is a free public event.

Same Sky is supported by Arts Council England and the Chalk Cliff Trust.