Today I am thinking about “The Long Dark.” Dec. 21 we all experience the longest night of the year but our friends in the Canadian north are now in the dark. We all have shorter days but they now have 24 hour velvety night skies. The land of the midnight sun where it doesn’t get dark on June 21 becomes the land of the all day dark. As much as I love the north I wonder if I would be up to that. I think I might. I love walking with the stars over my head, I love the sharp feeling of cold on my face and the look of the land with snow on the bottom and heavy blue on the top. Somehow it never gets dark with the snow reflecting in stars and it is positively brilliant on moonlit nights. On the other hand, how would you know if you could live in constant light unless you had tried. A woman I met in Inuvik said that many people can’t take it and leave after the first winter.
In my fantasy I imagine a soft midnight world, where people gather to sit together and tell the stories of the past year, learn more about themselves and rest for the next year. The reality of the modern northern towns and cities probably sees people rushing to their 8am jobs, shopping and living life as normal in the long dark just the way we do. I wonder if we shouldn’t all go back to the long winter way of thinking…using the deep nights to learn and conserve what we have. SO, with that in mind, have a long and dark Christmas with a relaxed and meditative new year, while you wait for the long light to release you into activity. Merry Christmas. I am thinking of you all.
Picture used with kind permission of www.yukonretreat.com
I was just thinking about you and I sat down to my computer and there you were, thinking about cold dark nights all day long. It was a beautiful picture you pained. Here’s hoping your Christmas is dark and soft and safe and it holds you until you are ready to climb out of its embrace and ready yourself for the road once again.
Hey Vicki,
does the journey continue this summer??
hope all is well.
Shannon from Sechelt who’s now up in La Ronge Sk