Although our winter days in Edmonton are shorter than our summer ones, we take our daily light for granted. But there are places above the Arctic Circle that do not get light at all for a number of days or weeks in the winter. In the summer, they get 24 hours of sun. For people who live in the Arctic, the sun and its light and warmth, are important parts of their lives, legends, and traditions.

When I lived in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, for more than a year, I experienced the 24 hour darkness and sun first hand. In the winter, the sun does not come up from around Dec. 6 to January 20. At first, there is an eerie half-light around noon, but the very darkest days of total darkness come around Christmas. Those six weeks of darkness seem really long. When the sun finally comes up over the horizon, the people of Inuvik have a Sunrise Festival to celebrate the return of the light and warmth of the sun.

In the summer above the Arctic Circle, there are about six weeks of 24-hour sun. It was amazing to me to find children playing outside at 3 a.m. in full daylight. It is hard to sleep – the light programs our “days” more than we recognize. Yellowknife has a Festival of the Midnight Sun in late June. In Inuvik, the sun goes around in a little circle in the sky, never going down below the horizon for six weeks.

These facts of light and darkness may seem strange to those of us who live in Edmonton. But to the First Peoples living North of 60, traditionally Dene and Inuit, there are many stories and legends about how and why the light happens.

I lived in Yellowknife, NWT , also during the winter/summer, and in Mayo, Yukon. Both are located a couple of degrees south of the Arctic Circle. In both places the sun comes up above the horizon for only a couple of hours during the winter days. There is a kind of blue half-light that one gets used to, but when I took photos, I was surprised at how blue the photos really were. In the summer it is the opposite – there are only a couple of hours of darkness, and it is not really dark, just dusk-like. In Yellowknife, the half-light of winter, as the sun barely rises over the horizon, created incredible red skies.

These facts of light and darkness may seem strange to those of us who live in Edmonton. But to the First Peoples living North of 60, traditionally Dene and Inuit, there are many stories and legends about how and why the light happens. These are woven around facts of a sun cycle that people all around the world experience every year to different degrees. As we enjoy this coming holiday season, note the importance of light in many of the stories and traditions from Canada’s North and other countries.

Dr. Joanne McNeal is a McCauley homeowner, who lived and taught in several Arctic communities between 1989 and 2006. She assisted the Great Northern Arts Festival in Inuvik for 12 summers. Her doctoral research focused on Western Arctic Women Artists. She is preparing an exhibit of Arctic artwork for the Education Library at the U of A in January and February, 2013.