Here comes the sun: How communities celebrate the return of light and longer days

An orangish-pink glow painted the eastern sky where elders gathered in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, to welcome the sun after a polar night where the solar system’s only star hung below the horizon for 42 days.

A blanket of fog obscured the golden rays poking over the fringes at 11:48 a.m. on Jan. 12. Environment and Climate Change Canada said the sun peeked above the horizon for just under an hour.

Elder Pongok Mabel Etegik, 79, said it was nice to see the sun rise and the sky turn red, even if the fog played spoilsport.

Speaking in Inuinnaqtun, she recalled how her parents never stopped hunting and fishing even during the polar nights but said the warmth of the sun and the brightness were always welcome.

Etegik then joined others for a feast at the Cambridge Bay Wellness Centre, celebrating the sun’s return. There was lots of caribou and muskox stew, Arctic char, bannock, and other delights.

Across the pages of history, people from different cultures, communities and countries have celebrated the return of the sun as days get longer after the cold and dark of winter.

In the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice usually begins on Dec. 21, as the Earth’s tilt lengthens the number of daylight hours.

Before electricity and heat were available with the flick of a switch, people tracked the movement of the sun for light and warmth.

Pagans marked the length and passing of days using stone circles, said Yellowknife resident Henri Brown, who practices Paganism.

Paganism adheres to the belief system that all of nature – trees, rocks, water, animals and people – are connected to each other, she said.

“Back when they couldn’t run to the co-op and get a calendar … people who were observant noticed the passing of the seasons,” Brown said.

“On Dec. 21 … they noticed that this was the longest night and shortest day.”

People held a feast to mark the date, Brown said.

“A feast would then make sure everybody in the village got something to eat,” she said. “There was fire because there was always fire. There was always drumming, there was always music, singing and dancing. This was the signal to the whole village that the sun is going to come back.”