22 July 2013 A new take on daylight

The Origin of Daylight

Since I’ve been researching Eskimo folk legends in regards to natural disasters, I thought I'd post an interesting take on the daylight in Alaska -- this is a fun follow up to yesterday's journal. The origin of daylight, as according to Eskimo folk tales, is as follows:

Before the time of the forefathers, the whole Earth and all the heavens were covered in dark. Both the fox and the bear were men, and they met one day on an ice-floe.

The fox said: “Let there be light, the then I can see where the best seal beathing-holes are.”

The bear replied, ”Let it stay dark, for I can sniff out the best seal breathing-holes in the dark.”

The fox was the better angakok (like a shaman), the more cunning, the more powerful with words of the two. And thus, daylight came into the world. The bear retreated to a dark ice-cave while the fox remained on the floes.

Since then, human beings have been very grateful to the fox for making daylight and they do not eat fox meat unless they’re starving.

( Obed, Jeremiah. "The Origin of Daylight." A Kayak Full of Ghosts: Eskimo Folk Tales. Northampton: Interlink, 2010. 22. Print. )

The wind's a blowin'

The wind really picked up today, making it a bit "un-pleasant" outside, but causing a lot of ice to blow in from further out on the ocean. Anne and I plan to go out tonight to view the new ice and take some photos. If I get any good shots, I'll post them in tomorrow's journal.