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TALES FROM THE DUMP: Enjoy the winter wonderland

In case you hadn’t noticed it: It's a winter wonderland outside.

Not just in Yellowknife but in the whole Northwest Territories. And it’s like that for six, seven, eight or more months of the year, depending on where you live or visit. So, that could be another tourist aspect of the North. If you want to see a winter wonderland, we certainly have a lot of it to see: in the mountains; the Mackenzie valley; on the Canadian Shield; the tundra; and of course in the Arctic. In the low, middle or high arctic. Take your pick, in fact it stretches all the way to the North Pole, if you are truly adventurous. Now, how is that for a ho, ho, ho?

We are entering that magic season between mid-December and mid-January. Some call it the yuletide or the Solstice season. It is the darkest period of the year. Northern people, around the world, have celebrated it in one way or another, for centuries. People from the south would marvel at it and I think it is something that the peoples of the North should celebrate even more. After all its dark outside, so why not make the most of it.

In case you were wondering, this year the winter Solstice occurs on Dec. 21 at 3.23 p.m. Mountain Time. I think everyone should mark the occasion, in some special way and it might not be a bad idea to have some sort of community celebration.

At 3.23 p.m., maybe all the sirens and horns in town should blare, and then everyone rushes outside to welcome the astronomical and celestial end of one year and the beginning of another. Now, I am sure that some traditionalists are going to argue that Jan. 1 is the start of the new year. However, that’s a human invention and just because some twits got it wrong centuries ago, that is really no reason to continue with that folly today. After all, 'tis the season to be jolly.

Perhaps the city could have a big bonfire out on Frame Lake. Then people could walk around it, creating circles in the snow, like a northern medicine wheel or Stonehenge. It would be even more fun if everyone dressed up as ptarmigan or other birds that stay for winter. Imagine this: a ring of people dressed as woodpeckers, chickadees going clockwise, then a ring of ptarmigan going counter clockwise followed by a ring of ravens going clockwise then a ring of redpolls going counter. On the outside you could have four birds representing the cardinal points, a bald eagle, a golden eagle, an osprey and a thunder bird swooping along.

It could become a YouTube sensation, go viral and bring in bird lovers from around the globe. Customs and traditions are always changing and evolving, whether you realize it or not and an annual Ptarmigan Dance on the solstice sounds like a winner to me. We just need to start collecting up the ptarmigan feathers to make it happen.

There is another yuletide event that some like to call the Great Yellowknife Deflation. Our population radically decreases as all sorts of politicians, civil servants and residents, head south for the holidays. Pre-Christmas the planes leaving the North are filled with the Merry Makers. If you ever wanted to take over the GNWT, Christmas would be the ideal time as most of its leaders and workers are long gone.

Some return to their ancestral homes for the holidays while others travel to far and distant, warm and tropical destinations. It would be interesting if there was a big world map at the airport and everyone leaving put a red flag on it for their final holiday destination. Imagine what that map would look like now, as opposed to 20, 50 or a 100 years ago. The world of humanity has certainly changed and now people travel around the globe, often on a whim. I sometimes wonder what that map would look like 20, 50, 100 years from now.

For all those who remain in the city for the yuletide, try to make the most of it and enjoy our Winter Wonderland. Also, for everyone’s safety, please remember to drive carefully and drive sober.