Friday February 4th.
Today is a magical day on Upernavik because it is the day the sun will come back. Beathe and I made our way to the school for 12.30 to see the children and then we went on climbing up the mountain. It was very cold on the way up and the rabbit fur on my hat had icicle on it where my breath froze. I was reminded of the pictures of explorer’s beards doing exactly the same. When we had climbed about three quarters of the way up we could see the children and their teachers setting off. I think there were probably about 500 people including all the kids and at 1.39 they sang the song of welcome. Many of the children were holding cardboard images of the sun. They were all very happy and excited. The sun actually didn’t show except for a rosy hue around the clouds. It had been snowing all morning and cloud was thick. The village knew it was there though and climbed back down after the song finished. On the way back I met Finn the school librarian. He invited me to take books out of the library when it opens at 2 on Sunday. As we walked he talked about climate change and how he had to get rid of his dogs because he could no longer afford to feed a pack that couldn’t earn its keep. It is when the Greenlanders talk of the lack of sea ice that I am really able to see how bad their plight is. They worry for the loss of tradition but far more serious is their loss of food and income. They already have much longer periods of inactivity because the hunting season has become so much shorter. They are hoping the sea will freeze by mid February but it should have been frozen months ago.
Wanted to get back down to the shoreline outside my house to try to draw the rocks but it had snowed last night and my footprints from yesterday had been covered. As it was still snowing I decided not to chance it and spent the afternoon making pastel drawings
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