EDMONTON – Often referred to as ‘the shortest day of the year,’ Saturday marks the official start to winter with the fewest number of daylight hours.
In Edmonton on Saturday, the sun will rise at 8:48 a.m. and set at 4:16 p.m., leaving Edmontonians in the dark for nearly 17 hours.
With these somewhat unique circumstances of northern living, a local organization has started an initiative asking Edmontonians to share their stories of what the “longest night of the year feels like in Edmonton.”
“We know that the solstice in the winter can be a hard time because it is so dark and there is so much of it. But we feel that it’s important to know that there are other people who are out there doing things with you,” said Heather Zwicker, founder of the #yeglongnight movement.
“This is the biggest city that exists this far north in Canada and there is something special that comes along with this.”
By using the hashtag #yeglongnight, people are encouraged to share their pictures, videos, stories and experiences through social media. Zwicker says the campaign is all about finding the beauty in the long period of darkness.
“What does it mean to live in this darkness? How does it change our experience of those precious seven hours of light?”
“Edmonton has such a rich, vibrant history and culture, yet it hasn’t been celebrated and researched the way other cities have been. Today, social media and crowd sourcing have become such great tools with so much potential,” Zwicker added.
The event, led by Zwicker and other members of the Edmonton Pipelines Project — a University of Alberta multi-platform initiative that maps Edmonton in unconventional ways — began at sunset Friday and continues until the sun sets on Saturday afternoon.
“I can only imagine what winter magic people in Edmonton will capture for #yeglongnight,” Zwicker said. “(It) will bring together the voices of citizens from all walks of life, building an archive of public experience.”
Comments