Letters from the North

12. 12. 2019

11:30 AM

KINGSTON

Lett er s For fro m t my spec he N ial o frie rth nd

£1

Revontulet By: Aryobe Merab ran out of the tent. It was now or never. Everyone was asleep and winter was finally here. Áddjá had told him that tulikettu prints had been sighted around the village. It was his opportunity to catch one and become rich! Imagine his father’s pride! Especially after he had inadvertedly lost a reindeer earlier that day. He frowned as he grabbed his little spear, holding back a tear. Everyone would see. He would prove them all wrong.

He was well aware he was ignoring the wisdom of the elders. Merab had never been one for caring too much for tradition, though. His parents told him and his sister year after year that they should not look at the lights in the sky or whistle back to them when winter came, because they could risk being taken by the spirits and never finding their way back. What a silly tale, he thought.

Of course grownups would say that, they wanted tulikettu all to themselves.

A few hours later, the only sound he could hear was the snow crunching under his feet. He was starting to regret the idea. Merab remembered how, before he passed, Áddjá, the village elder and his grandfather, had told him about the fire fox. “Only the bravest and most cunning hunter can catch him. And whoever does, will be forever wealthy.” However, Merab had never had time to ask Áddjá how to find a giant fox in the middle of a snowy forest.

Merab realized he had been silently crying at the memory of his grandfather when a frozen tear rolled down his cheek. As he tried to wipe his blurry vision, he saw a giant fox a few feet from him. He stood frozen, hidden between the trees. He was not sure if tulikettu had noticed him. His vision still blurry, he admired its bright red, fiery fur. Tulikettu looked at him and ran. Merab chased after him without second guessing himself. This was his chance. No one would believe him.

Tulikettu ran far ahead from him, its stride putting space between them by the minute. Merab was so caught up in the chase that he did not realize the bright green and blue lights growing around him. As they whistled, he whistled back, hoping that tulikettu would listen to him and halt.

When his father and a group of hunters from the village found him buried in a fox’s den the next day, he was unconscious. It was only days later, when he was taking a warm bath and he stared at the flames, that he remembered tulikettu’s eyes staring at him from within the lights. He became lost in the depth of those black pools. He didn’t even know he was whistling. And then, beside tulikettu, stood Áddjá, tall and strong, as he once was. He grabbed Merab and brought him into the lights with him. There, Áddjá shared his most valuable possession with Merab: he told him his people’s story, from the beginning to the end. “Merab, you, like me at your age, have caught tulikettu - or rather - he has caught us. You are now the wealthiest man in the village, for you hold our story. You must make sure the story lives on…”

“Merab! Tell us about tulikettu, please!”

He looked away from the flames and into all the children’s eyes. Merab, the village’s elder smiled as he started: “Only the bravest and most cunning hunter can chase tulikettu and his fiery coat into the lights. And whoever does, will be forever wealthy.”

Gouvssu By: Aryobe

Most of Autumn had passed. Márjá sat outside the tent.

She held her reed pipe in her hands and was absentmindedly handling it. She was thinking about that evening when her brother Aggi had been stricken down by a massive reindeer.

He had been the greatest hunter of the younsters and some thought he was going to be the next chief. Nature, however had other plans. She still remembered the blue streaks in his brothers clothing, the ones that identified him, they were even on his flute.

“Márjá, how’s the music going?”

Márjá came back to herself. She moved her head sideways, sadly. Tears had dried long ago, and yet, she was not able to make music or even sing. What was worse, she was expected to participate in the festival with a juoigan of her own at the beginning of winter. All the other tribes were here and the festival would begin as soon as the first snow fell.

Márjá woke up. She heard something oustide. She slipped past her parents and stepped out of the tent. She heard a beautiful song coming from the trees. The tune reminded her of the one she and Aggi used to play together. As the snow fell lightly on the ground, she turned around a corner and found herself staring at a small jay bird. It was brown and had a streak of blue on its wings. They stared at each other for a moment - Márjá realised she was smiling and whistling together with the jaybird. She was so focused on whistling, that she did not realise the lights glowing around her. They were green, orange, and purple.

The jaybird took flight and faded into the lights. As it disappeared into them, they turned blue and it seemed as if the whole sky was whistling together with Márjá.

The next day, was spent making preparations for the festival and at night, each tribe had a representative perform in the festival. When it was Márjá’s turn to perform her juoigan, she took her reed flute in her hands and envisioned the jay bird. As she transitioned from the flute to her voice and sang the story of a great young hunter, the village became engulfed in the whistling - blue lights that descended from the skies.

It was a magical night and Márjá earned her position as a story teller. To this day, people who were there said that if you looked closely, you could see Aggi’s spirit singing with Márjá. ”

The Salmon Ligts By: Seth Adam Smith

It is said that not long after their creation, the Salmon lost their way. Aimlessly they swam in the rivers and waters of Alaska but in their wonderings they found neither home nor rest. Then one day, a legendary being appeared to them at the base of a great mountain, a beast of unspeakable wisdom and healing, the white bear. The bear came to the edge of the waters and spoke to the salmon: “look to the light, swim to the top of the great mountain, there you will find your home, there you will swim in the eternal river of the sky”.

The smallest of the salmon peaked on top of the water and talked to the bear: “how can we swim upstream? It is against our nature, we do not have the strength”. “If you look upward and fight onward…” replied the bear “… you can conquer the great mountain.

An so it was that those who chose to follow the bear began the long journey to the summit of the great mountain. Swimming upstream was tiring and painful, some of the salmon turned back and those who remained began to feel discouraged.

“Look to the heavens” reminded one of the salmon, and so the others looked up, high above them was the night sky, but with numberless glittering stars.

Despite the darkness of the hour, the light of these stars reminded the salmon of the bear’s promise. With renewed energy, the salmon began to swim upstream, as they moved forward, they discovered they were being filled with a wonderful new light; changing colours from silvers and greys, magnificent greens and reds.

After a long time of difficult swimming, the salmon made it to the very top of the great mountain. As they peaked out from the water upon the stars, they found, with astonishment and joy, that they could touch the night’s sky; it was not an endless expand of air as they assumed, but an endless expanse of water.

It was an eternal river.

This former wanderers wanted more than anything to swim in the water, to live amongst the stars! But something inside them held them back, they looked down the mountain into the valley and saw the other salmon lost in the darkness below. “What about them?” They wondered out loud. As they said this, the white bear once again appeared before them, he told them that in order for the salmon to help those who were struggling below, they must swim in the eternal river and become a light for those who are wondering in the darkness.

Knowing what they truly wanted, the salmon let go of all their worries and fears and dove into the night sky. Then, they who had become so full of life and light themselves, became the northern lights, a river of light to guide the way for others who wander in darkness.

Nanook By: M.A.B It was strange. The night was peaceful, and yet… something was different. The sky like a deep blue ocean spoke of infinity, and the shining stars marked the stories that had been. The mountains were like paint brushes in the horizon, strong and distant.

Amka, a young Inuit girl, sat at the border of the cliff, far from everyone else. She still couldn’t believe what she had witnessed.

Her parents said it was something common, that people from other cultures didn’t understand nature like they did. But still… how could they! She was a mother. Amka had seen the cubs hiding in the snow, and now they were out there, all alone.

She wondered what it was she was feeling, her whole body was trembling while the night whispered in her mind. Something had to be done. And so, she started running back; back where they had been before. As she slid down the mountain, the snow shone like fluorescent powder, guiding her path; she knew the spirits were on her side. It was hard to understand what those giant men were trying to do, hurt mother nature for sure, but why would they kill all those innocent trees and animals? The box full of trunks would hunt her mind forever. And even worse, Nanook… poor beautiful Nanook. Tears blurred her vision before they turned into salty flakes. She looked back and saw how the lights of the village faded into the stars, there was no turning back.

Amka finally reached the feet of the mountain for she could hear the mourning trees. The machines were still there, and the men were inside the tent. There wasn’t a lot of time so she figured the best thing would be to find the cubs before they did. The wind was now louder than ever and the snowflakes started brushing against the ground like arrows into the darkness. So she followed cautiously and suddenly she found them, all of them! In a hollow corner, were the animals hiding together, hugged by the few trees that had been left behind. Now that the great Nanook was gone, there was nobody to defend them.

The giants started to surface from the tents, big torches illuminated the way. They walked heavily with rifles hanging on their backs, making their way to the sacred spot. And so Amka trembled with the rest, while she held the small polar cubs she could see the shining eyes of the others; the caribou seemed smaller than ever and the white fox, rolled into a ball, covered himself from what was coming.

The shadows in the corner became bigger until the giants were standing right in front of them, their faces covered by the round rifle choke. In that instant, Amka felt a strong fire inside, her body was no longer her own, it felt as though the wind was carrying her. With her eyes closed she ran and stood in front of the giants with her palms up like shields.

Their faces were surprised and, with a loud gasp, they stepped back.

Astonished, Amka started to notice a light surrounding her and as she turned around she saw the great Nanook shining behind; because of her courage, dozens of coloured animals stepped down from the skies to help. The spirits passed her like whispers, storming quickly against the shadows.

The giants disappeared and so the spirits returned to the heavens. The only one left was the queen of polar bears, and as she stared at Amka she slowly bowed. Nanook kissed her children goodbye and jumped to join the dancing lights.

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Northern Lights The Arctic Circle