Humanity doesn’t like the night. Darkness is alien to us, it repels with obscurity and coldness. We are constantly fighting her, adding more and more light around, narrowing the boundaries of her kingdom and proving that we can resist her in any corner of the earth.
Even we in the north, living in endless darkness for almost two months a year, try to bring light into this world. Instead of giving up and leaving these edges in their original form and not disturbing.
We are just trying to make this place our home, cozy, beloved, bright, as we used to. We understand that this struggle is useless. What can we oppose to the local mistress, who is able to completely hide the sun from us during the polar night? We fear and respect her, and we stay here.
Maybe she sees how much we love this land, and sometimes she shows her mercy by giving us the light of aurora in the darkest nights. As support, as a reminder that beauty exists here. Maybe she respects our character, humble but unshakable.
In return, we try to show her our miracles. Sometimes we don't do it on purpose, not knowing what effect our presence will lead to. And it turns out that together with her harsh partner weather, we can create something amazing.
This happens in the coldest times. When your eyelashes are covered with frost, and even your breath turns into dry ice in the air in a split second.
Frost grabs any moisture with its claws, turning it into billions of tiny flat ice crystals. So small and weightless that they overcome gravity and try to return to the clouds. On their way to freedom, they fall into our artificial light sources, and then they appear- light pillars.
In the beginning, it's like a weak candle flame over an open source of light. Timid, unsure, he seems to be swaying in the wind. He has just appeared and is still exploring this world, not daring to illuminate it with his light.
But now he is gaining strength, feels like the eyes are riveted on him. Captures more and more ice crystals, which transmit reflected light to their fellows higher and higher. The pillar grows and expands, trying to reach the sky through the ice and make this world brighter.
At some moment the whole city seemed to turn on dozens of spotlights to illuminate the dark sky. Each lantern penetrates the frosty air hundreds of meters up, turning from an ordinary lamp into a column of light.
The city has only a few hours to shout about its existence and try to compete with Aurora in the glow. He always loses, but we keep these moments in our memories, reminding ourselves that even this frost-worn old man doesn’t give up…
