The Fun History of Darkness

We are now in the longest night of the year, darkness reigns supreme in the Northern Hemisphere. And because of that, it is party time everywhere. All dark and cold outside, it is not a good time for farming, hunting or kill a fellow human being. We cannot very well just sit at home and try not to look into each other’s eyes. So, we came up with all kinds of thing to distract us from the awkwardness. First we tried to talk but realized how uninteresting we were. Alcoholic was then brewed to make the conversation seem interesting--to facilitate it, so to speak. When we drank enough, we started to talk all at once and bang on anything in sight. Music was then born. And when the “singing” and banging got heated, we stood up and stumbled about. As we bumped into each other and realized that this was not fighting, we called it dancing. Very soon, we all passed out from drunkenness and exhaustion. When we woke up with a new form of headache, we realized it was great fun but short lived. The cleverer of us then suggested food as both buffer for alcohol and fuel for excitement. Then and only then the feast was born. It can therefore be said that while the light gave us food and health, it is darkness that gave us culture, fun and family and community. And this is the day, and the season, to celebrate the reign of darkness.