Insight: Living in a White World of Snow

In a country where people exist amidst a snowy white blanket for many months of the year, the necessity to respect and adapt to this harsh weather is essential for survival.

Igloo building began in the fall, when snow was compacted into blocks. The inhabitants depended on further snow for insulation.

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Snow angels practically define a Canadian childhood. You plonk yourself down on your back, flap your legs and arms up and down over the snow’s soft surface, then leap up to inspect the enchanting result. This instinctive communing with nature frequently launches a lifelong affair with snow. Every winter, lakes, rivers, even back yards, are converted into ice rinks, where youngsters play hockey and their parents simply skate. Countless Canadians are addicted to outdoor winter activities from skiing to snowshoeing, snowmobiling, dog sledding, ice fishing, and horse-drawn sleigh rides.

Indoor pursuits

Not all Canadians welcome snow with such enthusiasm. Fortunately winter also heralds a plethora of cultural activities, from experimental theater to symphony concerts and operatic galas, literary fests, and eye-popping art exhibits. Sports fans’ weekends revolve around Hockey Night in Canada, a long-standing Saturday-night TV fixture. January and February’s gloom is often brightened by extravagant culinary and wine-tastings, and by March stores are awash with sparkling springtime fashions and Easter bunnies.

In urban centers, snow is more easily avoided. From Calgary to Montréal, Canadians take refuge in networks of underground passageways where shops, restaurants, theaters, even ice rinks, offer diversions galore from the harsh reality of winter.

Survival in the Far North

Hunting and trapping have been the lifeline of Arctic communities for thousands of years. Huskies (or qimmiit) were the workhorses of the Arctic, pulling wooden sleds (qamutiit) carrying Inuit hunters and their provisions for hundreds of miles during the fall, when extensive caribou hunts were necessary to provide sufficient food for the family. Inukshuks, which are slabs of rock piled high, were built to guide startled caribou into a blind where hunters waited with bows and arrows. Once the meat was removed, the skins were turned into clothing and blankets.

Winter was spent largely within their igloos, which were heated by qulliqs – soapstone oil lamps fueled by seal blubber. To break the monotony, storytelling, wrestling contests, throat singing, and drum dances took place in a qaggiq, which was a large snowhouse.

In the longer days of March, the huskies helped to locate seal breathing-holes in the ice, and the hunters then waited patiently with their harpoons for seals to emerge. Spring and summer saw the return of arctic char, birds, and an abundance of arctic berries. Inuit survival depended on the riches of both land and sea.