An iceberg, strewn with Christmas lights to bring a little colour and cheer to the darkness in Pond Inlet, was a short-lived tradition.
The Nunavut community of 1500 people on the northern tip of Baffin Island, is heeding the advice of the elders. Last Christmas, the town council stopped the practice to ensure the safety of the community’s drinking water.
Elders say iceburg water makes the best tea
The elders were not pleased to see glass lights strung about the iceberg and could forsee problems with glass or even mercury were the bulbs to break.
Iceberg water is pure, and according to the elders, it makes the best tea.
When icebergs freeze into the ice near Pond Inlet, people snow mobile out to carve off pieces and bring them back in their kamotiks, or sleighs.
Today’s Christmas lights don’t contain mercury, but Josh Arreak, who organized the last Christmas iceberg in 2011, told CBC, “It’s pure iceberg drinking water and could be contaminated by fumes. So that was the concern, so we’re not doing it this year.” And he says there are no future plans to resume the practice during the 10 weeks of darkness each winter.
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