Greenland celebrates its National Day to mark the summer solstice
NUUK, Greenland (AP) — Greenlanders celebrated National Day, the Arctic island's biggest summer festival, on Saturday to mark the solstice with songs, cannon salutes and dances under 24 hours of sunlight.
Revelers across the semi-autonomous Danish territory, which is also coveted by U.S. President Donald Trump, honored the longest day of the year north of the equator, where the solstice marks the start of astronomical summer, with a march through their hometowns waving flags and participating in a seal hunting competition.
The national holiday was declared in 1985, following a referendum on home rule six years earlier, with the inaugural raising of the red-and-white Greenlandic flag. As the sun came out, locals gathered for the day of festivities, visiting friends and families, eating and dancing together.
Greenland's roughly 56,000 inhabitants look forward to the midnight sun each year from May 25 to July 25, before the long, dark winter reappears.
The strategic, mineral-rich island has made headlines after Trump declared it his mission to make it part of the U.S., saying it's crucial for American security in the high north.
Trump has not ruled out military force to seize Greenland despite strong rebukes from Denmark, a NATO ally, and Greenland itself. Danish and Greenlandic leaders say the island is not for sale and have condemned reports of the U.S. stepping up intelligence gathering there.
On Saturday, Greenlanders tried to leave politics behind to enjoy the seemingly endless summer sunshine.
Locals in traditional clothing made of pearl collars and seal hides started the day by marching toward the Colonial Harbour with Greenland's national flags.
Johannes Ostermann, 20, said he loved the holiday because 'you get to go out in the city and you get to meet the people you haven't met in a while, and you know they're going to be there because it's a big day for Greenland and we enjoy each other's company.'
'Everyone says congratulations to each other, everyone's saying hi, everyone's being very very nice because it is a very nice day for us all,' he added.
At 9 a.m., a cannon salute marked the beginning of the annual seal hunting competition, with participants in boats rushing into the sea.
It took about an hour for the first hunter to come back with the seal. The animal was cut open for an inspection. The organizer said the meat will be distributed to nursing homes, and all other parts will be used to make clothing.
Pilo Samuelsen, one of the winners of the competition, enjoyed his victory and the fact that the holiday brings together the community and keeps their culture alive.
'The seal hunt competition is a nice tradition,' Samuelsen said. 'It's a day of unity and the celebration.'
Sofie Abelsen, 33, said she hoped her people would continue their celebrations because 'modernization and globalization is a danger to all Indigenous people and Indigenous countries.'
'So I hope they will continue the traditions … so they don't disappear,' she added.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Globe and Mail
28 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
Canadian Prime Minister Carney says trade talks with US resume after Canada rescinded tech tax
TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said late Sunday trade talks with U.S. have resumed after Canada rescinded its plan to tax U.S. technology firms. U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that was suspending trade talks with Canada over its plans to continue with its tax on technology firms, which he called 'a direct and blatant attack on our country.' The Canadian government says 'in anticipation' of a trade deal 'Canada would rescind' the Digital Serves Tax. The tax was set to go into effect Monday. Carney's office said Carney and Trump have agreed to resume negotiations. 'Today's announcement will support a resumption of negotiations toward the July 21, 2025, timeline set out at this month's G7 Leaders' Summit in Kananaskis,' Carney said in a statement. Carney visited Trump in May at the White House, where he was polite but firm. Trump traveled to Canada for the G7 summit in Alberta, where Carney said that Canada and the U.S. had set a 30-day deadline for trade talks. Trump, in a post on his social media network last Friday, said Canada had informed the U.S. that it was sticking to its plan to impose the digital services tax, which applies to Canadian and foreign businesses that engage with online users in Canada. The digital services tax was due to hit companies including Amazon, Google, Meta, Uber and Airbnb with a 3% levy on revenue from Canadian users. It would have applied retroactively, leaving U.S. companies with a $2 billion U.S. bill due at the end of the month. Trump's announcement Friday was the latest swerve in the trade war he's launched since taking office for a second term in January. Progress with Canada has been a roller coaster, starting with the U.S. president poking at the nation's northern neighbor and repeatedly suggesting it would be absorbed as a U.S. state.
Globe and Mail
28 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
Federal government rescinds digital services tax to advance trade talks with U.S.
The Canadian government says it's decided to rescind a digital services tax that led U.S. President Donald Trump to break off negotiations aimed at ending a damaging trade war between the United States and Canada. In a late Sunday announcement, Prime Minister Mark Carney's government said talks with the Trump administration would resume now that Canada has repealed the levy that applied to U.S. tech giants such as Amazon, Google parent Alphabet, Meta, Uber and Airbnb. Mr. Trump on Friday had announced the United States was 'terminating all discussions on trade with Canada' in response to the digital sales tax. First payments under the levy were due June 30 and the initial bill faced by big U.S. companies was expected to exceed US$2-billion. 'Prime Minister Carney and President Trump have agreed that parties will resume negotiations with a view towards agreeing on a deal by July 21, 2025,' the Canadian government said in a statement Sunday. The digital sales tax would have imposed a 3-per-cent levy on Canadian revenue from digital services exceeding $20-million that is earned by companies with at least $1.1-billion in global revenue. This includes revenue from search engines, social-media platforms and online marketplaces. With files from Canadian Press
Winnipeg Free Press
29 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Chilean communist scores surprise win in primary vote as battle with far-right looms
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chilean Communist Jeannette Jara, the country's former labor minister, won the primary election for left-wing parties Sunday with surprising ease, beating out a more moderate rival to clinch over 60% of the vote. The decisive upset makes Jara, 51, the candidate representing Chile's beleaguered incumbent government in November elections, set to face off against center-right and far-right contenders who have surged in the polls. Because of term limits, the current leftist president, Gabriel Boric, 39, cannot run for a second consecutive term. Jara, a lawyer and member of Chile's Communist Party who was Boric's labor minister before resigning to run for president, secured 60.5% of the vote. The runner-up who had been considered a favorite — former Interior Minister Carolina Toha from the traditional Democratic Socialist party — took 27.7%. 'Today begins a new path that we will walk together, with the conviction to build a fairer and more democratic Chile,' Jara wrote on social media. 'In the face of the threat from the far-right, we respond with unity, dialogue and hope.' After Boric's 2022 election, voting was made compulsory, adding unpredictability to this year's race. Preliminary turnout figures from electoral authorities showed that turnout was much lower than expected, with just 1.4 million people casting ballots. Chile has some 15.4 million eligible voters. Although Jara's landslide win represents the rise of hard-liners within Boric's coalition, analysts have described Jara as less dogmatic and more diplomatic than some of her Communist peers. As labor minister, she earned praise for a program that increased minimum wage and reduced the working week to 40 hours. She has earned comparisons to Michelle Bachelet, Chile's former center-left president and an icon of female empowerment who governed 2006 to 2010 and again from 2014 to 2018. Paying tribute to Bachelet in her victory speech, she said: 'She was the one who showed us the path that nothing is impossible.' But Jara faces a tough climb to the top job. Recent opinion polls show the left-wing government declining in popularity at a moment of sluggish economic growth and rising fears over organized crime and migration in what has long been regarded as one of the region's most stable and prosperous democracies. Those hot-button issues have helped mobilize support for Chile's right-wing candidates, particularly ultraconservative lawyer and former lawmaker Jose Antonio Kast, and set the stage for a deeply polarized election. Another favorite on the right is Evelyn Matthei, a former minister of labor whose business friendly policy proposals have charmed investors. Chileans will go to the polls Nov. 16 to elect a president for the 2026-2030 term.
