Greenland 1945 – Eskimo and Midnight Sun
This evocative Arctic scene from Greenland shows an Eskimo in a kayak, with the
Sun poised on the distant horizon – a graphic reminder that, during summer, the Sun never sets as seen from within
the Arctic Circle because of the Earth’s tilt with respect to the Sun. Conversely, in winter the Sun never rises so
that the land within the Arctic Circle is cloaked in eternal night for months
on end, with only a glimmer of twilight around midday to provide relief from
the encompassing gloom.
PS: Greenland’s very first stamp, in 1938, should have been an astro-stamp, featuring an
aurora. However, the King of Denmark thought that his portrait should feature
instead. The original designs were kept and eventually released in 2001 in a “stamp-on-stamp” design under the title “The stamps that were never issued” (below).
