‘Melatonin party’ and White Nights
The magic of the Russian Summers
It is already passed midnight, the fire is still going, gifting light that we don’t really need and a bit of warm which instead it is very much needed. It is not cold but I can feel the humidity coming from the ground and the lake only a few meters away from us, down from the cliff where we set our camp. I keep on checking the sky, I haven’t seen a dark, full, dense night sky in days now and every night gains some more minutes of that dusk I can’t stop staring at.
Here in Saint Petersburg white nights are getting closer, those couple of weeks when the sun goes down the horizon only for a couple of hours but that bright, colourful stripe of orange dusk never leaves the line of the horizon. The flat, cityscape of Saint Petersburg has the perfect background for the ‘happiest’ time of the year. Nine long months have been gone though looking forward to these early summer ‘no- nights’ and ‘never-ending days’. In the last couple of weeks, the naked, dry, branches of the trees finally filled with colorful flowers and the greenest foliage ever, so bright to compete with the brightness of the intense blue of the sky of these days. No clouds in the sky, only the biggest and bluest blanket covering the Venice of the North after months of snow and grey.
Huge Jasmine looking flowers gift the streets of a delicate scent while the silverish rays of the sun go through the leaves of the trees. In only two weeks the capital of the North changes and with it its inhabitants. Shorts and T-shirts replace thick jackets even though the wind coat does not disappear since the Gulf of Finland never stops blowing its cold strong wind.
The First of June is the First day of Summer in Russia even though in the North it feels more like Spring. Holiday time officially starts, light dresses find their spot in the wardrobe and the city evenings fill up with people watching the show of the sky from the monumental bridges connecting the islands of the city. The arrival of summer in Russia needs to be celebrated, it needs a new specific day, different from the solstice day of the 21st of June. It almost feels like a relief breath.
On a 59.93 N latitude, summer Nights are something magical. In the city, there is this feeling of a never-ending day, when going to sleep it is quite difficult, and not getting up super early is a challenge especially for ‘White nights enthusiasts’ like me. Nine o clock in the evening feels like afternoon, at 4 am the sun is up and the light comes right inside, warming up the room which, of course, does not have ‘summer sun-proof’ curtains invading the rooms of a strong, extremely bright, clear light. A huge part of the population seems to have forgotten about cars, metro and buses and everyone is out and about bikes, skateboards, rollerblades, or anything that makes you move and get the sun rays right on your face. Any space of green is covered by blankets and little groups of people gather in the parks, among birch trees, along the canals on the stone steps, waiting a sunset that never arrives.
It feels like a Melatonin party where everyone is trying to get as much as he/she can of it, sucking up the energy and the happiness, the warm rays of the sun and the breeze blowing through the trees seems to remind you how was worth the wait, the snow and the cold. of long grey months. Nordic summers bring that special feeling of Nostalgia, you miss them even before they are gone. You know how little they will last how much you will miss them again soon and so they push yourself out of the house. You just need to be out, in the sun, making the most of it. Even if you are in the city, stuck between the skyscrapers and Victorian pastel-colored buildings.
In their short but full summers, Russians seem to live fully, taking advantage of any minute and they live the city as soon as they can. Russia is not only Moscow and Saint Petersburg or the Socialist era and Vodka. Russia is 10.000 km of length and nine time zones. Russia is its endless tundras, lakes, steppes, forests, taiga, lakes, and hills. Russia is its harsh winters and its extremely pleasant ì, beautifully enjoyable sunny short summers. All of this made the Russians, those who fill backpacks and they head to their beloved countryside, far away from the traffic of the city, they drive far, along straight, fast and wide highways through flat lanes surrounded by silver forests of birch trees where hundreds of small lakes hide.
Saint Petersburg has been built on that marshland which still surrounds the city of Peter the Great. You just need to jump on a train or drive out of the city, possibly North towards Karelia. In only one 50 km and one hour, you find yourself in that flat countryside dotted of intense blue lakes and tall pine trees, swinging in the wind. The train stations do not even have a ticket office or traffic light to let people cross the tracks.
From the platform, you just take a path that disappears into the forest and you know it will take you to the shore of a calm, quiet little lake. On weekends people jump on early trains heading out of the city towards the lakes to go fishing or camp for a couple of nights. They carry huge backpacks and a great dose of enthusiasm for these days which finally arrived. Northern, you go and further away you are from lights and noise and more the dark silhouettes of the high pine trees create beautiful figures against the light blue sky.
From 1 in the morning, the sky seems to get even brighter, and even far from the fire, there is no need for a torch. The crescent moon also brights up the surrounding and the silver reflections shine on the flat surface of the lakes, 30 meters under the cliff where I am standing now, watching the night that never ends.
