The Singing Ice Beneath the Winter Stars

Evening walk under the starry sky

Some time ago, my partner and I went to the cabin just the two of us. We arrived late in the evening, lit a fire in the fireplace, and went for a walk in the clear, freezing night.

The lake was completely frozen, beneath a blanket of snow. The ice was making mournful sounds, like it was stretching and groaning under the weight of the winter, sending long, low ululations across the silent, snow-covered expanse.

The snow crunched beneath our feet as we set off walking along the forest path. The moon hung high in the sky, illuminating the sparkling snow with its bright glow.

Whenever I look at the stars, I can’t help but think of all those who gazed at the same stars long ago. Back when the world had no electric lights, no factories, no cities. When people lived in the forest and made their lives from it. They must have looked at the stars very often, as it was one of the few moving pictures besides the changing landscapes and weather.

At that time, patterns began to emerge in the sky. Back then, no one yet fully understood what those bright lights were. People noticed that the same patterns appeared in the sky according to the yearly cycle. They began to look for familiar shapes, such as the bear, the hunter, the goat…

We saw many constellations on our night walk. In the photo above, Orion is visible in the center, just above the top of the spruce. Orion’s Belt consists of the three stars in a straight line, and the row of stars below them forms Orion’s Sword. In the upper right corner of the image, the star cluster is the Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters — in Japan called Subaru, which is where the car brand gets its name and logo.

In many cultures, the lower part of the constellation Orion — below Orion’s Belt — has been seen as a weapon or tool. In Finnish folklore, this part of Orion is called the ‘Kaleva’s Sword,’ a reference to the heroic figures and ancient stories of Finland’s national epic Kalevala.

The snow muffled the world, making everything feel quiet and distant, as if time itself had slowed down. But it was not truly silent. The ice’s lament could be heard from the lake, beyond the trees. It was like the northern wind or the whisper of the aurora, mysterious and far beyond human understanding. From a distance, it sounded more like singing.

I was thinking: How small we are in the universe, and yet how heavy our lives can feel. And yet, here on this tiny planet, every life is vast from the inside. A single moment — a hand in yours, the crisp air of a winter forest, the quiet before night settles — can hold more meaning than entire galaxies.

Returning to the cabin never felt so comforting. The fire crackled in the fireplace, and it was warm inside, even though it was -20°C outside.

We settled on a sheepskin in front of the fire and fell asleep, while the ice howled through the night and the stars twinkled in the sky until the first light of dawn.

🌿 GROW WILD IN FOREST SOIL 🌿

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