What is white night and where can I see it? Everyone answers the same question: you need to go to Petersburg. Every year, tens of thousands of tourists, travelers and just amateurs come to the city on the Neva to enjoy a wonderful sight. Moreover, some argue that it is impossible to see such beautiful white nights anywhere else, so you can consider yourself lucky if you are lucky to live in St. Petersburg. After all, every year you can watch this miracle.
What is white night?
Such a poetic epithet is a natural phenomenon in which natural sunlight partially remains throughout the entire night. The sun is beyond the horizon, but the reflections of its rays still give enough light for hanging out on the street without the need to turn on the lights, which is practiced in some northern cities. One gets the feeling that the sunset gradually develops into dawn without the full night darkness.
Alexander Pushkin said poetically and very precisely what white nights were: “One dawn hurries to change another, giving half an hour to night.” The poet depicted the phenomenon, giving it a romantic color with notes of light sadness and magic.
Where this natural phenomenon can be seen
White nights, beckoning with their splendor, can be seen in any locality located above the 59th degree of northern latitude. It is important to note that astronomers consider absolute only white night, available at a latitude of 60.6. And what is observed in the official “city of white nights” in St. Petersburg is just twilight. Below the 50th degree of northern latitude, white nights do not exist at all. And on the 49th parallel - only one day a year - June 22.
From June 11 to July 2 - the time of the brightest nights: during this period, each subsequent night becomes brighter than the previous one. After July 5, they begin to darken, becoming more like twilight, and in August the nights turn into such as everywhere else - completely dark.
Where, besides Peter, this sight can be seen
- In the cities of Russia - Magadan, Novy Urengoy, Arkhangelsk, Yakutsk and Khanty-Mansiysk, Murmansk. In Petrozavodsk, white nights are even more colorful than in St. Petersburg and last 52 days, and in Norilsk and Vorkuta even longer.
- Throughout the countries of Denmark, Iceland and Finland, Norway and Sweden.
- In the north of the Baltic states.
- In Alaska and Canada (with the exception of the south).
- Partly in the UK.
When the white nights begin, tourists from all over the world come to Petersburg. It is in the city on the Neva that the grandeur of this natural phenomenon harmoniously looks against the backdrop of aristocratic architecture.
Start
When do the white nights begin in St. Petersburg? As usual, at the end of May, they end on July 16, although according to the astronomical version this period is even ten days shorter.
A little less than two months please the white nights of the inhabitants of the northern regions and guests who specially come to enjoy this wonderful natural wonder.
In the settlements above the Arctic Circle, white nights can be observed from two to four weeks, but the south of the starting point, the shorter the period of constant twilight. At both poles of the Earth, white nights last a little more than two weeks and occur twice a year:
- at the South Pole from the third decade of March to April 7 and from the 7th to the second half of September;
- at the North Pole from early March to the 18th; from late September to mid-October.
White nights in St. Petersburg
When this natural miracle begins, in the city on the Neva it is time for festivals of various kinds, folk processions, festivals and attractions of the most diverse directions, because it is white nights - the hallmark of the city, along with movable bridges, the Admiralty spire and the Bronze Horseman. The first bell of all these entertainment events is City Day - May 27th. It is with him that the parade of various festivities begins:
Children's Art Festival “Sounds and Colors of White Nights”.
- A festival of school graduates of the entire city, called "Scarlet Sails" because of a spectacular show: in the waters of the Neva River, illuminated by fireworks on a white night background, a frigate theatrically floats under bright red sails.
- Music Festival "Stars of the Past Nights".
- On the last Sunday of July, Navy Day is celebrated on a large scale.
- Jazz Festival "White Night Swing".
Also, in parallel, many programs and concerts of an entertaining and educational nature for children and adolescents are held: an ice cream festival, crafts and folk art fairs with master classes, all kinds of water events and sports.
When the white nights begin in St. Petersburg, it is always bright, colorful, fun and informatively spent time, so the parents try to bring their kids there to accustom them to the beautiful.
