Greenland Starts The New Year With Visits From Silent Masked Visitors

There are lots of traditions for starting a new year, or for celebrating the Christian feast day of Epiphany, which is just a few days away.

In Greenland, one way to enjoy the first week of the year and the run-up to Epiphany is to have a bunch of people in masks hang out in your house without saying a word.

This tradition is called Mitaarfik, and while there’s some Danish influence, its roots mostly come from thousands of years ago in indigenous Inuit practices.

Most likely it comes out of a ritual that called on a deity called the Sea Woman to bring better weather and a successful seal hunt.

Between New Year’s and Epiphany, when the nights in Greenland are long and often cold, residents might get visits from groups of costumed visitors known as mitaartut.

The traditions play out differently in different communities; in some places the mitaartut are meant to be scary, in others a little more kid-friendly.

In either case, they’re meant to represent traditional spirits, creatures or animals.

When they stop by a house, their job is to show up, move about, dance, and/or gesture, without speaking even once.

The goal is to perform without ever giving away who’s behind the mask or inside the costume.

If they succeed, they may get a treat or a present from the household.

The scarier versions may also chase children out into the snow and “capture” them.

But it’s all in fun, meant to bring a little cheer during the long winter, and to remind people that while it’s natural to fear the unknown, a little mystery isn’t necessarily bad either.