Picture this: A small, rural village above the Arctic Circle, all covered in snow, the sun hasn’t risen above the horizon for weeks, where every verge, driveway, doorway, parking lot, actually any available spot – is lit up by ice lanterns.
At the beginning of every February the habitats in the village Vuollerim, young and old, pull together to arrange The Festival of 1000 Ice Lanterns. The preparations start weeks in advance when they scramble up every available bucket, cake mould, serving platter, satellite disc (!), fill them with water and leave them outside to freeze. Then place the lanterns all over the village and keep them lit for about four days.
In 2013 the villagers took their festival to another level when they set an Official Guinness World Record™ with “Worlds largest ice lantern display”, a total of 2651 ice lanterns lit up simultaneously. If they are about to top that number is undecided, but still – picture it! Thousands and thousands of ice lanterns. Vuollerim certainly has put itself on the map.