I have lived in Canada for a few years now. Every year, around this time, I see the same thing.
The parks get empty. The streets get quiet. People go from home to car, from car to the mall, and back home again.
In the mall, we walk. We look. We say a few words to a cashier. We see people, but we don't really meet them. There is no real conversation.
In my years of cultural planning, I learned something simple: the weather is not only outside us. It shapes how we meet and how we talk. Some people call this geoculture. I just call it life.
Many people in Canada live alone. We all remember COVID, when we could not talk to each other, and how hard that was. Winter can feel a little like that again.
But every culture has its own answer to winter. In Iran, where I come from, we have Yalda night. On the longest night of the year, families sit together, eat pomegranates, read poetry, and talk until morning.
So here is our idea at Matin Intercultural Institute. What if, every week, we open a space in the city and just talk? One topic, open conversation, people from different cultures sitting together. Nothing big. Just talking.
Sometimes one good conversation is enough. You go home a little lighter. A little less alone. A little more hopeful.
Small changes, simple ways. This is how we want to build a better community.
How does your culture live through the dark months?