About Us

Yukon Educational Theatre

"Using theatre and applied arts as a tool for education, community building and in the development of creative and original pieces".

“It’s not so much winter that we’re burning away; people agree that there are things they like about winter. But it’s that dark feeling we sometimes go through during winter, when it’s dark.” ”

Event creator Arlin McFarlane

“Winter is a long and sometimes difficult season in the life of northerners. Rather than creating a self-help group to deal with personal woes and lethargy, the use of ritual (by Yukon Educational Theatre) as a means of engendering personal change is unique."

Inside Innovation Newsletter
Winter 2004

“When my children and I attend Burning Away the Winter Blues, I feel like we’re taking part in something timeless. We feel linked not just to the community members who are there, but also to those who’ve gone before us, who inhabited this place long ago. We’re able to celebrate a sacred time together, in an organic, simple way – with fire, light, drums and voices. It’s very special and something which few people in today’s world get to enjoy.”

Michele Emslie, Whitehorse resident

Burning Away the Winter Blues is staged by Yukon Educational Theatre, a registered non-profit society that has been in existence since the early 1980s. Located in Whitehorse, Yukon, the company has toured the territory with many workshops and theatrical productions over the years. Its mandate is “to use theatre and applied arts as a tool for education, community building and in the development of creative and original pieces.”

Yukon Educational Theatre receives financial support from a number of agencies and sponsors, in particular, the Arts Fund of the Government of Yukon, the Recreation Fund of the City of Whitehorse, the United Way and Lotteries Yukon.

Yukon Educational Theatre’s Inzanity Wing is dedicated to creating community celebration events that warm the heart and nurture the spirit.

Its two key events are Burning Away the Winter Blues, held each year around the Spring Equinox, and A Celebration of the Harvest, held during the last fine weekend in August.

Burning Away the Winter Blues

Burning Away the Winter Blues is an annual community-building ritual held in Whitehorse, Yukon. It was designed as a way to help Yukoners acknowledge the end of the winter and renew their spirits in time for spring.

Effigy in fire, arms akimbo, dark night surroundings

Participants take part in a torch-lit procession, led by a giant effigy of the Winter Blues, which culminates at the site of a great bonfire. There, the effigy, along with paper representations of the participants’ winter blues, are ceremonially burned as a symbolic gesture to bring closure to winter and to welcome spring.

The blues that are burned can be everything from chemistry notes - to symbolic last packages of cigarettes - to love letters - to just a few lines on a piece of paper describing what’s bugging you.

A Celebration of the Harvest

Each August, join us for our Celebration of the Harvest at the Downtown Urban Gardeners (DUGS) Community Gardens at Seventh Avenue and Ray Street in Whitehorse. The Gardens are decked out in a colorful display and the goddesses of many harvest traditions will enliven your experience. Witness the Lord of Darkness triumph over the King of the Harvest in a recreation of the timeless ritual of the return of winter. Walk a contemplative labyrinth, listen to gypsy music and tour the gardens. Spend an hour or spend the day.

The Team

Arlin McFa

Event Creator Arlin McFarlane and volunteers with effigy

Artistic Director Arlin McFarlane

Board of Yukon Educational Theatre Evann Lacosse, Karen Brost, Nancy Duesener

Thanks to Our Sponsors

We appreciate the support we’ve received over the years from all our sponsors. We couldn’t do it without you!