Pre-Electric Lighting Era

• Before the invention of electric lights, our ancestors considered night a different "season."
• At night, they were nearly blind. And so, to them, day and night seemed as different as summer and winter.
• They even had special words for night. Some people called the last rays of the setting sun "sun suckers." Nighttime travellers, who relied on the moon, called it the "parish lantern." But robbers, who liked to lurk in darkness, hated the moon. They called it "the tattler." And those darkness-loving criminals? They were "moon cursers."
• Cities were so dark that people needing to find their way at night hired boys to carry torches, or "links." Such torchbearers were called "linkboys."
• Country people tried to stay indoor at night, unless the moon was out. On moonless nights, people groping in the darkness frequently fell into ponds and ravines. Horses, also blinded by darkness, often threw riders.
• If you were travelling at night, you would wear light-coloured clothing, so your friends could see you. You might ride a white horse. You might mark your route in advance by stripping away tree bark, exposing the white inner wood. In Southern England, where the soil is chalky white, people planning night trips mounded up white chalk along their route during the day, to guide them later, in the moonlight.
• It was dark inside houses, too. To dress in the darkness, people learned to fold their clothes just so. Swedish homeowners, Roger Ekirch says, pushed parlour furniture against walls at night, so they could walk through the room without tripping.

Explore the challenges and solutions of navigating and living in a world without electric lighting. Learn about the different terminology and practices that evolved for nighttime activities and travel.