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Why yes, I suppose we could shed 'the cloak of darkness', if we wanted to! 
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I think there's something buried deep in the human psyche which equates the light with "good" and the dark with "bad". It probably harks back to when we were nomadic hunter-gatherers being hunted ourselves by the animals around us, almost all of which had and still have better night vision that we poor generalised human-type people-things.
Our ability to make and to control fire was the great leveller which enabled us to survive, particularly once we left the African savannah and ventured out into less hospitable terrain. It enabled us to ward off attacks by predators and it was also used as a tool for hunting as well as cooking. I saw a TV programme quite recently in which it was shown that cro-magnon man almost certainly used fire to drive woolly mammoths over cliffs in the periglacial regions during the ice ages. We also know that neandertal man used fire effectively. And, of course, fire = "light", and light = "good".
Yet the association pair light = "fair", in the sense of "light-coloured", and that being desirable, is a sometime thing. How many of those of us of the caucasian persuasion lie out in the sun whenever possible to try to get a tan? Being too pale is seen as a sign of something like unhealthiness. Having said that, it's not only the Michael Jacksons of this world who aspire to being paler than they were born. If you read the matrimonial sections of Indian newspapers you see a lot of ads for and by women who have "wheat"-coloured complexions. And the ads for skin-lightening potions of various kinds and dubious provenance are legion.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Yet that's the allure of darkness...the depths...of walking in darkness unafraid...taking its on cloak, to insert here Jackie's cloak, and dancing in darkness, moon children...astronomers, dazzled by the jewels in the sky with their various colors...in fact, astronomers seek the darkest skies...cities annoy them...and they range further into darkness to mine their beauties from above...there's a lot to be said for the good in the night.
Don't think I'd enjoy so much popping a bottle of champagne in the light--lets those shooting stars find their path in the night.
Stars in my eyes,
WordWonderer
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followng up on CK's point above, and mine a bit previously: http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues01/jan01/spirit.html: when people relied on sources such as torches, hearth fires and candles for illumination, night assumed a different character in the human imagination. The hours of fear descended every night, when one could easily lose one's life by falling into ditches, ponds or rivers, or being thrown by horses unfamiliar with dark paths. Demons, witches and night hags, it was widely believed, held sway in those hours. Ruffians and robbers could wreak their havoc
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Carpal Tunnel
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What an interesting discussion!
A few comments: living in New England gets you a range of light and dark ... come Dec 21 it will be pitch black at 4:30 p.m. EST and sunrise is about 6:15 a.m. Then in on June 21 it stays light until about 9:30 p.m. EDT and sun rises at 5:30 a.m. And talk about temperature fluctuations! Summers we can get up to 95 no problem and in winter it can go down to 20 below zero for days at a time! There's a general attitude that if you survive to 40 you'll live to be 90!
Years ago the US Air Force discovered that most pilots who ferried airplanes around the US had problems adapting to constantly changing light and temperature. There were a few who seemed to have far fewer difficulties. On researching "why" it was determined that the pilots with greatest adaptability to changes were all from the North East!
As to complexions. I met my India friend Roshan in Spring when I had my very pale (Irish) winter pallor while he had a sun burnished complexion I envied. When he visited in July he noted my tanned skin and commented "You have lost your lovely color." It's all in the eye of the beholder!
It is Dec 1 and 70 degrees on NH Seacoast today ... breaking a record set in 1802!(/i)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Keiva quotes: "when people relied on sources such as torches, hearth fires and candles for illumination, night assumed a different character in the human imagination."
...During the Great Ice Storm of 1999, we were cabin bound here at the farm for five days. A bit of romance is a few hours of candlelight, but five nights of nothing but that plus hearth light is lugubrious. I could barely look at a candle without a falling heart for the next year.
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Carpal Tunnel
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--no, we never do say shed some darkness, do we?
Some do.
...I could barely look at a candle without a falling heart for the next year.
Nor can I.
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Carpal Tunnel
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For those of you interested in light, there's an absorbing article with some really good photos of the aurora borealis/australis in November's National Geographic. There's also a link to their website where you can see a model of the aurora phenomenon. Oh, and for WhirlWind and the Chi-town Shyster, there's also an interesting article on - hippopotami - ta-daaaa! - in the same edition! Mud, mud, gloooooorious mud,
Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood!
So follow me, follow ...
Down to the hollow ...
And there let us wallow
In gloooooorious mud! 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Carpal Tunnel
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This was one of the most fascinating articles I ever read, Keiva ! ( I subscribe to Smithsonian). I'm so glad you brought the link into the discussion. Even as a history buff I had assumed some figment of light in the night (torch, candle, or gas light in the cities, at least) for most of history. This article points out that streetlights of gas didn't make their appearance in urban areas until the late 18th Century! And traveling at night was such a hazard on horseback most folks waited for day, or sometimes a full moon. People, both tipsy and sober, were known to ride their horses right over cliffs in the treacherous darkness of the time!  I recommend everybody click over and read this to experience something they may have never even considered ...true dark at night....during fairly recent civilized history. Thanks again, Keiva! 
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And speaking of gas light, it was a sad fact that in the late 1800's, more than one country boy on his first visit to the big city, made the fatal mistake of blowing out the gas light.
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