Guide to the Northern Lights

Rather wonderfully, the varied aurora folklore gives us as much of an insight into Arctic cultures as it does into the lights themselves.

In Finland, the lights are called revontulet – which translates as “Fox Fire.” The story is that the tail of a running Arctic fox brushed against the powdery snow, creating sparks in the sky. Coastal dwellers, however, traced the lights back to the sea, blaming lights shining off the scales of the abundant fish for the auroral displays. Viking legends describe dancing maidens, while North American tribes associate them with the spirit world – including torches lit by the dead. Alaskan Inuit also think they represent the Afterlife – as the ghosts of hunted animals.

The lights are often viewed as a bad omen in regions where they rarely show; this reputation has only been enhanced by their appearance over the skies of London during the Blitz in 1939, and in the USA in 1941 – on the night that Pearl Harbour was attacked.

Astronomers have long since understood the aurora, now known to be caused by electrically charged particles travelling 93 million miles from the sun. When the particles collide with different gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, the lights are created. The type of gas and the altitude determine the colour, while magnetic fields affect the form and movement. Greens and yellows are the most common, while rare reds and blues are highly sought after.

However, decoding the Northern Lights hasn’t made them any less hypnotic, and any visitor who witnesses them billowing overhead is sure to come back from their Northern Lights holiday with their own tales of magic and wonder.