Northern lights

Like most natural phenomena that are not easy to explain, the northern lights have inspired many mythical and mystical beliefs over time. In Nordic folk traditions, they are often associated with death, danger, children, and the feminine.

Already during the Viking era, there are stories about the northern lights. In one, Freyr is sitting on Odin’s throne, looking out on Yggdrasil. In Jotunheim, he spots the beautiful giantess Gerðr with her blindingly white arms and immediately falls in love. Unable to travel to Jotunheim himself, he sends his messenger Skirnir to propose to her, a proposal she ultimately accepts. A possible interpretation of this myth is that Freyr represents the sun, which can never shine into the polar night represented by Jotunheim, and Gerðr is an allegory for the northern lights that shine bright in the darkness and enchant him with his beauty.

Other myths offer more straightforward explanations for the northern lights. Bifrost is described as a flaming, tricolored bridge that connects Åsgard to Midgard. This description is reminiscent of the way the northern lights appear in the sky: as living, dancing lights in three common shades. According to this myth, the northern lights form a path from the ground to the heavens, where they end in the home of Heimdall. Heimdall watches over the path, protecting it from attacking jotuns. Yet elsewhere, the northern lights are said to be the light reflecting off the shields of Valkyries as they ride into the battlefield to collect the dead warriors for Odin and Freya.

Though northern lights are most certainly both observed and described, it is hard to trace their sightings in a culture that neither has a name for them nor the ability to write it down. But around 1250, an anonymous author writes a didactic text of social and moral teachings known as Konungs skuggsjá for the education of the future king Magnus Lagabøte. The book takes the form of a conversation between a curious son and a wise father. In it, the father describes the northern lights and gives them the name we still know them by in Norwegian: nordlys. He also offers an explanation of them as a reflection of the fire that burns around the oceans that surround Earth.

These early scientific explanations do not reach the ordinary folk or affect their perception of the northern lights as something magical and mysterious. A common belief, especially in Western and Northern Norway, is that the northern lights are the souls of dead maidens who are looking for the children they didn’t have in life. This is likely an evolution of the Valkyrie myth under Christian influences and the source of another common belief: that the northern lights are dangerous for children. Norwegian children are, therefore, advised not to stay inside during the cold, dark winter nights. If they do find themselves outside, they are not to draw attention to themselves under the northern lights but show them respect instead: one was not to shout, point, wave, sing, or whistle in the presence of the auroras. Otherwise, the lights might come closer and even steal the children away.

The association of the northern lights with women, children, and the dead is also found in Iceland and Greenland. Icelandic folklore describes them as the souls of the departed who never found their final resting place and dance across the sky forever instead. Pregnant women are advised not to look at this heavenly dance lest they want their children to be born cross-eyed. However, they should still hope for the northern lights to be out for the birth, for they can take away labor pains. The people of Greenland believe the northern lights to be the spirits of children who are stillborn or die at birth.

It is said that the Sámi also believe the northern lights to be souls of the dead that can take rowdy children away. This is evidenced in a Sámi fairy tale from Northern Norway in which two boys mock the sun, the moon, the stars, and the northern lights and must pay a high price for their folly. Such ideas are in line with other Sámi stories that stress the importance of respecting nature, but may well have developed under the influence of Norwegian folk traditions. Still, depictions of the northern lights are sometimes found on Sámi drums, which is a sign that the Sámi do hold them in some regard. This may be due to how helpful they are in illuminating the long polar night for winter fox hunts.

In other Nordic countries, the northern lights have more cheerful associations. In Sweden, they are seen as a good omen predicting warmth, good news, and blessings. In the coastal regions, they are especially associated with good fishing luck: the lights are believed to be reflections from the scales of herrings, the stronger the lights, the larger the school of fish off the coast waiting to be caught in the morning.

Old Finnish folk stories tell of mythical firefoxes: black by day, twinkling like fire in the night. They live in the northern regions and are said to bring luck and fortune to anyone who catches one. Sometimes, as they’re running over the wast snowy landscape, their tails brush against branches and rocks, causing sparks to fly up into the sky where they appear as the northern lights. Revontulet, the Finnish name for the auroras, means “fox’s fires” and comes from this fairy tale.

In Denmark, legend has it that swans compete to see which one of them can fly furthest north. The swans who fly too far end up trapped in snow and ice when they land. As they fight to get free, sunlight reflects off the ice crystals covering their feathers. It is this light refraction that appears in the night sky as northern lights.

Folk beliefs about the northern lights are not exclusive to Nordic or even Arctic cultures. All across Europe, Asia, and America are there superstitions and stories about them.

In ancient Mediterranean cultures, all light in the sky is said to come from the goddess of dawn, called Eos by the Greeks and Aurora by the Romans. She rides her chariot across the sky, preparing it for the arrival of the sun. The scientific name for northern lights comes from her Latin name, meaning dawn. Later Roman myths tell of goddesses dancing in the sky, which can be an ancient explanation of the northern lights.

In most places in Central and Southern Europe, however, the northern lights are seen as a bad omen associated with fear and death. This far south, they are a rare phenomenon. When they do occur, it’s typically only the red upper layers of the lights that are visible. Their crimson color resembles blood and is seen as a premonition of war and violence.

In Asian cultures, on the other hand, the color red more often symbolizes vitality, wealth, and good fortune, so sightings of red northern lights are considered a good omen. Legends tying the birth of heroes to flaming skies further contribute to the association of northern lights with fertility in China and Japan, where children conceived under the northern lights are believed to be blessed with good looks, intelligence, and fortune.

Indigenous tribes in the Americas have a variety of explanations for the northern lights. Most commonly, they are associated with death, spirits, and ancestors. Because of the many regional variations of widespread beliefs, they can be seen as both a good and a bad omen. Inuit tribes of the Arctic and Subarctic regions in particular have a rich folkloric tradition tied to the northern lights, seeing them varyingly as spirits of the dead, hunted animals, playful souls of children, fires of creator gods, a great treasure, and threats from enemies.