The Northern Lights

The Northern lights – the aurora borealis – are one of the most fantastic things that we have here in Finnmark. Even a hardened Finnmarker can find themselves with a tear in their eye when the magical lights dance in the sky. It is the greatest light show of all time and should be experienced at least once in a lifetime. You will get the best and most spectacular experience of the Northern lights the further away from artificial lights you are, although you can still have a magical experience right where you are standing now. The Northern lights have been the subject of superstition from ancient times and there are many myths that have arisen around them. In Viking times, it was said that the beautiful lights came from the armour and shields of the Valkkyrienes warrior girls dancing in the sky. Children were told that if they waved a white handkerchief at the northern lights, they would come and take them. Dare you try it? The Northern lights occur when electrically loaded particles are emitted from the sun and collide with the gasses in the earth’s atmosphere. The collision of the different gasses gives the light movement and creates the different colours, almost like a burning bonfire. Maybe that is why the Sami call the Northern lights the “the crackling lights” which were the souls of the dead.