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Myth
| Back in the first ages, people didn’t know what the northern lights were. They would create stories and myths as to what they believed the aurora to be. Here are some of the most well known myths and stories created by cultures around the globe. |
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© Bhupinder Sing
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Good Lights
- Native Americans believed they could summon spirits by whistling at the lights. They also believed that if you whistled to them they would dance around or come down to you.
- The Vikings believed the lights to be the reflection of dead maidens.
- The Danish believed the lights were a group of swans caught in the ice up north. When they flapped their wings it caused the northern lights.
- In Greenland, Eskimos believed the northern lights were ghosts of children who died during childbirth. The lights were of those of the dead children playing.
- Some cultures believed the lights created crackling sounds. These sounds were thought to be the voices of spirits and Gods trying to talk with people on Earth.
- In Washington, the Makah Indians believed the northern lights were huge fires up north where strong dwarves boiled blubber from whaling.
- Another view of bonfires were by the Mandan Indians in North Dakota who believed they were medicine men and great warriors of the north who boiled their dead enemies.
- Other Natives in Wisconsin believed the lights to be torches of giants that helped them spear fish at night.
- Early Chinese and Europeans told stories of fire breathing dragons flying through the night. Japanese cultures believe if a child is conceived under the northern lights, it will be enlightened.
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Bad Lights
- The northern lights were also thought of as evil. Some Eskimo cultures used to bring knives with them and when the aurora started dancing, they would slash and stab at them to keep them away.
- In ancient times the lights were thought of as a plague bringer or an angry God coming to kill those who didn’t obey them. In medieval times the lights meant that the people of Europe were on the brink of war.
- To the Fox Indians, in Wisconsin, the lights were the dead enemies they had fought coming back for revenge.
- From God’s candles to solar wind, these stories add a colorful idea that relates to the ancient times and places where these lights were seen.
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