Aurora Borealis in Finland

FINLAND, JANUARY 2018: A polar aurora (also known as the Northern Lights in the northern hemisphere and the Southern Lights in the southern hemisphere) is a luminous phenomenon characterized by extremely colourful veils in the night sky, with green being predominant. Caused by the interaction between charged particles from the solar wind and the upper atmosphere, auroras occur mainly in regions close to the magnetic poles, in an annular zone precisely called the "auroral zone" (between 65 and 75° latitude). In case of intense solar magnetic activity, the auroral arc expands and begins to invade areas much closer to the equator."nThey are associated with many myths and legends. All languages evoke these "northern lights" except for the Finns who use the Finnish term revontulet, which can be translated as "red foxtail" or "fox lights": Some Sami peoples tell us that the polar fox, as it swiftly travels through vast snowy expanses, ejected dust with its tail into the sky, thus creating the Northern Lights along their path. The Inuit of Greenland call the auroras aqsarniit, believing that the souls of the dead play ball with walrus skulls. A tribe in Nunavut thinks that walrus play ball with human skulls. Their red colour associated with blood is responsible for the fact that the Inuit of eastern Greenland believe that the polar auroras are the souls of stillbirths."nOther northern mythologies evoke the Bifröst, the dancing of the spirits of certain animals, especially salmon, reindeer, seals and belugas; the breath of the whales of the Arctic Ocean; the reflection of the Sun or Moon on the armour of the Valkyries as they pass through Heaven; torches lit by the spirits of the dead to greet in paradise the dead. (Photo by Philippe Bourseiller/Getty Images)