Snagged from my fb feed

[la_samtyr]

As we've been treated some spectacular Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) here across Scotland in the past couple of nights, seems like a great excuse to look at the folklore behind the phenomenon.

Here in Scotland the lights are called 'The Merry Dancers;' representing epic fights between the sky warriors or fallen angels.

In Finland the Arctic Fox creates the lights by throwing the snow up with his tail.

In the Sami language, they're the fire lit in the sky by a bird, the Siberian Jay.

The Fox Indians of Wisconsin saw the lights as an omen of war or pestilence. They were the ghosts of their slain enemies looking for revenge.

The Greenland Eskimos saw the lights as the ghosts of children who had died at birth.

The Salteaus Indians of Canada and the Kwakiuti and Tlingit of Alaska saw them as human spirits dancing.

The Point Barrow Eskimos saw the lights as evil and carried knives to keep the evil away.

Not much chance of seeing them tonight unfortunately as it's pouring with rain, but hopefully tomorrow ...

Pic is under the cut because of size

Comments

[erulissedances]

So pretty!!!

- Erulisse (one L)