Revontulet, the Fox Fires
In Finland, the northern lights are called fox fires: a fox running across the fells, its tail sweeping sparks of snow into the sky.
What was reported
The Finnish word for the aurora borealis is revontulet, 'fox fires'. An old story says an arctic fox ran so fast across the snowy hills of Lapland that its tail brushed the snow and threw sparks up into the sky, lighting it in colours.
The Sámi people of the far north treated the lights with caution. Children were told not to whistle, sing or wave at them, or the lights might come down and carry them off, and people kept quiet when the sky was lit.
Explanations offered
The aurora happens when charged particles from the Sun are guided by Earth's magnetic field into the upper atmosphere near the poles, making gases glow green, red and violet. Northern Finland sees them on about half of all clear nights in winter.
- When
- Told for centuries
- Where
- Inari, Lapland, Finland
- Witnesses
- Finnish and Sámi tradition, and anyone in the far north
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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