Perspectives | Aurora

Human Impacts

Indigenous Perspectives

The Indigenous people of the North West Territories (NWT) believed that if you were to whistle at the northern lights, they would come down, chop your head off, and play soccer with it. Other communities in the NWT believed that the auroras were from the fire of the Creator, the entity that created the world. The Cree on the other hand, believed that the northern lights were spirits in the skies, similarly to the Kikosun who believed that the lights were the souls of those that died, and were playing soccer with a walrus or human head.
Other nations also believed that the lights were the spirit of someone that you have lost in your life. In other North American cultures auroras believe that the light was produced by the torches of spirits, and that they could be communicated with them through whistling. The Inuit believed that they could summon the northern lights to talk to their dead loved ones, and they Cree believed that the dogs barked at the auroras because they recognized their owners who had passed.

Religious Perspectives

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Some Norse people believed that aurora borealis was the closest manifestation of “god on earth”, while others feared the lights due to superstition. The Vikings believed that the lights were the result of light bouncing off of the armor of Valkyries leading warriors who had died in battle to Odin. Other Vikings believed that it was the breath of those who had died in battle or the arch that led those to their final resting place. The Finno-Ugric people thought that the lights were a bad omen and were called “revontulet”. This translates to “firefox”, and was called this because they believed that when arctic foxes ran their tails would hit the mountains and would create sparks, lighting up the sky. Those in Iceland thought that the northern lights would ease the pains of childbirth, but that you were unable to look at them because they would result in your child being cross-eyed.