casting her spellfire
snowflakes scatter from her tail
aurora, spell binding
Magic, science and folklore, meld on this night.
The sparkling tail of the elusive firefox
The Finnish word for the Northern Lights translates to “fox fires”. The firefox is a mythical and elusive creature of the North coveted by hunters. Legend has it that a person who catches the firefox would be rich and famous beyond belief.
As it runs along the fells, the fox’s flaming tail whips crystals of snow into the sky and the fur scratches the trees, setting the skies on fire. There is a small element of truth in this explanation as fur can be charged with static energy, producing sparks. Indigenous Canadians had similar ideas about the fur of their reindeer.
Another explanation for the Finnish name, revontulet, is the word “repo”, used by the migrant Forest Finns, meaning a spell. Thus, the auroras were spellfires, caused by forces of darkness and light waging war in the sky.
excerpt from " Lapland above ordinary"
