Not all native communities in North America were comforted by the presence of the Northern Lights and many believed they were an evil omen. The Great Plains Indians also believed the lights were the reflection of large fires, but not one made by a loving creator.
The notion that looking at the Northern Lights poses a risk to your eyes is untrue. Aurora Borealis is a natural phenomenon caused by charged particles from the sun colliding with Earth's atmosphere. These particles excite molecules in the atmosphere, causing them to emit light.
``Some say that if you whistle at the Northern Lights, they will dance for you. The more cautious argue that one should never whistle when the Northern Lights are low, as it can bring great misfortune, even death.
The northern lights is also mentioned in the Bible, in the book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament. In the 2,600 years old description it says:” I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north–an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light.”
Indigenous Greenlanders believed that the lights were dancing spirits of children who had died at birth. 3. For Wisconsin's Fox Native Americans, the aurora gave them a sense of foreboding—representing their slain enemies preparing for revenge.
Omens of death
Not all native communities in North America were comforted by the presence of the Northern Lights and many believed they were an evil omen. The Great Plains Indians also believed the lights were the reflection of large fires, but not one made by a loving creator.
Grotesque Myths
More macabre legends believed that the Northern Lights could cut off your head if you were not careful. The belief that the light was a manifestation of dead souls was shared by indigenous people in Greenland and North America as well.
In simple terms, the auroras can be explained as an interaction of the solar wind and the Earth's magnetic field. The solar wind consists of charged particles emanating from the Sun. These are captured by the Earth's magnetic field and drawn towards the poles at a very high speed.
For some, the lights represent a celestial bridge to the afterlife, guiding departed souls to peace. Others see them as ancestral lights, with elders teaching respect and reverence during their display to honour forebear spirits. In certain Inuit cultures, taboos surround the Northern Lights.
There's a lot of fear-mongering online about the sun's activity as it reaches its (perfectly natural) solar maximum — a once-in-11-years event — but rest assured that observing the Northern Lights is perfectly safe for observers. They occur hundreds of miles up in the atmosphere and pose no threat to people below.
Many Indigenous people believe that one should never whistle at night. This belief takes many forms: for instance, Native Hawaiians believe it summons the Hukai'po, the spirits of ancient warriors, and Native Mexicans say it calls Lechuza, a witch that can transform into an owl.
In Japan, the aurora borealis is associated with a mysticism strongly linked to fertility, and it's believed that a child born in their glow will be particularly happy. An old Asian myth also says that a person who has seen the northern lights lives happily for the rest of their life.
Auroraphile - A Person Who Loves the Northern Lights.
Adjust the aperture to change the amount of light that passes through your lens. For northern lights, use the smallest setting possible for your lens, such as f/1.4–f/4. A higher ISO adds more light to your photo. Between 800 and 3200 ISO is ideal, depending on other light sources such as the moon.
The colors are visible to the naked eye when the aurora is strong and bright enough to activate your color-sensitive cells (cones) inside. A full moon and light pollution can also help activate these color-sensitive cells.
The word borealis is Latin for boreal, which simply means “northern.” The aurora borealis is not the only aurora on Earth. The aurora in the Southern Hemisphere is called aurora australis or the southern lights.
Stories about the auroras range from the Roman belief the lights were the goddess of dawn to medieval times when they were thought to be a harbinger of famine, to a number of Native American beliefs, including the lights being omens of war or dancing spirits or great hunters and fishermen.
It is said that many of the early Chinese legends associated with dragons were a result of the Northern Lights. The belief is that the lights were viewed as a celestial battle between good and evil dragons who breathed fire across the firmament.
The northern lights give us a unique window into our sun's activity, space weather and Earth's magnetic field. At any given moment, the sun is ejecting charged particles from its corona, or upper atmosphere, creating the solar wind. When that wind slams into Earth's ionosphere, or upper atmosphere, the aurora is born.
Very faint auroras will look like a barely perceptible milky haze in the night sky to your eyes. Snapping a photo with your phone or camera will suddenly reveal the auroras' characteristic lime green, even when very dim. The green color is there, but your eyes can't see it because it is too faint.
In this case, the colours are caused by particles colliding with our atmosphere at an altitude of 60 miles or less. At these heights, it is a reaction with Nitrogen that causes the Aurora to be tinged with purple or blue and most commonly, you will see these colours towards the lower parts of the display.
A bad omen
Not all cultures celebrate the northern and southern lights. For many, it's a bad omen, one that could indicate impending doom or even carry you off into the sky.
Fishermen in northern Sweden took the lights as a good omen, believing they reflected large schools of herring in nearby seas. 15. If you whistled at the aurora, some Native Americans believed it would sweep down and take you away. Clapping your hands, however, would cause the lights to retreat, keeping you safe.
King David wrote in the first verse of Psalm 19 that the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork. Even though the auroras seem like colorful, dancing lights to us, they are really a testament to God's glory and powerful mind.