Alaska Adventure: Aurora Borealis gone wild!

March 15th and 16th were very good nights for the northern lights here in Palmer. We were able to take several pictures from the house and Hatchers Pass. The northern lights are caused by solar flares from the sun, and when the radiation hits the earths atmosphere it produces the northern lights. You can typically only see these in the winter as it is the only time that it really gets dark enough to see them.

There are websites you can visit that will forecast the chance to see the lights, here is one we use. http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast

There are many Native legends about the lights, below is one of them;

Legends and Folklore of the Northern Lights

The aurora borealis has intrigued people from ancient times, and still does today. The Eskimos and Indians of North America have many stories to explain these northern lights.

One story is reported by the explorer Ernest W. Hawkes in his book, The Labrador Eskimo:

The ends of the land and sea are bounded by an immense abyss,
over which a narrow and dangerous pathway leads to the
heavenly regions. The sky is a great dome of hard material
arched over the Earth. There is a hole in it through which the
spirits pass to the true heavens. Only the spirits of those who
have died a voluntary or violent death, and the Raven, have been
over this pathway. The spirits who live there light torches to
guide the feet of new arrivals. This is the light of the aurora.
They can be seen there feasting and playing football with a
walrus skull.
The whistling crackling noise which sometimes accompanies the
aurora is the voices of these spirits trying to communicate
with the people of the Earth. They should always be answered
in a whispering voice. Youths dance to the aurora. The
heavenly spirits are called selamiut, "sky-dwellers," those who
live in the sky.