Imagine standing in the heart of Finnish Lapland, surrounded by a surreal spectacle: the Northern Lights painting the night sky with glowing colors.
It is a moment that will take your breath away, an experience to enjoy at least once in a lifetime.
Want to learn more?
Here is everything you need to know to plan an unforgettable trip in search of this extraordinary phenomenon.
Northern Lights: everything you need to know about this magical spectacle in Finnish Lapland
When to go to Lapland (and catch the Northern Lights)
The best time to visit Lapland – and have a better chance of seeing the Northern Lights – is between December and February. During this time, the region’s average temperature ranges from -16°C to 3°C, although it can drop as low as -30°C.
By contrast, summer temperatures can be much milder, usually between 10°C and 15°C, making it a prime destination for hiking, kayaking, and other outdoor adventures.
But where can you see the auroras?
It is all a matter of latitude! The Northern Lights (and their southern counterpart, the Aurora Australis) are phenomena that appear only in skies near the North Pole and the South Pole.
In the Southern Hemisphere, this privilege is almost entirely limited to the icy plains and mountains of Antarctica. In the north, on the other hand, auroras light up the skies of Alaska, northern Canada, northern Scandinavia, and Russia.
Since Lapland lies almost entirely above the Arctic Circle, the Northern Lights are a familiar sight in these dark skies. Utsjoki, the northernmost region of Lapland, is the best place to admire the melancholic waltz of the aurora borealis.
But auroras appear regularly all across northern Lapland, whether you are in city streets or along the shores of the Bothnian Bay.
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But where does the Northern Lights phenomenon come from?
The simplest answer is magic. The more complex answer begins in the heart of the sun, where particles form through intense nuclear reactions. Eventually, these particles are ‘shot’ out from the sun during periods of high solar activity.
These electrically charged particles travel through space, and most of them never reach Earth, but a lucky few are destined for our blue planet.
At this point, though, you may naturally wonder: how does climate change affect the Northern Lights?
Fortunately, not very much.
Since auroras are created by interactions between solar particles and the oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere, there is not much we can do to change that. However, worsening weather events and forecasting difficulties could make aurora hunting much more difficult in the future.
When they reach the upper atmosphere, they interact with more Earth-based charged particles. Their meeting creates dazzling displays of light, which we see as breathtaking auroras.
From time to time, however, oxygen becomes ‘excited’ and creates a display of red lights. In exceptional cases, these powerful red auroras have even been seen as far south as the Caribbean!
In fact, one of these geomagnetic storms, in 1859, disrupted and destroyed telegraph systems in Europe and North America.
More commonly, particles from the sun interact with oxygen: this causes a yellow-green light to be emitted. That is why most auroras are green. Another common color is purple, which comes from the nitrogen in the atmosphere.
But what does an aurora sound like, you may ask…
That is a great question, and one that Finnish scientists have only recently answered.
Although reports of crackling or rustling auroras were long considered folklore, in 2012 researchers studied the sounds produced in the air as a result of auroras.
It is not common, but if daytime weather conditions are just right, you may witness something even rarer than the auroras themselves.
Etymology and myths of the auroras
The etymology of the aurora borealis should be fairly obvious, but what exactly does ‘aurora borealis’ mean?
It comes from Latin: Aurora is the goddess of dawn and borealis means north.
Considering that their name comes from the gods themselves, it is no surprise that many myths and legends surround auroras.
For example, a child conceived under the Northern Lights will be beautiful and lucky. Auroras may be the spirits of the dead, or fire caused by the tail of the mystical fire fox, or even spells cast by the invisible forces of light and darkness. And these are only the myths told in Finland!
In Finnish Lapland, people once believed that the Northern Lights were created by a giant magical fox called Tulikettu. Foxes were hunted for their fur, and it was believed that a great fox hunter was also a great shaman.
Tulikettu was like the Phoenix of all foxes, and only one fire fox could exist at a time; therefore, it was believed that the hunter who captured the fire fox would live in great wealth for the rest of his life.
The fire fox, however, was so fast that no one could ever catch it. As it ran across snowy hills, its fur and tail brushes created sparks that flew into the sky and turned into the Northern Lights.
Not surprisingly, the Finnish word for the Northern Lights, ‘revontulet’, literally means ‘fox fire’.
According to another Lappish myth, the Northern Lights were spray from the water expelled by whales swimming in the Arctic Sea.
For fishermen in northern Sweden, the Northern Lights were a good prophecy. A sign of the presence of large schools of herring swimming nearby.
In Norse myths, the Northern Lights were thought to be reflections of the shining spears, armor, and helmets of the Valkyries – the warrior women who rode to lead fallen soldiers to Valhalla.
Finally, sometimes the Northern Lights were believed to be the bridge of Bifrost, the magical arch leading directly to Valhalla, the home of the gods and the Valkyries.
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Conclusions
In conclusion, a trip to enchanting Finnish Lapland offers the unique opportunity to admire the Northern Lights.
During winter, between December and February, you have the best chance of spotting these dancing lights in the night sky. And it is precisely during this period that we at Sto Gran Tour have organized an amazing tour!
Don’t believe it? Take a look at our full itinerary and get ready to leave!
