Jaunted

Foxy Lights in Finland

8/30/2006 at 8:15 AM
Tags: Finland, Lapland, nature (all tags)

With September zooming up at us fast, aurora season in Finland is starting to warm up. With the impressive statistic that the Northern Lights are visible four out of five nights from northern Lapland (providing it's not too cloudy), it seems like the place to be. Even better is the fact that the Finnish have a much cooler name for this bewitching phenomenon: revontulet. Wait a minute, we know it doesn't sound instantly cool, but the resaons behind it is: Literally translated, it means "foxfire", and a Sami legend tells of:

the tail of a fox running along snow-covered fells strikes the snow drifts, sending a trail of sparks into the sky

Aw, how sweet. More importantly if you do camp out in Lapland waiting for the foxy lights, make sure you do it in a hotel with a good wake-up service. When the lights appear, they'll call you in your room and you don't have to take the (albeit low at 20%) chance that you'll be staring up in the sky, cold and seeing nothing.

[Image via tjerkb/Flickr]

Related stories:
Lapping Up Knowledge in Lapland [Jaunted]
Finland's Vibrant Capital [Scotsman]