The northern lights are also known as aurora borealis

The word “nordrljos” (northern lights) was first used in “Kongespeilet” (The King’s Mirror) around the year 1250. The author had heard about the northern lights from compatriots who had travelled to Greenland. The northern lights must have been magnificent “road lights” illuminating the sky for seafarers. In Norse mythology, the celestial bridge Bifrost forms a link between the earth and the world of the gods, and between life and death. This belief may have been inspired by the northern lights, and in folklore the northern lights have always been associated with death. People believed that they were in contact with the dead via the northern lights. And even today children can sometimes be seen waving white cloth at the northern lights in order to challenge them – a remnant perhaps of this age-old belief.

Aurora borealis is another name often used for the northern lights. Aurora is the goddess of dawn, and boreal means north or from the north. We can see Aurora dancing in the sky in the period between late August and early April.

The northern lights are with us all year round, but from the beginning of April to the end of August there is so much daylight that it is difficult to see Aurora dancing.