Many Japanese tourists visit Yellowknife, Alaska. Do they visit because they believe that going to the Northern Lights will make unborn children smarter? (Also see the next video) Ice Road Truckers: Aurora Borealis. (2010). The History Channel website. Retrieved 12:52, September 17, 2010, from http://www.history.com/videos/ice-road-truckers-aurora-borealis.
Many Japanese people trek it out to the rough Alaskan terrain to see Aurora Borealis. One woman claims that Japanese tourists go to the Northern Lights in the belief that it will bring them closer to the spirits of their ancestors [I am still doing research to try to confirm or disprove this claim].
Tougher in Alaska: Flocking to the Arora. (2010). The History Channel website. Retrieved 12:44, September 17, 2010, from http://www.history.com/videos/tougher-in-alaska-flocking-to-the-arora.
"A story from the Northern Hebrides [in Scotland] attributes the aurora to supernatural beings called Blue Men. During an active display of the aurora the Blue Men are called the Merry Dancers, also known as na fir chlis (Gaelic for quick, nimble men). When the aurora moves rapidly, there is believed to be a battle going on between clans. The red light was attributed the the blood spilled during these battles." [1]
"The Aborigines of Australia believed the aurora australis (the southern lights) to be the dance of gods across the southern sky." [2]
"Some Salteaus, Kwakiutl and Tlingit benignly saw the aurora as dancing spirits, either human or other animals species, particularly deer, seal, salmon, or beluga." [3]
"Wonderously, the Lakota Sioux saw the light approaching and roiling in the sky to be the souls of generation yet unborn, coming toward their destination. A warm and loving account comes from the Algonquin who felt the lights were from huge fires maintained by the creator god Nanahbozho, sent to show he remembered them." [3]
"Some Eskimo of Greenland said the lights were the spirits of children who died in childbirth and could be seen dancing round and round. Other tales from neighboring tribes thought the lights were also from the realm of the dead, but anyone deceased, and signified that the passed spirits were trying to contact their living relatives." [3]
"Most elaborately, [northern] Eskimo told that there was an abyss at the edge of the world. A narrow path or bridge spanned the abyss leading the dead to a land of plenty where pain and disease no longer existed. There were spirits who guarded the path whose duties also included guiding souls to this paradise. They used hand held torches to do this, and it was these torch light which produced the aurora. When the dead spirits wished to communicate with the earthly plane they would do so by whistling thought [sic] the aurora, which is said to make such a sound. The living could answer back to the dead by respectfully whispering at the light displays. [3]
"The twisting snake-like forms of active auroral bands were often portrayed by the ancient Chinese as celestial serpents, and may have given rise to dragon legends." [2]
"The Romans called [aurora] ‘chasmata’, considering them to be the mouths of celestial caves. Some [sources] speculate that the origins of the fire breathing dragon legends of China and Europe arose from early observation of the aurora." [3]
"Russian folklore refers to the Borealis lights as ‘ognenniy zmey’, a fire dragon who comes in the night to seduce the wifes when their husbands were gone. You can almost hear the desperate pleas from the one man left in the village who did not go off to the war explain to the armed horde returning after a year’s time why all the women were pregnant, “It was the dragon, really, trust me tovarich, we all saw him, the ugly monster.”" [3]
[1] Aurora Explained Through Folklore: http://ffden-2.phys.uaf.edu/211.fall2000.web.projects/Christina%20Shaw/Folklore.html
[2] Aurora Folklore, by Dennis L. Mammana: http://www.dennismammana.com/skyinfo/astrofacts/aurora_folklore.htm
[3] The Folklore Surrounding the Aurora, by Craig Robertson, 365 Days of Astronomy, March 8, 2010: http://365daysofastronomy.org/2010/03/08/march-8th-the-folklore-surrounding-the-aurora/
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