Traditional Stories of the Arctic and Subarctic Nations

Traditional Stories of the Arctic and Subarctic Nations — page 3
TRUE NORTHERNERS The far north of North America can be both harsh and beautiful It has two regions the Arctic and the Subarctic The Arctic stretches across 5 5 million square miles 14 5 million sq km It includes the North Pole and parts of three oceans Earth’s tilt means that in some areas the sun sets for weeks at a time in winter In the summer it may remain in the sky for just as long The Subarctic region lies south of the Arctic Circle It includes Alaska and NORTHERN LIGHTS The northern lights or the aurora borealis appear in the sky throughout the Arctic and Subarctic regions These bands of colored light occur near Earth’s magnetic poles They happen when particles from the sun collide with Earth’s atmosphere There are many stories about the northern lights The Inuit call them arsaniit or the spirits of animals they’ve hunted They tell stories about sky people playing ball games In the Iñupiaq language they are sometimes known as kiguyait Cree and Iñupiat beliefs say the lights are the dancing spirits of the dead 6