setembro 2019

Prólogo e epílogo contidos no encarte de “Nordlys” (2008), explicando e filosofando sobre o “Sol da Meia Noite” norueguês:

“Prologue: The Northern Lights are a force of nature that has fascinated and captured humanity’s imagination since time began. Known as Nordlys in Norwegian, they are a phenomenon seen in the northernmost sky, strands of red, green and blue light that paint the sky like fog on a crystal clear night. Once shrouded in mystery, we now know that the Northern Lights are the result of cosmic play between the sun and Earth. They are born from energy-charged eruptions on the surface of the sun that become an unseen storm – the solar wind – with the power to reach Earth is only three days. In spite of the solar wind’s strenght, however, our planet’s magnetic field is strong enough to prevent it from reaching the surface. At the poles, where the magnetic fields originate, the solar wind releases electrons into the upper atmosphere, resulting in an energy exchange seen as the Northern Lights.

The can best be seen between the beginning of September and the middle of April, when the Midnight Sun is nowhere to be found.

***

Epilogue: Because of their unusual and always unpredictable appearance, the Northern Lights are the basis for countless stories, myths and legends. For many cultures they were evidence of magic in the sky. Were the Lights warriors fighting a bloody battle in the heavens? Perhaps spirits of the dead playing a game with one another? Were they a representation of unborn children soon destined for the realms of flesh and blood. Wasn’t there a tale of a dead virgin dancing in Heaven and waving down to Earth? Or are they a message from mighty warriors long since fallen?

Whatever the Northern Lights meant to the different cultures of the world, the tales can be found in their discovery“.