Watching Northern lights in Lapland

Northern lights, 19 March 2020, Äkäslompolo. Camera phone snapshot through the ski cottage window by Laila Alanen.

 Generic photo: Ylläs: tracking Northern lights, https://www.yllas.fi/ajankohtaista/revontulivinkit.html . Photo: Visit Finland.

Last night I saw for the first time in my life Northern lights (revontulet / aurora borealis / polarsken / Polarlicht / Полярное сияние / aurora polar / aurore polaire / aurora polare). It was a clear and starry night, and the village lights of Äkäslompolo were out. I was able to observe the spectacle for some fifteen minutes. It filled the sky and was constantly changing, sometimes slowly, sometimes rapidly. Mostly it was colourless: just luminous light dancing in magnificent formations.

The cinemas of Finland closed on Tuesday, 17 March 2020, including Kino Kellokas at Ylläs. Because of the coronavirus pandemic there is the first state of emergency in Finland since WWII. But here we can view the most haunting and sublime spectacles of light – the ones that inspired ancient shamans of the Sami people.

PS. 31 March 2020: Last week, Gian Luca Farinelli sent a letter from Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna stating: "Dal 1895 è la prima volta che l’umanità non può godere dell’invenzione dei fratelli Lumière, del piacere di stare assieme, in una sala cinematografica, davanti a uno schermo. Non era mai accaduto, nemmeno negli anni tragici della guerra." (Gian Luca Farinelli: "La Cineteca 'resta a casa' ma non si ferma", circular e-mail 26 March 2020, 5:49 pm).

This year is the 125. jubileum year of the cinema. Never before have cinemas been closed worldwide, not even during wartime, as Farinelli was the first one to point out.