Fox Fire

In the folklore of Northern Finland, a "Firefox" (tulikettu or tulirepo or tulikko) is a mythical creature that is occasionally spotted by hunters deep in the forest.

Stemming from the tales of hunters spotting a fox whose tail literally twinkles sparks of fire as it raced through the woods, the Firefox its tail sparking and glittering against the darkness and its reflection in the snow, became a sought after sighting if not prize.

This magical, mystical "Firefox" has given its name by the Finns to the beautiful "Aurora Borealis" commonly known as the "Northern Lights".

In Finland they are called "fox fires" ("revontulet"). The Finns believed that it was the fire fox who painted the night sky with its bushy tail into sparkling lights of the northern lights.

Another explanation for Finnish name is the word “repo”, used by the migrant Forest Finns, meaning a spell. Thus, the auroras were spellfires, caused by forces of darkness and light waging war in the sky.

Last night my nephew and his family saw and photographed these beautiful flashing, soaring, and sweeping lights against the winter's dark night sky of Anchorage.
The revontulet fire fox was painting the sky with his flashing tail!

I bring back my childhood memories of my Finnish immigrant grandparents and send love and ancestral healing energies across the night skies.

From these Northern Lights in Alaska to the sprinkles of the foxfire tail re-appearing as a dusting of snow here in Oregon!

Michele Bilyeu Creates With Heart and Hands as she shares her imaginative, magical, and healing journey from Alaska to Oregon. Creating, designing, sewing, quilting, and wildcrafting, from my heart and with my hands