The Fox Indians of Wisconsin saw the aurora as an omen of war. They thought auroras were the ghosts of their slain enemies rising up against them to seek revenge.
Some Eskimos of eastern Canada and southern Alaska believed that the lights were dancing human spirits, while others believed that they were animal spirits of deer, seals, salmon, and beluga whales.
In Washington State, the Makah Indians believed that a tribe of dwarfs, half a canoe paddle tall, were boiling whales blubber that they had caught with their bare hands. The aurora represented the fires used to boil the blubber.
The Mandan Indians of North Dakota saw the aurora as the fires of medicine men and warriors cooking the bodies of their dead enemies.
A popular belief of some Eskimos was that the spirits of warriors playing football caused the lights. The aurora was the highest level of heaven and that is where warriors who died in battle could live and fight forever. It was also said to be the place where women who died in childbirth and unborn children could play for eternity.
Another Eskimo tribe hid their children away inside when the auroras came. They believed if you whistled at the aurora that it would sweep down and chop off your head. They made knives and weapons to protect themselves from the aurora and believed that throwing dog excrement or urine at the aurora would protect them.
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