We were collected from our hotel in Rovaniemi by car, driven to Langonlampi lake where we were to have a traditional Lappish spa experience. It was an intimate setting, only the 3 of us and the Lappish couple running the experience. We had the remote and picturesque location to ourselves.
I clearly did not do my research. I had assumed the spa would be just like in Alaska; that we’d all sit out in a hot tub in the middle of the forest and wait for the elusive northern lights to show up. Wrong. The traditional Lappish spa experience is not a hot tub but an ice tank – a dip in the private Arctic lake ! It looked sublime; a pathway leading down to the lake decorated by fairy lights making it appear enticing, but I wasn’t fooled by it’s appearance. The average Arctic water temperature in winter is -35C reaching as low as -50C.
I quickly knew that our 5-year-old Kidsetter whom is stubborn at the best of times was not doing this. I could just imagine him entering the lake with one of us, throwing a tantrum and somehow being stuck ‘somewhere’ underneath the ice in pitch black darkness !!! No thanks.
We were led to our traditional Lappish sauna in a cozy cottage and taught how to fire up the sauna. Here we were able to discuss further whether we were truly game to go for an artic dip individually. We couldn’t bring ourselves to take the plunge and enjoyed the quiet family time making our own fun games up in the sauna.
After a couple of hours of unwinding we were directed down to the campfire for a traditional Lappish meal. We enjoyed a tasty meal cooked over an open fire whilst listening to ancient Sami folk stories.
We were getting ready to leave this magical location when we could not believe our eyes. Shimmering green light began to form and slowly manifest into dancing across the black sky.
The aurora borealis (northern lights) form when charged particles emitted from the sun during a solar flare penetrate the earth’s magnetic shield and collide with atoms and molecules in our atmosphere. These collisions result in countless little bursts of light, called photons, which make up the aurora.
The Northern Lights have enchanted cultures throughout history and Sami people believe they are created from the spume of water ejected from whales. Finnish people believed that the lights were caused by the firefox (artic fox) who ran so quickly across the snow that his tail caused sparks to fly into the night sky creating the Aurora.
Our 5-year-old Kidsetter was beyond excited that these ‘lights’ that mummy and daddy had been talking about actually appeared and he was able to wonder in the unique and rare beauty of these stunning formations. We watched until the very last fleck of colour left the sky and returned to our hotel remaining mesmerized by our encounter with the mystical exhibit.
