The nitrogen 1s near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) of gallium nitride (GaN) shows a strong natural linear dichroism that arises from its anisotropic wurtzite structure. An additional spectroscopic variation arises from lattice strain in epitaxially grown GaN thin films. This variation is directly proportional to the degree of strain for some spectroscopic features. This strain variation is interpreted with the aid of density functional theory calculations. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.