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Star Lore Crux Southern Hemisphere

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Crux is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for cross. While the constellation was barely noticed in Europe and Asia, it has always played an important role in navigation and mythology in the southern heminsphere.

Crux, Centaurus, and the Coalsack Nebula The further south one travels, the brighter the Southern Cross shines. Thus, the constellation plays a prominent role in star lore in the southern hemisphere. Very often, the stars of the Cross are combined with the two bright stars of Eridanus and with the Coalsack Nebula.

Alpha and Beta Centauri pointing towards the Cross Source: earthsky.org Right: Coalsack Nebula and Southern Cross Source: Wikipedia

Alpha Centauri and Hadar (β Centauri) are among the brightest stars in the southern sky - Alpha Centauri is the third brightest star in the night sky. The two stars are called the Pointers, as a line connecting the two leads directly to the southern Cross.

The Coalsack Nebula is the most prominent dark nebula in the skies, visible to the naked eye near the Southern Cross, as a dark patch obscuring a brief section of the Milky Way.

Africa

Bedoin The Tuaregs call the four most visible stars of Crux iggaren - four Maerua crassifolia trees. Source: Wikipedia

Maerua crassifolia Plants of s. Morocco

Mursi The Mursi people of modern-day Ethiopia call the star Delta Crucis (also known as "Decrux") Imai. The star has some significance as when it ceases to appear in the evening sky at dusk (around the end of August), it is said that the Omo river rises high enough to flatten the Imai Grass that grows along its banks, and then subsides.

Omo river; Source: lifegate.com

The Mursi use a series of southern stars to mark their calendar to track seasonal flooding of the Omo river. In 2018, the Working Group on Star Names of the International Astronomical Union approved the name Imai for Delta Crucis. Source: Wikipedia

Sotho, Tswana, Venda, /Xam, Khoikhoi The Sotho, Tswana and Venda call these stars Dithutlwa, the Giraffes. The bright stars of of the Cross are seen as male giraffes, the two Pointers are female. The Venda called the fainter stars of the Southern Cross Thudana, The Little Giraffe. The /Xam /Xam od southern Africa interpret three brightest stars of the Southern Cross as female lions and the two Pointers as male lions. In their legends, they were once men, but a magical girl turned them into stars. The Khoikhoi in southwest Africa call the Pointers Mura, the Eyes of some great celestial beast. Source: ASSA - African Ethnoastronomy

Girafe in a rock painting Source: Don Hitchcock

Australia

Adnyamathanha The Adnyamathanha in South Australia often refer to the Southern Cross as Wildu Mandawi, the place where deceased spirits travel up into the heavens. Source: Australasian Science In Adnyamathanha folklore, the pointer stars are two creation heroes, escaping from a bush fire. Source: Dianne Johnson p. 167

Aranda The Aranda people of the central Australian part of the Northern Territories see the talon of an eagle in the Southern Cross with the Coalsack Nebula being its nest and the pointers being its throwing stick. Source: Australasian Science According to Haynes et al., the Aranda and their neighbors, the Luritja people formed a quadrangular constellation called Iritjinga out of γ Centauri, δ Centauri, γ Crucis and δ Crucis. Iritjinga means "Eagle-Hawk", another word for the Wedge tailed eagle. Source: Wikipedia

Eagle-Hawk in the Arms of the Nortnern Territory Source: Wikipedia

Boorong The Boorong of north-Western Victoria see two great hunters in the pointer stars of Centaurus. They tell a story of Bunya, who was chased by the emu Tchingal. In great fear, Bunya laid his spears at the base of a tree and ran up it to avoid his pursuer. Bunya had to wait so long in the tree, that he turned into an opossum. The opossum can be seen in the sky as the Southern Cross with Gacrux (γ Crucis) being its nose. Bunya was eventually saved by the Berm Berm-gle, two hunters, represented by the pointer stars Alpha and Beta Centauri. The eastern stars of the Cross are the points of the brother's spears that have passed through Tchingal - one at the foot through his neck, and one in the arm through his rump. Sources: Museum of Victoria, Australasian Science, John Morieson: The Night Sky of the Boorong

Opossum Tree © Narritjin Maymuru

Kaurna The Kaurna from the Adelaide region see the footprint of the wedge-tailed eagle in the Southern Cross, which they call Wilto. Other nations further north, the Ngadjuri and Nukunu tell the same tale. Source: Australasian Science

Eagle Prints © Clifford Possum

Yankunytjatjara The Yankunytjatjara add a variation to the eagle talon story. To them, the Southern Cross is not the footprint of an eagle, but the print of an emu. Source: Australasian Science

Torres Strait Islanders for the Torres Strait Islanders, the Southern Cross is part of the Tagai constellation (see Centaurus). Most sources (like A.C. Hadden) call the constellation the left hand of Tagai. However, Wikipedia, without naming a source, writes, that the Islanders "... saw γ Centauri as the handle and the four stars as the trident of Tagai's Fishing Spear." Sources: Wikipedia, A.C. Hadden: Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits p. 132

Nyulnyul Aboriginal people at Australia's northwest coast tell a story about how the fire came to the people. They see the Southern Cross as the camp of two mothers who came to earth in search of food. The fire sticks they carried got out of control and the fire was captured by the people. The fires of the mothers are represented by the pointer stars. Source: Dianne Johnson p. 167

Rock painting from the Kimberley Region Source: Wikipedia

Galbu To the Galbu (part of the Yolngu language group in the Northern Territories), the stars of the Southern Cross form a stingray that is eternally pursued by a shark, represented by the Pointers. Source: Dianne Johnson p. 164

Stingray © Donald Blitner

Ngarrindjeri Half a continent away, the Ngarrindjeri people in South Australia have the same story of a stingray named Nunganari, pursued by two sharks. Source: Australasian Science

Oenpelli To the Oenpelli in the Northern Territory, the Coalsack Nebula represents a fruit tree. Garakma, a celestial family, feeds on the fruit and on waterlily bulbs from the Milky Way. Source: Dianne Johnson p. 163 In another Oenpelli myth, the stars of the Southern Cross represent the bright eyes of Nangurgal, a group of starmen (the large stars of the Cross) and their sons (the smaller stars of the Cross). They catch a snake (the Coal Sack) and eat it. Source: Dianne Johnson p. 164

Wardaman The Wardaman people of the Northern Territory called the constellation we know as Crux Ginan - a Bag of Songs. In 2018, the Working Group on Star Names of the International Astronomical Union approved the name Ginan for Epsilon Crucis, the "fifth star" of the Cross. Sources: Wikipedia, abc.net.au Australian writer W. E. Harney reports that to the Wardaman people, the coalsack Nebula represents head and shoulders of a law-man watching the people to ensure they do not break traditional law. According to the website Indigenous Astronomy, this law-man, called Utdjungon will "...cast a fiery star to the Earth if laws and traditions are not followed. The falling star will cause the earth to shake and the trees to topple." Both Indigenous Astronomy and the blog Aboriginal Astronomy report that the believe of meteors being a form of punishment is wide spread in Aboriginal culture. Sources: Wikipedia Indigenous Astronomy

Milky Way star map © Bill Yidumduma Harney, senior Wardaman elder Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater Source: theconversation.com

Warnindhilyagwa The Warnindhilyagwa see the Coalsack Nebula as a fish called Alakitja, which is is speared by two brothers. The blog Aboriginal Astronomy tells the story: Alakitja was a large rock cod, a fish who lived in the water of the River, the Milky Way. He swam to reach his favourite water hole. He swam carefully past the fishtraps placed there by the Sky People. He swam past the many water lilies with their white flowers shining so brightly that people could se them, and they called them stars. Finally he reached a water hole, where he rested under a rock way from the hot Sun.

Spear Fishing © GROOTE ISLAND

The Two Brothers were hungry. They had been busy making mountains and rivers on Earth and they now looked for food. They crept up to the water hole and saw the gigantic fish Alakitja. They drove their spears into Alakitja and pulled the fish from the water hole. They shared the fish and each brother made his own campfire. They can still be seen there today. The two campfires are the stars Delta Crucis and Gamma Crucis. The two brightest stars of the cross, Alpha and Beta Crucis, are the Two Brothers. The fish is the dark patch close by (the Coal Sack). The two pointers, Alpha and Beta Centauri are friends of the brothers who are waiting for their share of Alakitja the fish. Sources: Aboriginal Astronomy, Dianne Johnson p. 163

Wotjobaluk The Wotjobaluk in what is now Victoria interpret the Coalsack Nebula as the top of a giant pine tree that can be used to climb to the sky. Source: ABC TV Australia

Pacific

Bugis The Bugis sailors used the Southern Cross for navigation. The four main stars, together with μ Crucis were called bintoéng bola képpang - the "incomplete house star." Source: Wikipedia

Hawaii In Hawaii, the Southern Cross is called Hanaiakamalama, meaning "cared for by the moon." Sources: Johnson and Mahelona: Hawaiian and Pacific Star Names, Polynesian Voyaging Society.

Solomon Islands The people of the Solomons see the Southern Cross as a net used to catch Palola worms. Source: Wikipedia

Tonga In Tonga, the Southern Cross is known as Toloa, the duck; it is depicted as a duck flying south, with one of his wings (Imai; δ Cruc) wounded because Ongo tangata, two men, represented by α and β Centauri, threw a stone at it. The Coalsack is known as Humu, the triggerfish. Samoa In Samoa too, α and β Centauri are two men, called Luatagata, but the triggerfish, called Sumu, is projected directly into the stars of the Cross. Source: Wikipedia,

Triggerfish Source Wikipedia

Māori In Māori, The Southern Cross is called Māhutonga and the pointers are acalled Te Taura o te Waka o Tamarēreti. They are part of a larger constellation, representing the anchor and the anchor line, respectively, of a canoe called Te Waka o Tamarēreti. Orion's Belt, called Tautoru, meaning "The Three Friends" forms the stern of the canoe, Te Waka o Mairerangi, the central part of Scorpius forms the keel and Tama-rereti, the scorpion's "tail" of is the bow. Sources: Wikipedia, Maori Dictionary, Maori Star Names Tūhoe legends surrounding the creation of star constellations, Part 1 and Part 2

Te Waka o Tamarēreti Source: Youtube

South America

Bakairi The Bakairi people in what is now the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso had a sprawling constellation representing a bird snare. It included the bright stars of Crux and the southern part of Centaurus, together with stars from Circinus, Lupus, Musca, Chamaeleon, Volans and Mensa. Source: Wikipedia

Bird Snare Source: Wikimedia

Kalapalo The Kalapalo people, also of Mato Grosso saw the Coalsack Nebula as a beehivehad and the stars of the Southern Cross as Aganagi, angry bees that had emerged from the hive. Source: Wikipedia

Bee Hive Source: clipart.email

Bororo The Bororo people in what is now the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso had a constellation called the Great Rhea, encompassing the stars of Centaurus and Circinus and the bright stars Alpha and Beta Centauri, which made up one foot of the big bird. The Rhea is a large flightless bird, distantly related to the ostrich and emu. Source: Wikipedia

Great Rhea Source: Wikipedia

Mocoví Wikipedia reports that the Mocoví of Argentinas Gran Chaco region also saw a rhea in Crux. Their rhea's body consisted of the four main stars of Crux, while its head was γ Centauri and its feet were the bright stars of Musca. The rhea was attacked by two dogs, represented by bright stars in Centaurus and Circinus. The dogs' heads were Alpha and Beta Centauri. Source: Wikipedia Alejandro López relates Mocoví cosmology to the the Coalsack Nebula and a mythical being called the Mañic He writes that the Mañic: "... is the master of the South American rheas.It used to shelter in a number of burrows, under the roots of an ombú.

A Mocoví mythical tale has that a powerful man decided to face the Mañic. He chased the Mañic throughout the world and the cornered Mañic climbed up the ombú trunk (the tree of the world) to the sky. Today, the shadow-soul (la 'al) of the Mañic can be seen in the Milky Way's dark clouds, with its head in what we know as the Coalsack. Alpha and Beta Centauri are dogs chasing the Mañic and bite at its neck." Source: Steven R. Gullberg et al. A Comparison of Dark Constellations of the Milky Way

The Mañic; art by Jessica Gullberg, constellation from López and Alterlieb Source: researchgate.net

Mapuche In the language of the Mapuche, the Southern Cross is called Melipal, meaning "four stars. Source: Wikipedia

Inca In Quechua, the language of the Inca civilization, Crux is known as Chakana. A Chakana is a specific form of a cross, its spiritual meaning to the Inca is still very controversely discussed. Literally, Chakana means "stair" (chaka = bridge, link; hanan = high, above). Source: Wikipedia

Stairs on the Inca Trail Source: denomades.com

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