Mesoamerica and South America Star Lore of the Aztec, Maya, Inca and other indigenous people

Aquarius

Maya Maya constellations are widely disputed, but Susan Milbrath: Star Gods of the Ancient Maya sees evidence that the Maya may have seen a bat in the constellation Aquarius. Interpretations of Maya constellations are uncertain, but in the absence of any other interpretations, I decided to include Susan Milbrath's work in my studies. Source: Susan Milbrath p. 258

Maya Bat Statue Source: Maya Archaeology

Aquila

Maya The Quiche saw Aquila as a hawk. They linked the southward migration of the Swanison's hawk with the movement of Aquila. Source:Susan Milbrath

Swainson's hawk Source: Wikipedia

Aries

Maya Maya constellations are widely disputed, but Susan Milbrath: Star Gods of the Ancient Maya sees evidence that the Maya may have seen an Ocelot in the constellation Aries. Source: Susan Milbrath p. 258

Inca In indigenous Peruvian astronomy, a constellation with most of the same stars as Aries was called the "Market Moon" and the "Kneeling Terrace", as a reminder for when to hold the annual harvest festival, Ayri Huay. Source: Wikipedia

Inca Festival Source: Historia Peruana

Crux, Centaurus, and the Coalsack Nebula The further south one travels, the brighter the Southern Cross shines. Very often, the stars of the Cross are combined with the two bright stars of Eridanus and 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.

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

Mocoví Alejandro López relates the cosmology of the Mocoví people of the Gran Chaco area 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. The Ombú is a massive tree with an umbrella-like canopy.

Great Rhea; Wikipedia

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

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 beehive-had and the stars of the Southern Cross as Aganagi, angry bees that had emerged from the hive. Source: Wikipedia

Bee Hive Source: clipart.email

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

Gemini

Aztecs McIvor sees evidence of a frog seen in the constellation Gemini with the stars Castor (α Gem) and Pollux (β Gem) being the frog's google eyes. According to Duran, "In the 5th month of their calendar, the Aztecs prayed for rain and in the 6th month, it rained copiously." The prayers were carried out by a priest wearing cloth that resembles frog skin, standing ankle deep in water, resembling the frog constellation standing ankle deep in the Milky Way. Source: harvard.edu

Frog Statue at the National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City Source: Mexicolore

McIvor's observation is based on the research of friar Diego Durán, who in the late 1500s wrote one of the first books on the history and culture of the Aztecs. McIvor's stresses, that his observations are just attempts of an interpretation, but given the authority of Durán, we decided to include them in our study.

Milky Way Dark Constellations of the Inca

The dark constellations of the Incas stretch across nearly 150° of the Milky Way’s expanse. Most are animals that figure prominently in Andean cosmology and myth. Gary Urton relates that the Spanish chronicler Polo de Ondegardo found the Incas to believe that “the animal constellations were responsible for the procreation and augmentation of their animal counterparts on the earth.

Dark Constellations of the Inca; Source: Somnium Project

Sources: Gary Urton: At the Crossroads of the Earth and the Sky: An Andean Cosmology Steven R. Gullberg et al. A Comparison of Dark Constellations of the Milky Way Gullberg, Steven Roland: The cosmology of Inca huacas. The following descriptions of Inca Dark Constellations are quoted from A Comparison of Dark Constellations...

Mach'acuay - the Snake Serpents figure prominently in Inca cosmology and are the creatures representing Uchu Pacha, the underworld and lowest of the three worlds of Inca existence. Machacuay leads this dark celestial procession as the constellations move left to right across the night sky. Van de Guchte says that the amaru, or serpents, emerged from their underworld environs via rivers and are thought to be related to rainbows and to foretell of rain.Machacuay can be seen at the beginning of the rainy season. The serpent’s dark figure is long like a snake and travels head before the tail.

Inca Serpent Ornament 15/16th century Source: The Met Museum, New York

Hanp’atu - the Toad Hanp’atu follows closely behind Machacuay. Toads were thought of as bad omens as they were created by the devil. Hanp’atu is a much smaller dark section of the Milky Way to the left of the snake.

Incan Toad Mortar 15th century Source: liveauctioneers.com

Yutu - the Tinamou Tinamou are birds indigenous to the Andes and are of very ancient lineage. Yutu, the Tinamou, follows Hanpatu in the Milky Way and likewise is much smaller than Machacuay. This Yutu is adjacent to what we refer to as the Southern Cross, is at zenith on the December solstice, and nadir on the June solstice. We know Yutu as the Coalsack in Western astronomy.

Tinamou; British Museum

Another Inca myth mentions the god Ataguchu. Ataguchu and his twin brother Piguero are part of the Inca creation myths in which they showed the first people how to escape the underworld. In a myth told on the website of the European Southern Observatory, Ataguchu kicked the Milky Way in a fit of anger, causing a fragment to fly off and form the Small Magellanic Cloud. The Coalsack is the black mark left behind where the broken fragment was. Sources: European Southern Observatory, constellation-guide.com

Yacana - the Llama Llamas figure prominently in many aspects of Inca culture and this celestial figure was thought to animate the llamas on the Earth. Yacana is a constellation much larger than Hanpatu or Yutu and dominates the Incas’ dark constellation section of the Milky Way. Yacana is situated between Centaurus and Scorpio. The prominent stars Alpha and Beta Centauri serve as the llama’s eyes and as such are known as Llamacñawin, the "eyes of the llama." Uñallamacha - the Baby Llama Below Yacana is a smaller dark constellation called Uñallamacha that is said to be a baby llama suckling its mother.

Inca Gold Llama 15/16th century Source: Museo Oro del Perú

Atoq - the Fox Following Yacana and Uñallamacha in the sky from the left is the somewhat smaller constellation of Atoq, the fox. Atoq lies on the ecliptic between the constellations of Scorpio and Sagittarius and the Sun enters it during the December solstice. Urton relates that the Milky Way and Atoq catch up and rise with the summer solstice Sun in the southeast during the same period of time that terrestrial baby foxes typically are born. "... the sun rises into [Atoq] ... from about December 15 to December 23."

Moche Fox Headdress, 1st cent. AD Source: Museo Oro del Perú

Urton lists a second constellation called Yutu. This additional tinamou follows Atoq and completes the celestial procession. Source: Steven R. Gullberg et al. A Comparison of Dark Constellations of the Milky Way Urton also mentions and Inca interpretation of the shiny part of the Milky Way as a heavenly reflection of the sacred Vilcanota River:

Andean cosmology ties the Milky Way with the Vilcanota River. The Vilcanota flows southeast to northwest through the Sacred Valley, past Machu Picchu and beyond. Its waters are thought to rise into the Milky Way and, once having traveled its celestial course, fall again to the earth as rain. The sun is stronger in the summer because it drinks from the swollen Vilcanota as it travels beneath it at night. It is weaker in the winter because it has had less to drink. Source: Gary Urton: At the Crossroads of the Earth and the Sky: An Andean Cosmology

An illustration of how astronomical phenomena and the sacred mountain & ceremonial center of Machu Picchu could be associated in Inca beliefs (graphic adapted from Johan Reinhard 2002 / Gary Urton 1981 / Google Earth 2012) Source: Peruvian Times

Moon Maya In 3114 BC, Mayan astronomers discover an 18.7-year cycle in the rising and setting of the Moon. From this they created the first almanacs – tables of the movements of the Sun, Moon, and planets for the use in astrology. August 11, 3114 BC is considered the starting point of the Maya calendar. Source: Wikipedia

Mayan Calendar Ms. Roa's Global History Class

Orion Aztecs The Aztecs called the stars of Orion’s Belt and Orion’s Sword the Fire Drill. Their rising in the winter sky signaled the beginning of the New Fire ceremony, a ritual Aztecs performed to postpone the end of the world. Source: Constellation Guide

Xiuhtecuhtli, God of Fire Source: Mexicolore

Maya Susan Milbrath sees evidence that the Maya may have seen a turtle in the constellation Orion. Sources: Constellations of the Ancient Maya, Susan Milbrath

Cosmic Turtle Altar in Copan Ruinas © Peter W. Wendelken

Bororo The Bororo people in what is now the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso had a massive constellation representing a caiman, showcasing the prominence of caimans in daily Amazonian life. The body of the animal was formed by the stars of Orion, its head was in Lepus. The tail was made of the eastern stars of Taurus, ending in the southern stars of Auriga. Sources: Wikipedia, Staal: New Patterns in the Sky

Caiman of the Bororo Source: fairbanksmuseum.org

Ophiuchus and Scorpius

Aztecs McIvor sees evidence of a rattlesnake as an Aztec constellation created out of stars from Ophiuchus and Scorpius. In the 13th month of their calendar, the Aztecs "... baked bread in the shape of this snake with dough used exclusively for ritual purposes. After a priest has consecrated these snake figures, they were eaten as communion bread and the Aztecs believed they possessed healing properties." Source: harvard.edu

Aztec Snake Source: National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City

Pisces

Maya Maya constellations are widely disputed, but Susan Milbrath: Star Gods of the Ancient Maya sees evidence that the Maya may have seen a skeleton in the constellation Pisces. Source: Susan Milbrath p. 258

Pleiades

Aztecs In the Aztecs calendar, the new year began with the heliacal rising of the Pleiades in the east, immediately before the sun's dawn light obliterated the view of the stars. The Aztecs called the Pleiades Tiānquiztli, meaning "marketplace". Source: Wikipedia

Aztec merchants Source: Wikipedia

Maya / Olmec Susan Milbrath sees evidence that the Maya may have seen the rattle of a rattlesnake in the Pleiades. Relating the star cluster to a snake's rattle may go back to the time of the Olmecs. Source: Susan Milbrath The star cluster of the Pleiades is part of the constellation Taurus, but given the amount of Star Lore related to them, they deserve a separate entry.

Snake at at La Venta Olmec Museum, Villahermosa © hammocksandruins.com

Sun

Rego Grande River In the 1990s, a megalithic stone circle was discovered in the Rego Grande River area in northern Brazil. Excavation began in 2005 and the stones were dated to be between 500 and 2000 years old. On the winter solstice, the shadow of one of the blocks disappears when the sun is directly above it, leading archaeologists to believe that the site was built by indigenous peoples for astronomical, ceremonial, or burial purposes - most likely a combination of those. Source: Wikipedia

Parque Arqueológico do Solstício Source: lacgeo.com

Taurus

Maya to the Maya people in Central America, Theta Tauri was known as Chamukuy. In the language of the Yucatec Maya, Chamukuy means "small bird." Source: Wikipedia

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