 |
Star Lore
|
 |
 |
The ten pillars that hold up the sky
The people of Tahiti and of many other Polynesian island
see the sky like the roof of a traditional Polynesian Roundhouse.
And like the roof of the roundhouse, the sky is held up by pillars.
|
|
|
X 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
| |
Pillar Ana-mua Ana-muri Ana-roto Ana-tipu Ana-heu-heu-po Ana-tahua-taata-metua-te-tupu-mavae Ana-tahua-vahine-o-toa-te-manava Ana-varu Ana-iva Ana-nia |
Meaning entrance pillar rear pillar middle pillar upper-side-pillar pillar where debates were held pillar to stand by pillar for elocution pillar to sit by pillar of exit pillar-to-fish-by |
Star Antares Aldebaran Spica Dubhe Alphard Arcturus Procyon Betelgeuse Phaed Polaris |
Constellation Scorpius Taurus Virgo Ursa Major Hydra Boötes Canis Minor Orion Ursa Major Ursa Minor |
 |
Andromeda |
 |
On the Tuamotu Islands, Alpheratz (α And)
was called Takurua-e-te-tuki-hanga-ruki,
meaning "Star of the wearisome toil" and Mirach (β And) was named Piringa-o-Tautu,literally
meaning "the star of a (certain) season of its existence."
Sources: wikipedia, Sergei Rjabchikov: The Ancient Astronomy of Easter Island |
|
Andromeda, Aries, Cassiopeia, Triangulum |
|
Marshall Islands
The people of the Marshall Islands incorporated several stars into a constellation depicting a porpoise called Ke.
|
Possible outline of the porpoiseDrawn by the author based on a map from thoughtco.com |
 |
Aquila |
 |
Hawaii
On the Hawaiian Islands, Altair was the guiding star for canoes sailing a northwesterly course
from the Big Island to Kaua‘i.
|
|
 |
The Bugis Sailors called Altair bintoéng timoro, meaning "eastern star." |
 |
In Micronesia, Altair was called Mai-lapa,
meaning "big/old breadfruit".
Source for Bugis and Micronesia: Wikipedia/Altair |
 |
On the Marquesas Islands, the entire constellation Aquila was known as Pao-toa, meaning "Fatigued Warrior." |
|
|
On the Tuamotu Islands, Altair was called Tukituki, meaning "Pound with a hammer" and Alshain (β Aqu) was named Nga Tangata, "the Men." |
 |
On the island Puka Puka, Altair and its companions Alshain (β Aqu) and Tarazed (γ Aqu) were called Tolu, meaning "three"; Altair itself was named Turu, meaning the Pole. |
 |
The Māori called Altair Poutu-te-rang,
meaning "pillar of heaven."
Altair was used differently in different Māori calendars, being the star of February and March in one version and March and April in the other. It was also the star that ruled the annual sweet potato harvest. Source for Marquesas, Tuamotu, Puka Puka and Māori: Wikipedia/Aquila |
  |
Boötes, Corona Borealis |
|
On the Marshall_Islands, the stars
β,
μ and ν Boötis, together with
μ Coronae Borealis form a constellation called Ok-an-adik, meaning net of the first quarter,
derived from the Marshallese words ok (fish net) and adik (first quarter of the moon).
When the moon and Ok-an-adik are in the west, large schools of fish would be lingering in the outer sea and could easily be caught. Sources: Ingrid A. Ahlgren: The meaning of Mo: Place, Power and Taboo in the Marshall Islands, p. 50, Marshallese-English Dictionary |
 |
Canis Major |
|
|
In Māori, Sirius is called Takurua and the constellation is called
Te Kahui-Takurua, the "Assembly of Sirius."
Sources: Wikipedia, Maori Star Names |
|
|
On the Tuamotu Islands, the constellation is called Muihanga-hetika-o-Takurua, "the abiding assemblage of Takarua."
Source: Wikipedia |
 |
Canis Minor |
|
|
In Māori, Procyon is
called Puanga-hori, meaning the "False Puanga" (Puanga is the name for Rigel (β Orionis).
Sources: Wikipedia, Maori Star Names |
|
|
On Tahiti, Procyon is one of the ten pilars that
hold up the sky like pilars hold up a traditional Polynesian roundhouse.
Source: Wikipedia |
 |
Cassiopeia |
|
On the island Puka Puka, the constellation Cassiopeia is called
Na Taki-tolu-a-Mataliki.
Source Wikipedia |
 |
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.
|
Alpha and Beta Centauri pointing towards the CrossSource: 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. |
|
|
Hawaii
In Hawaii, the Southern Cross is called Hanaiakamalama, meaning "cared for by the moon."
|
|
|
|
|
|
Māori
In Māori, The Southern Cross is called Māhutonga and the pointers are acalled Te Taura o te Waka o Tamarēreti.
|
 |
Delphinus |
|
On the island Pukapuka, the constellation is called Te Taloa.
On the Tuamotu Islands, it is called Te Uru-o-tiki.
|
 |
Lyra |
|
|
In Hawaii,
Vega is called Keoe,
meaning Sweet Potato.
Source: University of Hawaii |
|
|
In Māori,
Vega is called Whānui
meaning broad, wide or extensive.
Sources: Maori Star Names, Maori Dictionary |
|
|
In Northern Polynesia,
Vega was called whetu o te tau,
meaning the year star. For a period of history it marked the start of their new year when the ground would be prepared for planting.
Due to nutation, this function later became denoted by the
Pleiades.
Source: Wikipedia |
|
Milky Way
Hawaiian sailors as well as priests and timekeepers (called Kahuna) observed the change in the
orientation of the Milky Way through the night and used it for time determination.
In her book Hawaiian Myths of Earth, Sea, and Sky,
Hawaiian writer Vivian L. Thompson tells the story of the trickster-god
Ka-ulu who created the Milky Way when he defeated the Chief of Sharks.
|
|
|
"This version holds that Ka-ulu's brother, Ka-ehu, had been abducted by a great king, a chief of Far Island. Ka-ulu
becomes Ka-ulu-the-Strong and decides to find his brother.
The king fears Ka-ulu, so he sends Great-Rolling-Surf to kill the strong man. Ka-ulu uses his strength to break the Great-Rolling-Surf into little waves. The king then sends Great-Stone-Man-with-Eight-Foreheads, a giant made of stone. When this giant attacks, Ka-ulu grabs him and holds him down until the ground and grass and trees grow over him. The Great-Stone-Man thus becomes a stone mountain with eight rolling hills. The king send his Great-Barking-Dog to attack Ka-ulu, but the latter uses his strong hands to break the Great-Barking-Dog into pieces, each of which became a little barking dog that ran off in fear. Ka-ulu approaches the king's mountain home. The king throws Great-Rock at Ka-ulu as he climbs the mountain. Ka-ulu crushes the Great-Rock into many little pebbles. |
|
Ka-ulu then approaches the king and places his strong hands on the king's throat. Threatening the king's life, Ka-ulu asks for the
whereabouts of his brother. The king, a weakling and fearful for his life, tells Ka-ulu to go ask the Chief of Sharks about the
location of Ka-ehu.
Ka-ulu goes to Chief of Sharks and asks where Ka-ehu can be found. Chief of Sharks tells Ka-ulu that Ka-ehu is inside of his great stomach, but there is room for two if Ka-ulu would like to join him. Knowing better than to be eaten by a great shark, Ka-ulu grabs the Chief of Sharks by his jaws and pulls them so wide that Ka-ehu can walk out of the shark's stomach. Before Ka-ulu and Ka-ehu leave, Ka-ulu grabs the Chief of Sharks and throws him into the sky. The great shark's body breaks and shatters into millions of pieces, forming the great white streak across the sky that we now know as the Milky Way. Source: Cosmobiologist |
|
| The pictures above and below are not related to the myths told in any shape or form. I just thought they would be good illustrations. |
|
In her epic four-volume work Hawaiian Mythology, US-American American folklorist and
ethnographer Martha Beckwith reports shark related myths about the Milky Way from
several places in Polynesia:
"The king shark of Kane and Kanaloa in Lewa-lani, called Ku-kama-ulu-nui-akea or Kalake‘e-nui-a-Kane, whom Ka-ulu slays in this legend and whose spirit flies up to the Milky Way, has its prototype in the South Seas." |
Winter Milky Way; © Dr. Nicholas Roemmelt
|
|
|
In the Tuamotus, the Milky Way is the sacred ocean of
Kiho-tumu; the dark rift in the
Milky Way is his sacred ship, called The-long-shark.
Note: US-Aamerican anthropologist Kenneth Emory raised some doubts about the Kiho-tumu myth, that can be found here. |
|
|
In Rarotonga (Cook Islands), Māui kills Te-Mokoroa-i-ata, the water monster who insulted Māui's father Tangaroa, and Mokoroa becomes the Milky Way. |
|
|
In Tahiti, "the handsome blue shark, be-loved of Ta‘aroa," frolics with the children until the gods of the sea warn the brothers Tahi-a-nu‘u and Tahi-a-ra‘i that there is danger of its becoming a man-eater. One breaks his spear between its jaws, the other aims at its heart. They are about to cut it up when Ta‘aroa and Tu snatch away their pet to the Wai-ola-o-Tane and it bathes in the Milky Way. |
|
|
Māori
In Māori, the Milky Way is called Te Māngōroa.
|
|
|
Another Māori myth regarding the Milky Way is related to Te Waka o Tamarēreti,
Tamarereti’s Canoe, a large Māori constellation consisting of stars of Orion,
Scorpius, the pointer stars of
Centaurus and the
Southern Cross.
In this legend, Tamarereti, a young warrior creates the night sky. Here is story as written by Rosemary Cole, edited by Audrey Rendle and Judi Miller:
|
|
Tamarereti was a young warrior who lived near Lake Taupo. A scary
taniwha, a water monster, lived in the lake, and
Tamarereti knew the taniwha would eat him if he went fishing after dark.
At the time, the sky was black with no stars but Tamarereti thought he had plenty of daylight to go fishing so he pushed his waka (canoe) out onto the lake. He caught three fish and was heading to the shore to cook his kai (food), when his waka was becalmed. As he waited for the wind to push him back to shore, he slept. When he awoke he found his wakawaka had drifted to the opposite side of Lake Taupo. He knew he was in big trouble – it was dark, and he was far from his kāinga (village). He was hungry, so he cooked and ate the three fish. As he stood on the edge of the lake, he noticed the lake’s pebbles were reflecting the bright light of his fire, so he collected some of the pebbles and set off to his toi whenua (home), tossing the shiny pebbles into the sky. The pebbles lit his way and their light saved him from the taniwha. When he got home he slept, but woke to find Rangi-nui had visited him. Tamarereti was terrified that he would be punished for spoiling the perfect blackness of the sky, but Rangi-nui praised him for creating the night sky and tossed Tamarereti’s waka up into the sky as well. Tamarereti had created the Milky Way. Source: www.visitzealandia.com |
|
 |
Orion |
|
|
In Hawaii,
Betelgeuse is called Kaulua-koko. Kaulua means brilliant red star, Koko means blood or rainbow-hued. Rigel is called Puana-kau, meaning Suspended Blossom. Source: University of Hawaii |
|
|
Māori
In Māori, Orion's Belt is called Tautoru, meaning "The Three Friends."
|
|
Rigel (β Orionis) is called Puanga and the entire constellation is sometimes called
Nga Tira a Puanga, which means "Puanga's Company," or "The Traveling Party of Puanga."
Puanga is the son of Rēhua, the chief of all stars, which is Antares. In some regions, Puanga (Rigel) is seen as a fruit and the constellation is seen as a pigeon called Kererū, sitting on a perch (Orion's Belt) and feeding on the fruit. Keep in mind that in the southern hemisphere, Rigel is "above" Orion's Belt. Betelgeuse (α Orionis) is called Pūtara. When the the red star first rises out of the ocean, it is very large and bright and throws out unmistakable red flashes. In Māori believes, if these flashes appear to be towards the north, it will be a year of plenty on land and in the sea, but if they appear towards the south it will be a lean season for food. Sources: The Wisdom of the Maori: The Call of the Stars, Maori Star Names |
KereruSource: Encyclopedia of New Zealand |
|
|
In Polynesia, the constellation Orion is called Heiheionakeiki.
Source: Wikipedia |
 |
The Bugis sailors of the Malay Archipelago
called the stars of Orion's Belt Tanra Tellué, meaning "sign of three."
Source: Wikipedia |
 |
Pleiades |
|
LonoSource: shopify.com |
French Polynesia Matari’i i ni’a Stamptahitiphilatelie.pf |
|
Māori
In New Zealand, the Pleiades are called The Seven Stars of Matariki.
|
Papa-tūānuku and Rangi-nuiSource: Wikipedia
|
|
In 2008, New Zealand writer and teacher Toni Rolleston-Cummins wrote a completely new
version of the Matariki story, to engage and entertain her class and make the story of Matariki come alive and have meaning.
In this story, an adventurous young man called Mitai lives with his seven handsome brothers in the village of Maketu. He watches his brothers become bewitched by seven beautiful women, and under their spell, the brothers no longer eat, look after themselves, work in their gardens or hunt. Realising the women are Patupaiarehe, fairy women, he knows they must be cast far away. |
The Seven Stars of Matariki;
everyeducaid.co.nz
|
|
They are given to Urutengangana, the god of the stars, and he
places the patupaiarehe in the heavens farthest from the earth. Yet once a year, at winter solstice, he allows their beauty to shine in the eastern
sky.
In 2009, Toni Rolleston-Cummins's book, illustrated by Nikki Slade Robinson was placed on the prestigious New Zealand Notable Books List by the Storylines Children's Literature Foundation. In my opinion, this story is a shining example of the evelution of star lore throughout the centuries. Source: Huia Bookshop |
 |
Scorpius |
|
Hawaii
In Hawaii, the constellation Scorpius is known as Nui o Maui (The Big Fishhook of Maui).
Shaula (λ Sco), the star at the point of the scorpion's tail, is called Ka Maka
(The point of the fishhook).
Antares (α Sco) is called Lehua-kona (Southern Lehua blossom).
|
The Big Fishhook of MauiSource: tourmaui.com
|
|
|
Tahiti
In Tahiti, a traditional story is told of the Pipirima Twins, a brother and a sister, named Pipiri and Rehua, who flee their parents into the sky and
become stars. While chasing them into the sky, their parents call them Pipirima, meaning Pipiri and company. In one account, the children
become the stars Shaula (λ Scorpii) and
Lesath (υ Scorpii) in the tip of the tail of Scorpio. In another version,
they become μ1 Scorpii and
μ2 Scorpii.
|
|
|
|
In a similar version of the story told in the Cook Islands, the Pipirima Twins become
ω1 Scorpii and ω2 Scorpii.
Source: Wikipedia |
|
|
Māori
In Māori, the central part of Scorpius is called Te Waka o Mairerangi, while the "tail" is called Tama-rereti. They are part of a larger
constellation called Te Waka o Tamarēreti, Tamarēreti's Canoe.
|
|
|
Antares is the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius.
The Ngāi Tūhoe people of New Zealand's North Island call that star Rēhua, and regard it as
the chief of all the stars. Rēhua is the father of Puanga/Puaka, which is Rigel, an important star
in the calculation of the Māori calendar.
Source: Wikipedia
To the Ngāi Tūhoe, Rēhua is a son of Rangi and Papa. Because he lives in the
highest of the skies, Rehua is untouched by death, and has power to cure blindness, revive the dead, and heal any disease.
|
RehuaSource: Rehua Arts
|
 |
Taurus |
|
|
Hawaii
Hawaiian lore attributes the discovery of Hawai‘i to a fisherman named Hawai‘iloa. He is said to have discovered the islands during a long
fishing trip from a homeland in the west. The Big Island was named after him, while Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, and Maui were named after his children.
|
X x |
Kiribati
In Kiribati, the V-shaped stars of the Hyades are seen as a canoe and
Adebaran
The same V-shape let the people of Fiji sea a sail, called laða.
|
|
 |
On the island of Anuta and
Tikopia
in the Solomon Islands, the V-shape of the
Hyades and
Adebaran was seen as bamboo tongs, called te-aŋa-aŋa and te-ŭkopi, respectively.
Source: Lexicon of Proto-Oceanic |
 |
The same interpretation (called sȃkai) was used on the Lau Islands
(now a part of Fiji).
Source: Lexicon of Proto-Oceanic |
|
|
In Māori,
Adebaran is called wero-i-te-kokota
meaning "Herald of the digging season."
Source: Lexicon of Proto-Oceanic |
Back to Star Lore |
Back to Mythology |
 Back to Space Page |
Back to English |
 Back to Start Page |
