Myths and Astronomy

1. Myths and Astronomy June 2012 Lithuanian Team Presentation

2. Myths and Astronomy • Everybody is familiar with the international names of stars and constellations. However, • Not everybody knows what some stars and constellations are called in their native language. • Not everybody knows how stars and constellations received their names in their culture. Therefore, • We tried to compare some stars and constellations, find out and share with you how different their names are and how different their origin is in our culture.

3. Myths and Astronomy • There is a lot of information on the origin of all main stars and constellations with internationally recognized names. • There is very little information found about the names and origin of the names of these stars and constellations in the Lithuanian language and culture. However, • there exist/existed some alternative names and stories of the origin of some stars and constellation that we managed to track.

4. The Orion Constellation

5. The Orion Constellation in the Greek Mythology

6. The Orion Constellation in the Greek Mythology • In one version, Artemis, the goddess of hunt and the moon fell in love with Orion. She was so entranced by him, she forgot her divinely duty of illuminating the night sky. Her twin brother Apollo, seeing Orion swimming in the sea, dared his sister to strike what only appeared to be a spot on the waves. Not knowing it was Orion, Artemis shot an arrow and killed him. Later, when she found out what she did, she placed his body among the stars. The grief she felt explains why the moon looks so sad at night. • In a different ending of this myth, Apollo's jealousy led him to summon a giant scorpion, which not even the mighty hunter Orion could defeat, and he was killed by its poisonous sting. In some versions he slays the scorpion just after it stings him, and they die simultaneously. This explains the seasonal alternation of the appearance of the constellations of Orion (October to April) and Scorpius (April to October), which do not appear in the sky together. Legends differ on whether this separation was imposed by the gods so that they would never have to fight again or so that they would be eternally chasing each other.

7. The Orion Constellation in the Lithuanian Culture • It is calledSeptyni Šienpjoviai (Seven Haymakers) • In Lithuania it can be seen in the very early morning of August before the sunrise. Then it starts to appear earlier and earlier. In December it rises in the evening, at midnight it is located in the south and it sets at dawn in the west. In March we can see this constellation in the evening in the south, in the evenings of April we see them no more. According to when the Seven Haymakers could be seen in the sky Lithuanians used to know the time in winter and the lengthening of the day. For example, it one region of Lithuania it was said that the length of the day from the Christams Day to the Three Kings‘ Day became longer by one step of the cockerel, or as much as the ram can jump up, i.e. the distance the Seven Haymakers covered in the sky. • The legends say that Seven Haymakers used to be seven brothers. They were cursed by their mother who turned them into haymakers. The God took them to the sky and turned them into stars.

8. Ursa Major and Ursa Minor

9. Ursa Major and Ursa Minor

10. Ursa Major and Ursa Minor in the Greek Mythology • Callisto the bear Callisto was the daughter of Lykaon, king of Arcadia and follower in hunting of goddess Artemis. Callisto, whose name means “the most beautiful”, had sworn the goddess to remain virgin for all her life, as did all the companions of Artemis. However, one day, Zeus saw her and after many attempts, he seduced her. Soon, the girl realized that she was pregnant but decided to keep it a secret from Artemis. Unfortunately, one day, while the goddess and her companions were getting ready to take their bath in a river, the pregnancy of Callisto was revealed. Artemis got so angry because the girl had violated her vow that she turned her into a bear, with the curse to live in the wild for the rest of her life and be killed by hunters one day.

11. Ursa Major and Ursa Minor in the Greek Mythology • Callisto the star A few months later, Callisto the bear delivered a son, who was named Arcas, meaning “he who was born by a bear”. Zeus gave the baby boy to goddess Maia to raise him up. When he became a man, Arcas became the king of that land, who was named after his name, Arcadia. One day, while Arcas was hunting in the forest, he met a bear. It was his mother, Callisto. Arcas, who didn’t know the truth about his mother, was getting ready to throw a javelin and kill this great bear. Zeus, from Mount Olympus, saw that tragedy coming and before the javelin hit Callisto, he turned both of them into constellations. According to the ancient Greeks, these are the Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, meaning Big and Small Bear in Latin. They are the representations of Callisto and her son, Arcas. These stars can be seen mostly in summer, when the sky is clear, at the north side of the horizon.

12. Ursa Major and Ursa Minor in the Lithuanian Culture • It is called Didieji ir Mažieji Grįžulo/Grigo Ratai (the Big and the Small Grįžulas Wagon/the Big and the Small Dipper) • One of the legends of Lowlanders of Lithuania tells us that a brave girl, a daughter of Griužas, went to heaven in a wagon. Suddenly a hurricane made the wagon sharply turn and the wagon crashed into the gates of the hell. As soon as the God heard a cry for help he turned the girl and the wagon with the wheels into a constellation called Griužo Ratai. The stars Griužas and his brother Akšas (most probably these are the brightest stars of Ursa Minor) stay in the same place all the time but the daughter is allowed to ride in a circle. Therefore, Griužo or Grįžulo Ratai are not confined to one particulat position. It is always moving in a circle.

13. The Milky Way

14. The Milky Way in the Greek Mythology • The Greek name for the Milky way (Γαλαξίας Galaxias) is derived from the word for milk (γάλα, gala). One legend explains how the Milky Way was created by Heracles when he was a baby. His father, Zeus, was fond of his son, who was born of the mortal woman Alcmene. He decided to let the infant Heracles suckle on his divine wife Hera's milk when she was asleep, an act which would endow the baby with godlike qualities. When Hera woke up and realized that she was breastfeeding an unknown infant, she pushed him away and the spurting milk became the Milky Way.

15. The Milky Way in the Lithuanian Culture • It is called Paukščių Takas (the Birds’ Path) • Its name refers to the direction that birds take when travelling to the South to warmer countries during those cooling autumn evenings when it is best seen in Lithuania. • It is said that the God who lived high in the sky loved birds very much and therefore he asked his angels to lay lots of stars on the way leading to the South for the birds to know the way to warmer countries in autumn and back home in spring. In some parts of Lithuania it is also called the Cranes‘ or Geese‘s Path. • There exists yet another name for the Milky Way in Lithuania. It is also called the Souls‘ Road. Lots of various stories, legends, and witchcraft about the Souls‘ Road come from the ancient times. The legends show that Lithuanians believed that the souls of the dead turned into birds and travelled to heaven by taking the Souls‘ Road.

16. Other Equivalent Names • The Polar Star – Šiaurinė žvaigždė (the North Star) Lithuanians also called it the Sea Star or the Sailors‘ Star, because it helped fishermen and sailors to navigate when at sea. • The Pegasus Constellation – Bažnyčia(the Church) • The Andromeda Constellation – Takas į Bažnyčią(the Path to the Church)

17. In Lithuania it is believed that... • Once a baby is born a new star appears in the sky and twinkles all his/her life. • Some people are born under a lucky star – such people are very successful in their life, others are born under an unlucky star – such people are unhappy all their life. They experience only failure and trouble. • There are as many stars as there are people on the Earth. • When an honest and kind person dies, he/she becomes a star. • In the palace of the God Perkūnas there is a big room with lots of candles: some of them have just been lit, some of them are half burned, some of them are almost burned down. All these candles are the souls of people living on the Earth. When a baby is born a candle is immediately lit. That person has to live as long as his/her candle burns. When a person dies, a wick of his/her candle is thrown down onto the Earth. Then people see a falling star. The guardian of the dead person at that time has to meet the falling soul on the eternity road and take it to the place the person deserves according to the way he/she lived his/her life.

18. In Lithuania it is believed that... • In the sky there sits a spinner and spins the thread of a person’s destiny from the very birth of that person. Each thread has a star at its ending. When the time to die approaches, the life thread is pulled off, the star becomes white and falls down onto the Earth. Therefore, in the old times people seeing a falling star thought that a person died and started to pray for that person. • Other people believed that falling stars were flying kites that bring wealth. • Other people thought that falling stars were stones that angels threw at devils. • Stars helped people to foresee the weather or the harvest. • People adored stars, prayed for them, sang songs and told stories.