Star Cluster
The Pleiades |
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Mythology and History |
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The Seven Sisters. |
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In Greek myths, they are the daughters of Atlas (the giant
who supported the world on his shoulders) and Pleione. Zeus first
transformed the sisters into doves, and then into stars to enable them
to escape the attention of Orion, who for seven long years pursued the
maidens, and Pleione, to claim them for himself. The sisters are
Alcyone, Merope, Celaeno, Taygeta, Maia, Electra, and Asterope. According
to one legend, only six of the stars can be seen because Merope hid herself
in shame over marrying a mortal. |
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The ancient Greeks, Egyptians, and Hindus recorded seven
stars. It is thought that the seven chambers of the Great Pyramid
represented the seven stars of the Pleiades. |
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The Blackfoot Indians of North America, tell of six brothers
whose family was very poor and could not provide the boys with the kinds
of buffalo robes worn by other boys in the tribe. Saddened, and out
of shame, the six boys went up to the sky where they became the "Bunched
Stars," or Pleiades. |
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The Polynesians call the Pleiades cluster Mata-riki, "Little
Eyes," and believe that long before men inhabited the Earth, they formed
a single star. This was the most brilliant star in the sky. Its light
rivaled that of the quarter moon, and when it rose, its reflection sparkled
and danced along the sea and the whole world was white from its brilliant
light. The star was not only beautiful, it was also extremely conceited
and was always bragging of its splendor among the other stars, saying,
"I am more beautiful than any of you, even more beautiful than the gods
or the jeweled heavens themselves." |
The god Tane, guardian of the four
pillars of heaven, heard this and was angry. He determined to drive
this ill-mannered star out of the sky, away into the dark regions.
To do so, he sought the help of two other stars, Sirius and Aldebaran.
Sirius was the second brightest star in the sky and had no sympathy with
a rival who was brighter than himself. Aldebaran was located so close
to the brilliant star that his light was always being dimmed by that of
his neighbor. Both stars agreed to the plot against Mata-riki.
One dark night the three allies crept
up behind their victim and got ready to chase him from the skies.
Mata-riki was badly frightened when he saw them coming and at first he
ran and took refuge under the waters of a stream, the Milky Way.
Sirius climbed to its source and diverted the course of the water.
As it drained away, the poor fugitive was left unprotected and again it
fled from them, under the arches of heaven and far beyond the silver palaces
of the gods. Mata-riki was swift of foot, and before long it had
completely outdistanced the pursuers.
It looked as though the star might
escape altogether, but Tane was a god and not one to be outwitted.
Suddenly he picked up Aldebaran and hurled him with all his force against
the great star. Tane hurled him with such a force that the star was
struck unaware as it ran and smashed into six little pieces. Then
the god and his star companions were satisfied and went away.
The six little fragments limped back
to their place in the sky. Since that time, Sirius shines as the
brightest star in the sky and Aldebaran is undimmed by any near rival.
The "Little Eyes," small as they are, remain exceedingly brilliant and
sometimes whisper proudly to each other that they are more lovely as six
than as one. They no longer dare brag aloud how beautiful they are,
but when the nights are dark and quiet they still lean down close to Earth
to see themselves in the mirror of the oceans, and then they know that
they have no equal.
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When people talk about the seasons and the Pleiades, they
often talk about food, hunger, and magical departure from the earth. Parts
of this pattern are very clear in the following story told by the Onondaga
Indians of upstate New York. After reaching one of their favored hunting
territories, a party of Onondaga decided to build their lodges by the lake
and stock up on fish and game for the winter. By autumn, most of the work
had been accomplished, and a group of the children decided to dance each
day by the side of the lake. After their play turned into habit, a strange
old white-haired man, adorned with white feathers, appeared among them
and warned them to stop. Not believing any harm could come from their dancing,
they refused to take the old man seriously. After he had gone, they decided
to enhance their enjoyment by having a picnic at their next dancing session.
When they went home and asked their parents for food for the outing, however,
they were refused. |
Irritated but unwilling to give up
the pleasure of dancing, they returned to the lake and continued their
cotillion on empty stomachs. One day, as they danced hungry, they grew
giddy and light-headed. Their bodies must have been light, too, for they
started to rise into the air. Realizing that something uncanny was occurring,
one of them warned the others not to look back to the ground lest danger
befall them. A woman who saw them depart called them back, but they continued
their ascent. She ran back to the winter camp and told the other adults
what was happening. All of the parents then came out of the lodges loaded
with food and called to their runaways. Even though they cried, the children
would not come back. One did look back at the parents on the ground and
as he did so he was transformed into a meteor, or "falling star." The rest
rose still higher until they found a place in the sky as the seven Pleiades.
One of them sang all the way to the sky, and his singing made him fainter
and fainter. By the time the seven reached their new home, the seventh
child could scarcely be seen. [Beyond the Blue Horizon: Myth &
Legends of the Sun, Moon, Stars, & Planets by Dr. E.C.
Krupp © 1991]
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A Mayan epic describes the origin of the Pleiades. It happened
during the long feud between the heavenly twins Hun-Apu and Xbalanque against
a primeval giant by the name of Zipacna, a character not unlike the Greek
Titans in his strength and unruly disposition. With the aid of several
other youths, Hun-Apu and Xbalanque pretended to be building a house. They
began by digging an enormous hole in the ground. As they expected, Zipacna
came along while they were at work on this and asked what the were doing.
They told him that they intended to build themselves a house which must
be very solidly constructed, and that they were having difficulty in making
the hole for the foundation deep enough, whereupon the unsuspecting giant
was of course persuaded to go down into the hole and help them. No sooner
was he safely at the bottom of the pit than the youths began to throw stones
and earth and heavy tree trunks down upon him, until the hole was completely
filled up and they were sure he must be dead. Then they continued merrily
building the house over his supposed grave. |
Zipacna, however, had escaped without
harm. At first he was stunned by the weight of the great pile of rubbish
that had fallen on him, and even when his strength had returned he still
lay quiet for a very long time, pretending to be dead. Meanwhile, he planned
his revenge. He waited until the house was completed and all its architects
had gathered there to celebrate their success in disposing of the giant;
then, with of an explosion, Zipacna rose suddenly under the foundations
and the earth itself quaked and rose with him. He was so strong that as
he threw up his shoulders the house and all who had built it were flung
literally sky-high, up to the region of the stars, and there they huddled
together and became the Pleiades. Zipacna himself -- like the Titans and
all other primeval earth giants of early mythology - was eventually destroyed,
but the little handful of conspirators that he tossed up to the heavens
have never been able to get down again and that is why we still see them
there.
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