Tales of the Stars

The stars are a common source of myth and legend – possibly the greatest source, if one considers the number of tales about the Sun, let alone the Moon and the other stars, which, combined, must surely dwarf the size of the Bible. Today, I’ll be presenting a few of my personal favourites.

In the mythology of New Zealand’s indigenous Maori, all of the stars, the Sun and the Moon were thrown into the sky by the god Tane, to decorate his father’s cloak. In the beginning, his father (Ranginui, the sky father) and his mother (Papatuanuku, the earth mother) clasped themselves to each other, giving their children little room to move. Tane’s brother, Tumatauenga, argued that they should kill their parents, but Tane, showing the strength of his legs, lay upon his back and forced them apart. Later, as an act of contrition for this, he threw the stars up to decorate his father and to give his mother a beautiful image of the husband she would never again embrace.

In ancient Canaan, Venus, the Morning Star, was called Athtar, and was a particularly ambitious deity. Upon the death of Baal, who sat upon the throne of the gods, Athtar attempted to take his place, but was rebuffed (either by the throne itself, or by the other deities – there are several versions), and thus returned to his place. This myth neatly explains why it is that Venus cannot be seen at midnight – it is the time that Athtar attempts to steal the throne. (The real reason, of course, is that Venus lies closer to the Sun than Earth, and, thus, is below the horizon at midnight.)

In Ukrainian folklore, the Pleiades were once seven maidens who were utterly devoted to the gods. Each day, they would dance and sing to honour the gods, and, as one might expect, the gods took notice of their devotion and their beauty. When they died, the gods made them nymphs, and took them into the sky, where they set the stars to be their new homes. To this day, the seven maidens continue their dancing, which explains why the Pleiades cross the sky as one.

Not forgetting that the sun itself is a star, the Chinese tell a story providing the reason that the cock crows at dawn. In ancient times, the cock had horns and the dragon did not, which was a source of great shame to the dragon as he could not fly without them. The dragon came to the cock and begged for the horns, which it promised to return the next day – obviously, the dragon, resplendent with his new horns, elected to break the deal, and to this day the cock each morning watches the dragon follow the sun across the sky and demands, “Dragon! Give back my horns!”