Every culture has its set of myths, even modern western culture although we avoid the word "myth." In today's culture, many of these myths are passed along by a reinterpretation of modern events fitting them into our worldview. Sometimes our recounting differs from that of historians and this is where our myths become visible.
"Ancient" cultures also had their myths. Some of them were at least partially based on history---Troy was a real city and there was a real battle and the Trojan Horse might have been real, too. The stories we have from ancient Greece and Rome form the basis of most of the northern hemisphere's constellations (at least those officially designated by the International Astronomical Union). But ancient Greece and Rome were not the only cultures with myths that are immortalized in the night sky.
The Navajo (and other tribes of the American southwest) has a tale that describes how the stars came to have both the patterns we find in the sky and why so many of them have no pattern at all.1
In the beginning, when the first day dawned in the world, the first woman told the first man "The people of the world need to know the laws; they must be written for all to see."
The first man replied, "Then write them on the sand where they walk."
The first woman said, "But the will blow away with the first wind."
"Then write them on the water."
"But they will disappear in the waves as fast as I write them."
The first man, who was walking away because he had very important things to do, looked back at the first woman and saw her sitting there with her blanket covered with stars. He said, "Then take your jewels and put them in the sky; write the laws there were all can see."
So that night, and each night after, she took some of the stars from her blanket and placed them carefully in the sky, making patterns that could be seen and understood by all the people. But she was not alone there; Coyote watched here wondering what she was doing. Finally, one night, Coyote came to the woman and asked, "What are you doing?"
First woman replied, "I am writing the laws into the sky that all the people may see them."
"May I help?" asked Coyote.
"Yes," said the woman, "but you must be careful and place the stars as I tell you."
Coyote agreed and so began to help the woman place the stars. But after a few nights, Coyote complained. "This is slow work, it will take forever to place all these stars."
"But it is important work," said the woman, "if it take all my life, it is the most important thing I can do."
Coyote was silent and continued to help, but in his heart he was impatient with the task. One night, as the woman stopped working to rest, Coyote watched until her attention was no longer on the blanket. Then, he grabbed a corner in his mouth and ran with the blanket, flinging the stars into the sky! The woman cried out an anguish, "What have you done?" and she began to weep. Coyote just laughed and ran away.
The woman wept because the stars the Coyote had flung into the sky were disordered, without any pattern at all and so the people could not use them to understand the laws. This is why there is confusion among the people even today and all people must work to bring harmony to the world.
Another version of this myth2 is has the stars being placed by the Black God who represents order in the natural world. Coyote still plays the role of the chaotic prankster who scatters the stars. The duty of people is to try to find harmony between the order of nature and the chaos of daily life.
The Wasco (or Wascopam or Wisscopam) Indians are a tribe which lived in what is now known as the Wasco County, Oregon region. The country derives its name from the tribe. One of their stories tells of the Coyote and how he placed the stars.3 If tells of how the asterism we call the Big Dipper came to be.
One day, as Coyote trotted through the woods, he saw five wolves staring intently at the sky. The oldest wolf had a small dog with him as a companion. Coyote watched them all for a while, then walked to them and asked, "What are you looking at." But they just ignored him and did not answer. The next day, he again saw them and again asked and again they ignored him. This happened for several days and Coyote was very frustrated. Finally, one of the younger wolves asked the others, "Why don't we tell Coyote; he can't do anything about it anyway."
So they told Coyote, "We see two animals in the sky, but they are far away and we cannot tell what they are."
Coyote answered, "Well, why don't we go up and see."
The wolves laughed and said, "How can be get to the sky?"
Coyote said, "It's easy, but we must start in the day."
The next day, Coyote and the wolves gathered together and Coyote fired an arrow at the sky and it stuck! Then he shot another so it stuck into the back of the first arrow. He shot many more until they formed a bridge from the sky all the way back down to the ground. Coyote and the wolved all began to climb. It was a long climb! The climbed for three days and nights to reach the sky and cross to where the wolves had seen the animals. As they got close, the wolves could see that the animals were grizzly bears and they all stopped. After a while, seeing that he bears did not respond, the youngest two wolved moved closer facing the bears. They called back, "Come on over, they are not doing anything."
The oldest wolf with his small dog would not come; nor would Coyote who did not trust bears. Finally, after a while, all of the wolves moved closer looking at the bears, but Coyote would still not come. As Coyote looked at the wolves and the bear he thought, "What a nice pattern they form! I think I will just leave them this way." And so, he turned and ran back to the arrow bridge and began climbing down, breaking off the arrows behind him.
Later, Coyote boasted of how he had arranged the stars and told Meadow Lark. The wolves and the bears form the pattern we call the Big Dipper. The two bears are the part of the bowl that point toward the north star (Polaris). The two younger wolves are the other two stars in the bowl, and the three stars of the handle are the other wolves. The oldest wolf is the star in the middle of the handle, and if you look close, you can see the small dog close beside the old wolf.
Most of the official 88 constellations are from Greek and Roman myths, so we could talk about any of them. But Orion is still visible this time of year (March), so we'll talk about him.
The story of Orion is an old one, so old that there are different versions and they don't all agree! There are at least three versions4 of the myth which have Orion killed by Scorpius, a giant scorpion. Who sent the scorpion differs between them, but the most commonly repeated one seems to be this one.
Orion was a great hunter, perhaps the greatest hunter ever. One day Orion boasted of his skills and that he could kill any and all of the animals of the Earth. To make good on his claim, he set out to do just that and was making very good progress. This so disturbed Gaia, the Earth mother (who was naturally very protective of her parents) that she created Scorpius, a giant scorpion to fight against Orion. The battle lasted three days! Ultimately, Orion was stung by Scorpius and died. Orion was place in the sky, some say by Zeus who had pity on him. Others say it was Artemis, his lover who placed him opposite from Scorpius so Orion would never again have to face Scorpius.
Orion was honored in the constellations because of his great hunting skill, but he perished because of his pride and arrogance.
The main point is that myths capture a culture's values. Coyote was a trickster and trouble maker whose impatient lead to disorder and disharmony in the world. The value emphasized is the opposite as well as the need for people to try to work toward harmony. Orion emphasize both Orion's greatness as a skilled and brave hunter but also his downfall because he was too proud and boastful.
Take one or two of the star charts and make up your own constellation and write a short story about the constellation that expresses some important idea or value to you. You can draw a stick figure, or an elaborate illustration. Remember that the ancient Greeks and Romans didn't draw the stick figures you find on star charts today; the oldest illustrations are pictures superimposed on the sky. The Native Americans often thought of the stars in one of our constellations are all parts of a complete scene---a single star might have represented a character in their story. So use your imagination and draw whatever you would like.
If you finish all you want to do with the constellation drawings and there is still time, you can work on the word search puzzle. All of the words are names and types of objects which can be found in the constellation Orion. Page two of the word search puzzle has the answers.
1 How the Stars Fell into the Sky, Jerrie Oughton, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992, ISBN-13: 9780395779385.
2 They Dance in the Sky, Jean Guard Monroe and Ray A. Williams, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987, ISBN-13: 9780618809127.
3 American Indian Myths and Legends, Richard Erdoes, Ed Erdoes, Alfonso Ortiz, Knopf Publishing Group, August 1985 ISBN-13: 9780394740188.
4 See Orion and Scorpius Constellations by Paul Heckert for a synopsis.