Pleiades star cluster legends

The high visibility of the star cluster Pleiades in the night sky has guaranteed it a special place in many cultures, both ancient and modern. The heliacal rising of Pleiades often marks important calendar points for ancient peoples. In the clear and unpolluted night skies of antiquity the Pleiades star cluster was an object of wonder and interest. It was the subject of myth and legend in almost every culture on the planet. Cherokee legends teach that Native Americans originated long ago in the Pleiades, and assert that indigenous people are on Earth as “ star seeds,” with a mission of bringing light and knowledge.

The Navajo call the Pleiadian star cluster the “Sparkling Suns,” and the Iroquois petition the constellation for happiness.

It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky. No other constellation in the sky has been subjected to so many myths, legends, and folklore in almost every culture on the planet. UniverSavvy traces the story and the mythology behind this celestial wonder. Origin of the Pleiades An Onondaga Legend. A long time ago a party of Indians went through the woods toward a good hunting-groun which they had long known.

They traveled several days through a very wild country, going on leisurely and camping by the way. Fillebrown engraving of The Dance of the Pleiades by Elihu Vedder Courtesy of Art Connections. Here only Greek legends are presented.

It looks like a tiny misty dipper of stars.

The entire Pleiades cluster is actually the eye of the bull in the constellation of Taurus. They have been known for thousands of years, surrounded by fascinating legends and stories even to this day. There these seven stars formed the star cluster known thereafter as the Pleiades. The Greek poet Hesiod mentions the Pleiades several times in his Works and Days. As the Pleiades are primarily winter stars, they feature prominently in the ancient agricultural calendar.

Licensed to by SourceAudio Holdings (masters) (on behalf of Intermede Music) Show more Show less. How to Find the Pleiades Star Cluster. This is one of the nearest star clusters to Earth and perhaps the most beautiful to the naked eye.

The bull’s eye, Aldebraran, is the brightest star in the cluster , and a short distance past it defining the bull’s shoulder is the Pleiades cluster. In Arabic, Aldebaran is the word for ‘follower’ and was given to the star because its position in the sky makes it appear to be chasing the Seven Sisters. The god Tane hated this star so much as it had boasted of its own beauty. The legend goes on to say that Tane proceeded to smash this star into pieces, creating the Pleiades star cluster.

He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turned darkness into morning and darkened day into night…” One final Biblical reference is in Revelation 1:16…the coming Messiah holds in his right han seven stars… Seeing all seven naked eye stars of this tiny star cluster is a challenge in 21st Century light-polluted backyards. With a telescope, you can see about one-hundred stars. Without a telescope, you can see only six or seven stars. To most people’s unaided eyes, the cluster looks like a tiny misty dipper of six little stars.

The Pleiades in Rome are called The Bunch of Grapes and The Spring Virgins. The Hopi believe their ancestors came from the Pleiades , the place, or people they call Chuhukon, or, those who cling together, a reference it seems to that tightly grouped starry cluster , as it appears to the naked eye. Likewise, early Dakota legends speak of the Pleiades , or Tiyami, as the abode of the ancestors.

Enlightening info about the Pleiades is not hard to come by…. Barbara Marciniak, Edgar Cayce, Delores Cannon, and Billy Meier to name but a few. Perhaps the most famous and inspirational star cluster in the sky, the Pleiades can be seen without binoculars from even the depths of a light-polluted city. Most ancient cultures claim seven stars.

In Greek, the word pleiades means doves. According to the ancient Greeks, the Pleiades were seven sisters. Their parents were Pleione and Atlas who was condemned by Zeus to support the Heavens on his shoulders. One day, the Pleiades were traveling with their mother and met the hunter Orion. The seven daughters in the Pleiades.

Alcyone - Meaning ‘queen who wards off evil’, Alcyone is the central and largest star of the Pleiades constellation. She is often seen as representing the whole cluster of stars. Asterope - A double star in the Pleiades constellation , literally translates as ‘lightening’.

China - The Blossom Stars and Flower Stars. Maori mythology mentions the Pleiades. South Africa - Khuseti: the stars of rain, or rain bearers.

Unlike the Pleiades star cluster , The moon shines fairly close to the Pleiades star cluster on March 10. Also known as the Seven Sisters and M4 the Pleiades is one of the brightest and closest open clusters. Traditionally six of the stars are visible to the naked eye, another star is lost or invisible giving rise to stories and legends explaining the reason.