Time Glass Challenge - Constellation - November 11, 2014

Credits: Grizzly Bear (© Lodges)

look up in the night
a plough, bear or dipper
- star myths and stories

(c) G.s.k. '14

I love to look up on a clear night and watch the stars twinkle ... I know they're so far away, that some perhaps don't even exist anymore, that we only see an "echo" of their light.  Unfortunately, I never know the name of the constellations.  Except of course, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor ... and the Southern Cross, which I never see anymore.

The "Bears" though have other names ... depending on where you go and which culture your referring to which looked up in the sky thousands of years ago and named the forms as they saw fit.  

Just the group of  7 stars known as The Big Dipper to me is:   The Star Plough in the U.K. (including Ireland) but was formerly know as Charles and his Wain (wagon) or Charles' Wain - and in many northern cultures that group of stars is a cart or wagon ... it was also know as the Butcher's Cleaver in England.  In the U.S. where I was born, they are the Big Dipper ...'In Dutch, its official name is Grote Beer (Big Bear, or "Ursa Major" in Latin), but often called Steelpannetje (saucepan), because of its resemblance to the utensil.'  And the Italy it is Il Grand Carro (The Great Cart) but in antiquity were known as the Seven Oxen (for the seven stars . Oxen were used to plow the fields) and later the Two Bears (Major and Minor).  This is just a flash of some of the names(there are others) for that group of stars in Europe (of which I include the U.S.culturally).  Then, there's the rest of the world!

In conclusion, I guess I could name the stars as I like, as no one will have to navigate from mine .. but just think of the stories I could write!  In fact some authors have done just that for their fantasy worlds.

Linked to Carpe Diem Haiku Kai