Native+American+Astronomy

In Native American astronomy it was mainly the elders of tribes or the spiritualists and religious that would concern themselves with the stars. They believed that the stars dictated how their lives would play out, when droughts and rainfall would occur, or whether or not a raid or hunt would go well.

They strongly believed in their four cardinal directions were sacred, and that a god in the shape of a star presided over each direction. Their version of north, south, east, and west.

To the Native Americans the starts were a great resource, useful to navigate, coordinate. Astronomy was a part of their everyday life. They considered it a way of keeping time in life and used the stars movement to tell how their life would flow. They would use the moon cycle (as many cultures did) to count the months that past. The Native Americans did not all follow the same belief system though. Many tribes held different explanations as to why the stars seemed to move in the sky, and these theories were all quite different, and held plenty of variety. They would try their best to explain the stars, using such varied stories containing ideas such as dogs, bears, eyes, spider gods, and the like.

In the Western Mono tribe of California it was believed that the Pleiades had been six women cast away to the stars from their tribe because they had terrible breath due to their habit of eat onions. In the Blackfoot tribe of Montana and South Dakota it was their belief that the Pleiades had been six orphaned brothers who joined the stars because their clan had neglected them.

Some tribes held similarities as well such as the Western tribes and the Cherokee residing in Tennessee both believed that the Canis Major and Canis Minor where twin dog stars, and that one needed to pass them to enter the afterlife

In the Lakota tribe they believed that what happened in the stars happened in some way on earth. Because of this they set many ceremonies for when the sun was “in” a specific constellation. As an example when the sun was in Triangulum and part of Ares, (what they considered Dried Willow), then they would start the sacred spring ceremonial round.

They were able to tell the position of the sun by judging the stars they saw at night. If they saw The stars directly opposing the Dried Willow at a specific point then they knew the sun would be passing through that constellation during they day. So if Ares was behind the sun, Libra would be visible at night directly away from the sun. (left)

The Pueblo tribe believed that the sun was the cause of all life on earth and would track its location on the horizon as the year went on. On the solstices they would hold ceremonies. At the summer solstice they would encourage the sun to stay in the sky as long as possible so that the crops would have light and warmth. At the winter solstice they would ask the sun to turn around and make the days longer again.

The Navajo, though, didn’t use the sun to determine there crops, they used the stars and constellations to guide when they were to sew and harvest crops. The constellation they called Revolving Male, (our Ursa Major and Polarus), would be parallel to the horizon when they would start planting. And when what they called Dilyehe, (our Pleiades), was in the northeast they knew that the first frost would be soon.

The Navajo also used the stars as a healing and problem solving method. They would hold a piece of glass like material to them and depending on the colors they saw they would treat medical issues, or answer questions. It was like how when we hold a prism up to a light and a rainbow appears, they would judges the colors to dictate how they were to solve problems, and to know what to do or use while healing and injured or sick person.