Different associations of the Big Dipper in different countries in the world

The story of the Big Dipper, in addition to the well-known Greek mythology that puts the Big Dipper in the constellation Ursa Major, we also introduced the story of the Russian nation, which is a water scoop. In addition, ancient China regarded the Big Dipper as a carriage and seven little pigs. There are various ways of imagining, so today, let’s introduce some ways of imagining the Big Dipper that you may be unfamiliar with!

First of all, we will introduce the United Kingdom. During the Roman Empire, when metal farming tools were first introduced to England, the iron plow used for ploughing the field was a very important and valuable thing. In addition, the Big Dipper can be used to indicate the change of seasons and assist farmers in their work. Plowing is therefore imagined as a plough for ploughing the field, do you think it looks like it?

For island countries or seafaring nations, because there is no need for farming, there will be more associations about seafaring, especially the Big Dipper is an important constellation used to assist in finding the North Star, so seafaring nations have also learned to identify very early. Big Dipper. Taking the coast of Japan and the ethnic groups in Southeast Asia as an example, they imagine the shape of the Big Dipper as the shape of a rudder, and the rudder is a key tool used to control the direction of a ship when sailing, which shows the importance of the Big Dipper. There are similar legends. Maybe this is a common legend of Austronesian countries, and Taiwan is the birthplace of the Austronesian language. Maybe this legend was invented by our ancestors!

Egypt, which is also an ancient civilization, has the same lofty imagination for the Big Dipper, and there are two sources, both of which are related to the sky, because the Big Dipper is close to the North Star and is located at the top of the celestial sphere, so the ancient Egyptians put the stars near the North Star. Think of a bull, the sky bull Nut, and the Big Dipper in the shape of the bull's hind legs. The sky bull Nut is not just a bull, but it is located in the sky, higher than the heaven where the Egyptian gods are located. It is a bull on the zenith, or it covers the entire sky. Another Egyptian legend is that these stars are imagined as a cow, and the Big Dipper is like the hind legs of a cow, but this time it is the cow god named Hathor, the patron saint of the pharaohs, and is even considered to be the sun god Ra. The female image of her, so it occupies the sky of the North Pole and enjoys great glory among the stars. Even her pattern will wear the crown of the Pharaoh, plus two horns, with a disc symbolizing the sun sandwiched between the horns. . In the image of a goddess, you can wear the crown of the pharaoh and the disc of the sun god "Ra", so you can know how high his status is. In the age of Alexander, Hathor was regarded as another image of the beauty god Venus. In the Roman Empire, it continued to be regarded as Aphrodite, the god of love, but the constellation originally used to represent the cow was broken down. into different constellations, the hind legs of the bull become the tail of the constellation Ursa Major.

However, the constellation stories in Egypt are also like ancient China, which will change with the dynasties. In fact, in the ancient times, this sky cow was called Apis, a holy cow. She was born the sun god Ra, but Said to be the mother of God. The image of Apis is a black cow with a wing-like pattern on its back, an inverted triangular white stripe on its forehead, a scarab pattern under its tongue, symbolizing its immortality, and two tails.

It can be seen that the status of cattle in ancient Egypt was very noble, just like in India today.

Also in Europe, people in Eastern Europe imagined the Big Dipper as a carriage in ancient times, just like in ancient China, while the French imagined the Big Dipper as a frying pan. It is indeed a country famous for its delicious food. Think of the shape of this vessel as a definite cooking tool.

In addition, there are various imaginations. For example, the Sioux, the largest and most populous indigenous people in North America, imagined the Big Dipper as a skunk. Don't think that this is an inconspicuous animal, because the skunk's fur is very valuable, but it is difficult to catch, and it is often able to be small and big, even the most terrifying grizzly bear dare not provoke the skunk casually, so in the local area Peace of mind has a very high status!

There are many people who will treat the seven stars apart. For example, in Hindu mythology, the seven stars are regarded as seven pigs. This saying was later spread to China and Japan, but some people in India also regarded the seven stars as seven wise men. , These seven wise men are also immortals. There are ten ancestors in total. They are the ten sons of Brahma, or the priests of the Hindu god Indra. However, the names of the seven immortals often change in different periods, but These names are also often found in Buddhist scriptures, because Buddhism actually shares many myths with Hinduism.

It was mentioned above that the Egyptians regarded the Big Dipper as part of the sacred cow. In fact, the Romans also saw the Big Dipper as seven cows!

The story comes to the southern hemisphere. In fact, for people in the southern hemisphere, the function of the Big Dipper for guiding the direction has been reduced a lot, because the South Pole star has a more guiding function for the people in the southern hemisphere, but the people in the southern hemisphere did not ignore this extremely special shape. Constellation Oh! The Mayans regard the seven stars of the Big Dipper as seven macaws, which symbolize the royal family, and only nobles are qualified to decorate the precious birds with parrot feathers!

Okay! We have introduced different myths and stories about the Big Dipper from many countries and nations. Do you have a favorite story? These stories often represent the things that people valued at that time, so important that they should be placed in the sky, and they must be remembered every day when they are seen.

How long has it been since you took a good look at the sky? If the weather is good, you might as well go outside at night, on the roof, and look at the northern sky. If you don't know where the north is, pay attention to where the sun comes out at dawn, or where it goes down in the evening. If you face the direction of sunrise, it's on the left, or in the direction of sunset, it's on the right.

Then you can look for the Big Dipper, unless the light pollution is very serious, or it is autumn evening, when the Big Dipper is very low, otherwise it should be quite obvious.

Looking at it, is there a story that emerges in your heart? Write it down, and maybe one day it will become a constellation story that everyone praises!

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I must admit that my earliest contact with the Big Dipper was actually the Fist of the Big Dipper. Before that, I only knew about the constellation Ursa Major because I read the stories of Greek constellations. , I really came into contact with the story of the Big Dipper, and it was already the period when high school entered the astronomy club.

So I came into contact with a lot of constellation stories, and often a star has different stories in different ethnic groups. This makes me very excited, because the same star can be associated with different content because of different time and space backgrounds.

Of course, this also affects my future creations!