Asiatic Parallels in North American Star Lore: Ursa Major

STAR LORE has often been neglected as a legitimate contribution to comparative mythology in general, and to the study of tribal associations and migrations in particular. The basic reason for this, I think, has been a failure to distinguish between the star name itself and any myth or myths which may accompany it. Amid all the changes attending man's thoughts and actions through the ages, one of his few constant companions has been the stars. They represent a common denominator, as it were; and when a name is applied to a star group, that name itself becomes a common denominator of whatever legends may be attached thereto. Occasionally legends are changed, either through contamination with other legends, or through local embellishment of a story whose original details have been forgotten. Sometimes a star name is found with no accompanying legend at all. In other instances one star name may have several different legends attached to it, even within the same tribal group. But whatever changes the legends themselves undergo, the star name itself usually remains untainted. It is an established principle in comparative mythology that the more points two given myths have in common, the more readily they can be suspected of having a common origin. While it is clear that the same principle could be applied as well to star myths, star names independent of any accompanying legend may also be compared in the same manner. Such comparisons may be indicated when similar names are assigned to the same star group by two or more tribes. It follows that as the number of such tribes increases, the prospect of a purely chance occurrence becomes even more remote. Even after meeting the above conditions, however, a given set of star names can legitimately be held up for comparison only after the possibility of independent development has been considered. For example, names which suggest a strong resemblance to natural or man-made objects, or which represent an association with certain natural occurrences, would have to be set aside as questionable at best as a clue in establishing tribal relationships. Just as man the world over has fashioned shelters against common elements, and artifacts for performing common tasks, so it is natural that he should occasionally associate stars with birds, the Milky Way with a path, or Ursa Major with a dipper. There are certain names found in the star lore of Asia which parallel those of North America to a remarkable degree in name, as well as in the star group designated. In this article I shall consider Ursa Major as the first of such groups. Ursa Major was generally known to the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North America by one of two names: the bear or the seven brothers. The more widespread of the two was the bear, which prevailed over a large part of the United States and Canada. The central area of the seven brothers motif, on the other hand, formed a parallelogram-shaped region, several hundred miles in width, whose center line ran from southeastern Oklahoma to southwestern Saskatchewan. This area embraced some fourteen tribes, ten of which have recorded instances of this motif.1