Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-01-05
ABORIGINAL ASTRONOMY.
Some Indian Notions About the Sun,
the Moon and the Stars.

ABORIGINAL ASTRONOMY.
Some Indian Notions About the Sun,
the Moon and the Stars.
1.-THE Indians of North America have
some queer and rather picturesque no.
tons about astronomy" said the Rev. Mr..
J. Owen Dorsey to writer for The Star.
The North Star, they declare, is the only
fixed celestial body; it never goes any
where. The Milky Way is the road taken
by the ghosts of the dead. Once upon a
time. tradition says, a warrior of the
Omaha tribe came to life again some days
after he supposed to have died He
told his friends that he had had rather
d sagreeable experience. According to his
account, it appeared that he had reached
the Milky Way, which, of course, was a
brilliantly lighted thoroughfare But on
his journey thither. which occupied four
days and nj. hts, he was wholly in the
dark 1t is for this reason that the Oma-
has make a practice of keeping fires
lighted for four nights and days by the
grave of any of their people who dies
When they see the aurora borealis they
understand it as d sign that many human
beings are dying.
1.-The OSage5, in common with many
other tribes, believe that the consultations
are gods and goddesses. They have ira
di ton to the effect that once upon a time
the OsageS possessed neither bodies nor
souls. They appealed to a divinity known
as the Male Reu Bird, who furnished them
with souls in the bodies of birds. Thus
they pursued existence for a while in the
likeness of fe1thered creatures. In this
gIiSe thew first visited the earth. There
they met another divinity called the Black
Bear. He offered to serve them, and they
asked him to visit the various constella-
. =, t;rtN to nntr bob oI hoy
wanted human bodies for themselves. The
Black Bear we 1T successfully to the Sun.
to the Moon, t. the Morning Star, to the
constellation OF the Deer Head-meaninS
the Pleiades-to the constellation of the
Goose Foot, and finally to the Female Red
Bird, who was found brooding on her nest.
She it was who granted the request which
the others had refused, giving to the
Osages the bodies in which they have since
dwelt-
Worship of the sun.
''The Sun is a god devoutly worshiped
by most Indians The ceremony of the sun
dance, as performed by the Sioux and
Ponkas, has often been described. Every
body has heard how the warriors torture
themselves, ON part of the performance
gone through by the young brave consist
ing in attaching himself to the dance pole
b. lariats passed through loops of his own
on horseback or otherwise. For three days
and nights the. dance, gazing continually
a. the sun by day and the moon by night,
while it is supposed that they swallow
neither food nor water. AS a matter of
fact, however, the dance pole is planted
usually in a spc, near which certain sue
culent roots grow. These they pluck up
siyly, eating them and sucking the juices.
Among the Sioux Indians the buffalo bull
is Importantly associated with the sun
dance. Oddly enough, in ancient Egypt
the sun god Ra was associated with the
deified bull called Apis.
Among the Sioux and many other tribes
o. Indians the power of fire and wind are
associated with destruction of life. On the
other hand, the powers of earth and water
are associated with the protection of life.
The sun, lightning and fire are fire powers.
Red is the symbolic color Of these powers.
Red, therefore, is associated with war; and
is always conspicuous in the war paint. AT
the four corners of the earth are located
the four winds. Under these corners are
the pillars which uphold the earth. The
wind powers are black. Their servants are
the four black spirits of night. Associated
with them are the black raven and the
wolf which bowls at night
Influence of the Moon.
"The moon is a goddess. 1t is owing to
her diablere that men sometimes become
as women. Among the Indians queer
form of mania is frequently developed
While under it's influence men adopt the
ways of women, assume their dress and
voice, and practice sewing and other do
nestle arts such as properly belong to the
gantler sex. A part of the discipline is to
undergo prolonged fasting. After this has
been carried to certain point the faster
experiences Authorizations, which are
termed visions. In his first vision the
N oen goddess comes to the young man
with a bow in one hand and strap for
carrying a burden held in the other
Among savages it is the women's business
to carry burdens. The youthful warrior
grasps at the bow, but. If he is not very
quick, the goddess is apt to substitute the
strap. On this account he is subject after
ward to the peculiar mania already de-
scribed.
1.-The Indians generally seem to have no
well-defined notion of hell. They say to
their children If you are not brave and
good you will go after you die to live with
the spirits of bad people, Among the
Oregon Indians and those of many other
tribes it is unders TODD that the spirits of
the dead go to the land CT the Old Woman
Who Never Dies, in the southwest. The
old woman is the mother of all. On going
back to h er the Indians are reborn into the
world as infants. A common notion among
the Indians is that the world is shaped like
a cup, and on this account it is not pos
sible for any one to climb out of 1t and OBJ
tain an entrance into the regions which be-
long to the gods"