page_title: Orion's Belt
section_title: References in history and culture
hierarchical_section_title: Orion's Belt / References in history and culture
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a photo of the Orion Nebula taken on the 16th of Janurary 2016
context_page_description: Orion's Belt or the Belt of Orion, also known as the Three Kings or Three Sisters, is an asterism in the constellation Orion. It consists of the three bright stars Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka.
  Looking for Orion's Belt in the night sky is the easiest way to locate Orion in the sky. The stars are more or less evenly spaced in a straight line, and so can be visualized as the belt of the eponymous hunter's clothing. They are best visible in the early night sky during the Northern Winter/Southern Summer, in particular the month of January at around 9:00 pm.
context_section_description: Richard Hinckley Allen lists many folk names for the Belt of Orion. English ones include: Jacob's Rod or Jacob's Staff; Peter's Staff; the Golden Yard-arm; The L, or Ell; The Ell and Yard; the Yard-stick, and the Yard-wand; the Ellwand; Our Lady's Wand; the Magi / the Three Kings; the Three Marys; or simply the Three Stars.
  
  The passage "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?" is found in the Bible's Book of Job and Book of Amos. Tennyson's poem The Princess describes Orion's belt as:
  ...those three stars of the airy Giant's zone,
  That glitter burnished by the frosty dark.
  In China's Classic of Poetry, the asterism, under the name "Shen" (参), was paired with Antares, which is known as "Sheng" (商), to be a metaphor for two people who could never unite. This might have stemmed from the observation that both Orion's Belt and Antares rise in the east and set in the west, but Antares only rises once Orion's Belt has set and vice versa. 
  The three stars of the belt are known in Portugal and South America as Las Tres Marías in Spanish, and as "As Três Marias" in Portuguese. They also mark the northern night sky when the Sun is at its lowest point, and were a clear marker for ancient timekeeping. In Mexico they are called the Los Tres Reyes Magos.
  In Finnish mythology, the Belt of Orion is called Väinämöisen vyö (Väinämöinen's Belt). The stars which appear to "hang" off the belt form an asterism called Kalevanmiekka (Kaleva's sword).  In pre-Christian Scandinavia, the belt was known as Frigg's Distaff (Friggerock) or Freyja's distaff. Similarly Jacob's Staff and Peter's Staff were European biblical derived terms, as were the Three Magi, or the Three Kings. Väinämöinen's Scythe (Kalevala) and Kalevan Sword are terms from Finnish mythology.
  The Seri people of northwestern Mexico call the three belt stars Hapj (a name denoting a hunter) which consists of three stars:  Hap (mule deer), Haamoja (pronghorn), and Mojet (bighorn sheep). Hap is in the middle and has been shot by the hunter; its blood has dripped onto Tiburón Island.
  In the film Men in Black (1997) the protagonists look for "the galaxy", a massive energy source which according to an alien "is on Orion's Belt". The celestial Orion's Belt is searched but no galaxy is found there. Eventually they understand that the galaxy is hidden in a jewel on the collar of the alien's cat, named Orion.  
  In Indian folklore, the constellation is said to be that of Shravan and his parents whom he carried during a pilgrimage.
caption: Orion's belt at top left, Orion's sword at bottom right
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